Vertical profile of snow-firn density in the vicinity of Vostok station, Central Antarctica
The density of the snow and firn thickness is one of the fundamental and most important physical properties of the polar ice sheets. The data on density is used for reconstructing the past snow accumulation rate variability based on firn core studies, for correcting the results of the instrumental s...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:8fbacd0562574e9eb604b6da348a36a2 2023-05-15T14:01:29+02:00 Vertical profile of snow-firn density in the vicinity of Vostok station, Central Antarctica A. A. Ekaykin K. B. Tchikhatchev A. N. Veres V. Ya. Lipenkov N. A. Tebenkova A. V. Turkeev 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.31857/S2076673422040147 https://doaj.org/article/8fbacd0562574e9eb604b6da348a36a2 RU rus Nauka https://ice-snow.igras.ru/jour/article/view/1083 https://doaj.org/toc/2076-6734 https://doaj.org/toc/2412-3765 2076-6734 2412-3765 doi:10.31857/S2076673422040147 https://doaj.org/article/8fbacd0562574e9eb604b6da348a36a2 Лëд и снег, Vol 62, Iss 4, Pp 504-511 (2023) плотность снега и фирна станция восток антарктида моделирование процесса уплотнения Science Q article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.31857/S2076673422040147 2023-03-19T01:40:11Z The density of the snow and firn thickness is one of the fundamental and most important physical properties of the polar ice sheets. The data on density is used for reconstructing the past snow accumulation rate variability based on firn core studies, for correcting the results of the instrumental surface mass balance measurements and for verification of empirical and physical densification models. In this work we present a unique dataset on the snow and firn density in the upper 70 m of Antarctic glacier in the vicinity of Vostok Station based on data from 32 snow pits and firn cores. This newly obtained stacked density profile reveals different stages of the densification process. In the upper 27 cm a fast growth of the density is observed from 0.320 to 0.365 g cm-3 as a result of the initial snow grain metamorphism. Below 0.3 m much slower densification rates are observed. At the depth of 22.5 m the transition from snow to firn can be seen at the density of 0.526 g cm-3. The vertical density distribution can be approximated with a polynomial function with the accuracy of 0.01 g cm-3 along the whole profile except for the upper 0.3 m. In order to investigate the glacio-climatic conditions under which the snow-firn density has evolved, we applied a semi-empirical model by Herron and Langway (1980). In first approximation, the density distribution can be explained with the initial snow density equal to 0.35 g cm-3, surface glacier temperature equal to -57 C, and snow accumulation rate of 1.8–2.1 g cm-2 yr-1. The discrepancy between the data and model can be, to our opinion, explained by the recent increase of the snow accumulation rate as evidenced from the firn core studies. However, the non-stationary physical densification model failed to reproduced the density data with sufficient accuracy, which calls for revisiting the model configuration and tuning. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Антарктида Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Vostok Station ENVELOPE(106.837,106.837,-78.464,-78.464) Langway ENVELOPE(-139.783,-139.783,-75.483,-75.483) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
Russian |
topic |
плотность снега и фирна станция восток антарктида моделирование процесса уплотнения Science Q |
spellingShingle |
плотность снега и фирна станция восток антарктида моделирование процесса уплотнения Science Q A. A. Ekaykin K. B. Tchikhatchev A. N. Veres V. Ya. Lipenkov N. A. Tebenkova A. V. Turkeev Vertical profile of snow-firn density in the vicinity of Vostok station, Central Antarctica |
topic_facet |
плотность снега и фирна станция восток антарктида моделирование процесса уплотнения Science Q |
description |
The density of the snow and firn thickness is one of the fundamental and most important physical properties of the polar ice sheets. The data on density is used for reconstructing the past snow accumulation rate variability based on firn core studies, for correcting the results of the instrumental surface mass balance measurements and for verification of empirical and physical densification models. In this work we present a unique dataset on the snow and firn density in the upper 70 m of Antarctic glacier in the vicinity of Vostok Station based on data from 32 snow pits and firn cores. This newly obtained stacked density profile reveals different stages of the densification process. In the upper 27 cm a fast growth of the density is observed from 0.320 to 0.365 g cm-3 as a result of the initial snow grain metamorphism. Below 0.3 m much slower densification rates are observed. At the depth of 22.5 m the transition from snow to firn can be seen at the density of 0.526 g cm-3. The vertical density distribution can be approximated with a polynomial function with the accuracy of 0.01 g cm-3 along the whole profile except for the upper 0.3 m. In order to investigate the glacio-climatic conditions under which the snow-firn density has evolved, we applied a semi-empirical model by Herron and Langway (1980). In first approximation, the density distribution can be explained with the initial snow density equal to 0.35 g cm-3, surface glacier temperature equal to -57 C, and snow accumulation rate of 1.8–2.1 g cm-2 yr-1. The discrepancy between the data and model can be, to our opinion, explained by the recent increase of the snow accumulation rate as evidenced from the firn core studies. However, the non-stationary physical densification model failed to reproduced the density data with sufficient accuracy, which calls for revisiting the model configuration and tuning. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. A. Ekaykin K. B. Tchikhatchev A. N. Veres V. Ya. Lipenkov N. A. Tebenkova A. V. Turkeev |
author_facet |
A. A. Ekaykin K. B. Tchikhatchev A. N. Veres V. Ya. Lipenkov N. A. Tebenkova A. V. Turkeev |
author_sort |
A. A. Ekaykin |
title |
Vertical profile of snow-firn density in the vicinity of Vostok station, Central Antarctica |
title_short |
Vertical profile of snow-firn density in the vicinity of Vostok station, Central Antarctica |
title_full |
Vertical profile of snow-firn density in the vicinity of Vostok station, Central Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Vertical profile of snow-firn density in the vicinity of Vostok station, Central Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vertical profile of snow-firn density in the vicinity of Vostok station, Central Antarctica |
title_sort |
vertical profile of snow-firn density in the vicinity of vostok station, central antarctica |
publisher |
Nauka |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.31857/S2076673422040147 https://doaj.org/article/8fbacd0562574e9eb604b6da348a36a2 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(106.837,106.837,-78.464,-78.464) ENVELOPE(-139.783,-139.783,-75.483,-75.483) |
geographic |
Antarctic Vostok Station Langway |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Vostok Station Langway |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Антарктида |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Антарктида |
op_source |
Лëд и снег, Vol 62, Iss 4, Pp 504-511 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://ice-snow.igras.ru/jour/article/view/1083 https://doaj.org/toc/2076-6734 https://doaj.org/toc/2412-3765 2076-6734 2412-3765 doi:10.31857/S2076673422040147 https://doaj.org/article/8fbacd0562574e9eb604b6da348a36a2 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.31857/S2076673422040147 |
_version_ |
1766271316315340800 |