Representative surface snow density on the East Antarctic Plateau

Surface mass balances of polar ice sheets are essential to estimate the contribution of ice sheets to sea level rise. Uncertain snow and firn densities lead to significant uncertainties in surface mass balances, especially in the interior regions of the ice sheets, such as the East Antarctic Plateau...

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Published in:The Cryosphere
Main Authors: A. H. Weinhart, J. Freitag, M. Hörhold, S. Kipfstuhl, O. Eisen
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3663-2020
https://doaj.org/article/9ac15ea2931c413c9d161169c6998c8d
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spelling ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:9ac15ea2931c413c9d161169c6998c8d 2023-05-15T14:02:48+02:00 Representative surface snow density on the East Antarctic Plateau A. H. Weinhart J. Freitag M. Hörhold S. Kipfstuhl O. Eisen 2020-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3663-2020 https://doaj.org/article/9ac15ea2931c413c9d161169c6998c8d EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/3663/2020/tc-14-3663-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-14-3663-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/9ac15ea2931c413c9d161169c6998c8d The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 3663-3685 (2020) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3663-2020 2022-12-31T11:30:27Z Surface mass balances of polar ice sheets are essential to estimate the contribution of ice sheets to sea level rise. Uncertain snow and firn densities lead to significant uncertainties in surface mass balances, especially in the interior regions of the ice sheets, such as the East Antarctic Plateau (EAP). Robust field measurements of surface snow density are sparse and challenging due to local noise. Here, we present a snow density dataset from an overland traverse in austral summer 2016/17 on the Dronning Maud Land plateau. The sampling strategy using 1 m carbon fiber tubes covered various spatial scales, as well as a high-resolution study in a trench at 79 ∘ S, 30 ∘ E. The 1 m snow density has been derived volumetrically, and vertical snow profiles have been measured using a core-scale microfocus X-ray computer tomograph. With an error of less than 2 %, our method provides higher precision than other sampling devices of smaller volume. With four spatially independent snow profiles per location, we reduce the local noise and derive a representative 1 m snow density with an error of the mean of less than 1.5 %. Assessing sampling methods used in previous studies, we find the highest horizontal variability in density in the upper 0.3 m and therefore recommend the 1 m snow density as a robust measure of surface snow density in future studies. The average 1 m snow density across the EAP is 355 kg m −3 , which we identify as representative surface snow density between Kohnen Station and Dome Fuji. We cannot detect a temporal trend caused by the temperature increase over the last 2 decades. A difference of more than 10 % to the density of 320 kg m −3 suggested by a semiempirical firn model for the same region indicates the necessity for further calibration of surface snow density parameterizations. Our data provide a solid baseline for tuning the surface snow density parameterizations for regions with low accumulation and low temperatures like the EAP. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Dronning Maud Land The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Austral Dome Fuji ENVELOPE(39.700,39.700,-77.317,-77.317) Dronning Maud Land Kohnen ENVELOPE(0.000,0.000,-75.000,-75.000) Kohnen Station ENVELOPE(0.000,0.000,-75.000,-75.000) The Cryosphere 14 11 3663 3685
institution Open Polar
collection Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
op_collection_id ftdoajarticles
language English
topic Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Geology
QE1-996.5
spellingShingle Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Geology
QE1-996.5
A. H. Weinhart
J. Freitag
M. Hörhold
S. Kipfstuhl
O. Eisen
Representative surface snow density on the East Antarctic Plateau
topic_facet Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Geology
QE1-996.5
description Surface mass balances of polar ice sheets are essential to estimate the contribution of ice sheets to sea level rise. Uncertain snow and firn densities lead to significant uncertainties in surface mass balances, especially in the interior regions of the ice sheets, such as the East Antarctic Plateau (EAP). Robust field measurements of surface snow density are sparse and challenging due to local noise. Here, we present a snow density dataset from an overland traverse in austral summer 2016/17 on the Dronning Maud Land plateau. The sampling strategy using 1 m carbon fiber tubes covered various spatial scales, as well as a high-resolution study in a trench at 79 ∘ S, 30 ∘ E. The 1 m snow density has been derived volumetrically, and vertical snow profiles have been measured using a core-scale microfocus X-ray computer tomograph. With an error of less than 2 %, our method provides higher precision than other sampling devices of smaller volume. With four spatially independent snow profiles per location, we reduce the local noise and derive a representative 1 m snow density with an error of the mean of less than 1.5 %. Assessing sampling methods used in previous studies, we find the highest horizontal variability in density in the upper 0.3 m and therefore recommend the 1 m snow density as a robust measure of surface snow density in future studies. The average 1 m snow density across the EAP is 355 kg m −3 , which we identify as representative surface snow density between Kohnen Station and Dome Fuji. We cannot detect a temporal trend caused by the temperature increase over the last 2 decades. A difference of more than 10 % to the density of 320 kg m −3 suggested by a semiempirical firn model for the same region indicates the necessity for further calibration of surface snow density parameterizations. Our data provide a solid baseline for tuning the surface snow density parameterizations for regions with low accumulation and low temperatures like the EAP.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author A. H. Weinhart
J. Freitag
M. Hörhold
S. Kipfstuhl
O. Eisen
author_facet A. H. Weinhart
J. Freitag
M. Hörhold
S. Kipfstuhl
O. Eisen
author_sort A. H. Weinhart
title Representative surface snow density on the East Antarctic Plateau
title_short Representative surface snow density on the East Antarctic Plateau
title_full Representative surface snow density on the East Antarctic Plateau
title_fullStr Representative surface snow density on the East Antarctic Plateau
title_full_unstemmed Representative surface snow density on the East Antarctic Plateau
title_sort representative surface snow density on the east antarctic plateau
publisher Copernicus Publications
publishDate 2020
url https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3663-2020
https://doaj.org/article/9ac15ea2931c413c9d161169c6998c8d
long_lat ENVELOPE(39.700,39.700,-77.317,-77.317)
ENVELOPE(0.000,0.000,-75.000,-75.000)
ENVELOPE(0.000,0.000,-75.000,-75.000)
geographic Antarctic
Austral
Dome Fuji
Dronning Maud Land
Kohnen
Kohnen Station
geographic_facet Antarctic
Austral
Dome Fuji
Dronning Maud Land
Kohnen
Kohnen Station
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Dronning Maud Land
The Cryosphere
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Dronning Maud Land
The Cryosphere
op_source The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 3663-3685 (2020)
op_relation https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/3663/2020/tc-14-3663-2020.pdf
https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416
https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424
doi:10.5194/tc-14-3663-2020
1994-0416
1994-0424
https://doaj.org/article/9ac15ea2931c413c9d161169c6998c8d
op_doi https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3663-2020
container_title The Cryosphere
container_volume 14
container_issue 11
container_start_page 3663
op_container_end_page 3685
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