Summertime evolution of snow specific surface area close to the surface on the Antarctic Plateau
On the Antarctic Plateau, snow specific surface area (SSA) close to the surface shows complex variations at daily to seasonal scales which affect the surface albedo and in turn the surface energy budget of the ice sheet. While snow metamorphism, precipitation and strong wind events are known to driv...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:a0eb208191fc429dad2d2a92d124cc9d 2023-05-15T13:36:37+02:00 Summertime evolution of snow specific surface area close to the surface on the Antarctic Plateau Q. Libois G. Picard L. Arnaud M. Dumont M. Lafaysse S. Morin E. Lefebvre 2015-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2383-2015 https://doaj.org/article/a0eb208191fc429dad2d2a92d124cc9d EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.the-cryosphere.net/9/2383/2015/tc-9-2383-2015.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-9-2383-2015 https://doaj.org/article/a0eb208191fc429dad2d2a92d124cc9d The Cryosphere, Vol 9, Iss 6, Pp 2383-2398 (2015) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2383-2015 2022-12-31T00:57:59Z On the Antarctic Plateau, snow specific surface area (SSA) close to the surface shows complex variations at daily to seasonal scales which affect the surface albedo and in turn the surface energy budget of the ice sheet. While snow metamorphism, precipitation and strong wind events are known to drive SSA variations, usually in opposite ways, their relative contributions remain unclear. Here, a comprehensive set of SSA observations at Dome C is analysed with respect to meteorological conditions to assess the respective roles of these factors. The results show an average 2-to-3-fold SSA decrease from October to February in the topmost 10 cm in response to the increase of air temperature and absorption of solar radiation in the snowpack during spring and summer. Surface SSA is also characterized by significant daily to weekly variations due to the deposition of small crystals with SSA up to 100 m 2 kg −1 onto the surface during snowfall and blowing snow events. To complement these field observations, the detailed snowpack model Crocus is used to simulate SSA, with the intent to further investigate the previously found correlation between interannual variability of summer SSA decrease and summer precipitation amount. To this end, some Crocus parameterizations have been adapted to Dome C conditions, and the model was forced by ERA-Interim reanalysis. It successfully matches the observations at daily to seasonal timescales, except for the few cases when snowfalls are not captured by the reanalysis. On the contrary, the interannual variability of summer SSA decrease is poorly simulated when compared to 14 years of microwave satellite data sensitive to the near-surface SSA. A simulation with disabled summer precipitation confirms the weak influence in the model of the precipitation on metamorphism, with only 6 % enhancement. However, we found that disabling strong wind events in the model is sufficient to reconciliate the simulations with the observations. This suggests that Crocus reproduces well the contributions of ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic The Antarctic The Cryosphere 9 6 2383 2398 |
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 Q. Libois G. Picard L. Arnaud M. Dumont M. Lafaysse S. Morin E. Lefebvre Summertime evolution of snow specific surface area close to the surface on the Antarctic Plateau |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
On the Antarctic Plateau, snow specific surface area (SSA) close to the surface shows complex variations at daily to seasonal scales which affect the surface albedo and in turn the surface energy budget of the ice sheet. While snow metamorphism, precipitation and strong wind events are known to drive SSA variations, usually in opposite ways, their relative contributions remain unclear. Here, a comprehensive set of SSA observations at Dome C is analysed with respect to meteorological conditions to assess the respective roles of these factors. The results show an average 2-to-3-fold SSA decrease from October to February in the topmost 10 cm in response to the increase of air temperature and absorption of solar radiation in the snowpack during spring and summer. Surface SSA is also characterized by significant daily to weekly variations due to the deposition of small crystals with SSA up to 100 m 2 kg −1 onto the surface during snowfall and blowing snow events. To complement these field observations, the detailed snowpack model Crocus is used to simulate SSA, with the intent to further investigate the previously found correlation between interannual variability of summer SSA decrease and summer precipitation amount. To this end, some Crocus parameterizations have been adapted to Dome C conditions, and the model was forced by ERA-Interim reanalysis. It successfully matches the observations at daily to seasonal timescales, except for the few cases when snowfalls are not captured by the reanalysis. On the contrary, the interannual variability of summer SSA decrease is poorly simulated when compared to 14 years of microwave satellite data sensitive to the near-surface SSA. A simulation with disabled summer precipitation confirms the weak influence in the model of the precipitation on metamorphism, with only 6 % enhancement. However, we found that disabling strong wind events in the model is sufficient to reconciliate the simulations with the observations. This suggests that Crocus reproduces well the contributions of ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Q. Libois G. Picard L. Arnaud M. Dumont M. Lafaysse S. Morin E. Lefebvre |
author_facet |
Q. Libois G. Picard L. Arnaud M. Dumont M. Lafaysse S. Morin E. Lefebvre |
author_sort |
Q. Libois |
title |
Summertime evolution of snow specific surface area close to the surface on the Antarctic Plateau |
title_short |
Summertime evolution of snow specific surface area close to the surface on the Antarctic Plateau |
title_full |
Summertime evolution of snow specific surface area close to the surface on the Antarctic Plateau |
title_fullStr |
Summertime evolution of snow specific surface area close to the surface on the Antarctic Plateau |
title_full_unstemmed |
Summertime evolution of snow specific surface area close to the surface on the Antarctic Plateau |
title_sort |
summertime evolution of snow specific surface area close to the surface on the antarctic plateau |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2383-2015 https://doaj.org/article/a0eb208191fc429dad2d2a92d124cc9d |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 9, Iss 6, Pp 2383-2398 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://www.the-cryosphere.net/9/2383/2015/tc-9-2383-2015.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-9-2383-2015 https://doaj.org/article/a0eb208191fc429dad2d2a92d124cc9d |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2383-2015 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
2383 |
op_container_end_page |
2398 |
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1766081708720914432 |