Event-driven deposition of snow on the Antarctic Plateau: analyzing field measurements with SNOWPACK
Antarctic surface snow has been studied by means of continuous measurements and observations over a period of 3 yr at Dome C. Snow observations include solid deposits in form of precipitation, diamond dust, or hoar, snow temperatures at several depths, records of deposition and erosion on the surfac...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:8b48efadcf5c44cd8064fee75fb445e6 2023-05-15T13:56:10+02:00 Event-driven deposition of snow on the Antarctic Plateau: analyzing field measurements with SNOWPACK C. D. Groot Zwaaftink A. Cagnati A. Crepaz C. Fierz G. Macelloni M. Valt M. Lehning 2013-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-333-2013 https://doaj.org/article/8b48efadcf5c44cd8064fee75fb445e6 EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/333/2013/tc-7-333-2013.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-7-333-2013 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/8b48efadcf5c44cd8064fee75fb445e6 The Cryosphere, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 333-347 (2013) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-333-2013 2022-12-30T23:26:55Z Antarctic surface snow has been studied by means of continuous measurements and observations over a period of 3 yr at Dome C. Snow observations include solid deposits in form of precipitation, diamond dust, or hoar, snow temperatures at several depths, records of deposition and erosion on the surface, and snow profiles. Together with meteorological data from automatic weather stations, this forms a unique dataset of snow conditions on the Antarctic Plateau. Large differences in snow amounts and density exist between solid deposits measured 1 m above the surface and deposition at the surface. We used the snow-cover model SNOWPACK to simulate the snow-cover evolution for different deposition parameterizations. The main adaptation of the model described here is a new event-driven deposition scheme. The scheme assumes that snow is added to the snow cover permanently only during periods of strong winds. This assumption followed from the comparison between observations of solid deposits and daily records of changes in snow height: solid deposits could be observed on tables 1 m above the surface on 94 out of 235 days (40%) while deposition at the surface occurred on 59 days (25%) during the same period, but both happened concurrently on 33 days (14%) only. This confirms that precipitation is not necessarily the driving force behind non-temporary snow height changes. A comparison of simulated snow height to stake farm measurements over 3 yr showed that we underestimate the total accumulation by at least 33%, when the total snow deposition is constrained by the measurements of solid deposits on tables 1 m above the surface. During shorter time periods, however, we may miss over 50% of the deposited mass. This suggests that the solid deposits measured above the surface and used to drive the model, even though comparable to ECMWF forecasts in its total magnitude, should be seen as a lower boundary. As a result of the new deposition mechanism, we found a good agreement between model results and measurements of snow ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic The Antarctic The Cryosphere 7 1 333 347 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
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Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 C. D. Groot Zwaaftink A. Cagnati A. Crepaz C. Fierz G. Macelloni M. Valt M. Lehning Event-driven deposition of snow on the Antarctic Plateau: analyzing field measurements with SNOWPACK |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Antarctic surface snow has been studied by means of continuous measurements and observations over a period of 3 yr at Dome C. Snow observations include solid deposits in form of precipitation, diamond dust, or hoar, snow temperatures at several depths, records of deposition and erosion on the surface, and snow profiles. Together with meteorological data from automatic weather stations, this forms a unique dataset of snow conditions on the Antarctic Plateau. Large differences in snow amounts and density exist between solid deposits measured 1 m above the surface and deposition at the surface. We used the snow-cover model SNOWPACK to simulate the snow-cover evolution for different deposition parameterizations. The main adaptation of the model described here is a new event-driven deposition scheme. The scheme assumes that snow is added to the snow cover permanently only during periods of strong winds. This assumption followed from the comparison between observations of solid deposits and daily records of changes in snow height: solid deposits could be observed on tables 1 m above the surface on 94 out of 235 days (40%) while deposition at the surface occurred on 59 days (25%) during the same period, but both happened concurrently on 33 days (14%) only. This confirms that precipitation is not necessarily the driving force behind non-temporary snow height changes. A comparison of simulated snow height to stake farm measurements over 3 yr showed that we underestimate the total accumulation by at least 33%, when the total snow deposition is constrained by the measurements of solid deposits on tables 1 m above the surface. During shorter time periods, however, we may miss over 50% of the deposited mass. This suggests that the solid deposits measured above the surface and used to drive the model, even though comparable to ECMWF forecasts in its total magnitude, should be seen as a lower boundary. As a result of the new deposition mechanism, we found a good agreement between model results and measurements of snow ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
C. D. Groot Zwaaftink A. Cagnati A. Crepaz C. Fierz G. Macelloni M. Valt M. Lehning |
author_facet |
C. D. Groot Zwaaftink A. Cagnati A. Crepaz C. Fierz G. Macelloni M. Valt M. Lehning |
author_sort |
C. D. Groot Zwaaftink |
title |
Event-driven deposition of snow on the Antarctic Plateau: analyzing field measurements with SNOWPACK |
title_short |
Event-driven deposition of snow on the Antarctic Plateau: analyzing field measurements with SNOWPACK |
title_full |
Event-driven deposition of snow on the Antarctic Plateau: analyzing field measurements with SNOWPACK |
title_fullStr |
Event-driven deposition of snow on the Antarctic Plateau: analyzing field measurements with SNOWPACK |
title_full_unstemmed |
Event-driven deposition of snow on the Antarctic Plateau: analyzing field measurements with SNOWPACK |
title_sort |
event-driven deposition of snow on the antarctic plateau: analyzing field measurements with snowpack |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-333-2013 https://doaj.org/article/8b48efadcf5c44cd8064fee75fb445e6 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 333-347 (2013) |
op_relation |
http://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/333/2013/tc-7-333-2013.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-7-333-2013 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/8b48efadcf5c44cd8064fee75fb445e6 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-333-2013 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
333 |
op_container_end_page |
347 |
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1766263535003762688 |