Regional Antarctic snow accumulation over the past 1000 years
Here we present Antarctic snow accumulation variability at the regional scale over the past 1000 years. A total of 79 ice core snow accumulation records were gathered and assigned to seven geographical regions, separating the high-accumulation coastal zones below 2000 m of elevation from the dry cen...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:8e66f931e89a42e39a7946a78f31b729 2023-05-15T13:58:51+02:00 Regional Antarctic snow accumulation over the past 1000 years E. R. Thomas J. M. van Wessem J. Roberts E. Isaksson E. Schlosser T. J. Fudge P. Vallelonga B. Medley J. Lenaerts N. Bertler M. R. van den Broeke D. A. Dixon M. Frezzotti B. Stenni M. Curran A. A. Ekaykin 2017-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1491-2017 https://doaj.org/article/8e66f931e89a42e39a7946a78f31b729 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.clim-past.net/13/1491/2017/cp-13-1491-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9324 https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9332 doi:10.5194/cp-13-1491-2017 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://doaj.org/article/8e66f931e89a42e39a7946a78f31b729 Climate of the Past, Vol 13, Pp 1491-1513 (2017) Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1491-2017 2022-12-30T22:46:36Z Here we present Antarctic snow accumulation variability at the regional scale over the past 1000 years. A total of 79 ice core snow accumulation records were gathered and assigned to seven geographical regions, separating the high-accumulation coastal zones below 2000 m of elevation from the dry central Antarctic Plateau. The regional composites of annual snow accumulation were evaluated against modelled surface mass balance (SMB) from RACMO2.3p2 and precipitation from ERA-Interim reanalysis. With the exception of the Weddell Sea coast, the low-elevation composites capture the regional precipitation and SMB variability as defined by the models. The central Antarctic sites lack coherency and either do not represent regional precipitation or indicate the model inability to capture relevant precipitation processes in the cold, dry central plateau. Our results show that SMB for the total Antarctic Ice Sheet (including ice shelves) has increased at a rate of 7 ± 0.13 Gt decade −1 since 1800 AD, representing a net reduction in sea level of ∼ 0.02 mm decade −1 since 1800 and ∼ 0.04 mm decade −1 since 1900 AD. The largest contribution is from the Antarctic Peninsula (∼ 75 %) where the annual average SMB during the most recent decade (2001–2010) is 123 ± 44 Gt yr −1 higher than the annual average during the first decade of the 19th century. Only four ice core records cover the full 1000 years, and they suggest a decrease in snow accumulation during this period. However, our study emphasizes the importance of low-elevation coastal zones, which have been under-represented in previous investigations of temporal snow accumulation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula ice core Ice Sheet Ice Shelves Weddell Sea Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell Sea Weddell Climate of the Past 13 11 1491 1513 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 E. R. Thomas J. M. van Wessem J. Roberts E. Isaksson E. Schlosser T. J. Fudge P. Vallelonga B. Medley J. Lenaerts N. Bertler M. R. van den Broeke D. A. Dixon M. Frezzotti B. Stenni M. Curran A. A. Ekaykin Regional Antarctic snow accumulation over the past 1000 years |
topic_facet |
Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
description |
Here we present Antarctic snow accumulation variability at the regional scale over the past 1000 years. A total of 79 ice core snow accumulation records were gathered and assigned to seven geographical regions, separating the high-accumulation coastal zones below 2000 m of elevation from the dry central Antarctic Plateau. The regional composites of annual snow accumulation were evaluated against modelled surface mass balance (SMB) from RACMO2.3p2 and precipitation from ERA-Interim reanalysis. With the exception of the Weddell Sea coast, the low-elevation composites capture the regional precipitation and SMB variability as defined by the models. The central Antarctic sites lack coherency and either do not represent regional precipitation or indicate the model inability to capture relevant precipitation processes in the cold, dry central plateau. Our results show that SMB for the total Antarctic Ice Sheet (including ice shelves) has increased at a rate of 7 ± 0.13 Gt decade −1 since 1800 AD, representing a net reduction in sea level of ∼ 0.02 mm decade −1 since 1800 and ∼ 0.04 mm decade −1 since 1900 AD. The largest contribution is from the Antarctic Peninsula (∼ 75 %) where the annual average SMB during the most recent decade (2001–2010) is 123 ± 44 Gt yr −1 higher than the annual average during the first decade of the 19th century. Only four ice core records cover the full 1000 years, and they suggest a decrease in snow accumulation during this period. However, our study emphasizes the importance of low-elevation coastal zones, which have been under-represented in previous investigations of temporal snow accumulation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
E. R. Thomas J. M. van Wessem J. Roberts E. Isaksson E. Schlosser T. J. Fudge P. Vallelonga B. Medley J. Lenaerts N. Bertler M. R. van den Broeke D. A. Dixon M. Frezzotti B. Stenni M. Curran A. A. Ekaykin |
author_facet |
E. R. Thomas J. M. van Wessem J. Roberts E. Isaksson E. Schlosser T. J. Fudge P. Vallelonga B. Medley J. Lenaerts N. Bertler M. R. van den Broeke D. A. Dixon M. Frezzotti B. Stenni M. Curran A. A. Ekaykin |
author_sort |
E. R. Thomas |
title |
Regional Antarctic snow accumulation over the past 1000 years |
title_short |
Regional Antarctic snow accumulation over the past 1000 years |
title_full |
Regional Antarctic snow accumulation over the past 1000 years |
title_fullStr |
Regional Antarctic snow accumulation over the past 1000 years |
title_full_unstemmed |
Regional Antarctic snow accumulation over the past 1000 years |
title_sort |
regional antarctic snow accumulation over the past 1000 years |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1491-2017 https://doaj.org/article/8e66f931e89a42e39a7946a78f31b729 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell Sea Weddell |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell Sea Weddell |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula ice core Ice Sheet Ice Shelves Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula ice core Ice Sheet Ice Shelves Weddell Sea |
op_source |
Climate of the Past, Vol 13, Pp 1491-1513 (2017) |
op_relation |
https://www.clim-past.net/13/1491/2017/cp-13-1491-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9324 https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9332 doi:10.5194/cp-13-1491-2017 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://doaj.org/article/8e66f931e89a42e39a7946a78f31b729 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1491-2017 |
container_title |
Climate of the Past |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
1491 |
op_container_end_page |
1513 |
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1766267212881985536 |