Extreme events of snow grain size increase in East Antarctica and their relationship with meteorological conditions
This study explores the seasonal variations in snow grain size on the East Antarctic Plateau, where dry metamorphism occurs, by using microwave radiometer observations from 2000 to 2022. Local meteorological conditions and large-scale atmospheric phenomena have been considered in order to explain so...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2024
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-593-2024 https://doaj.org/article/c719de4475fa4950897e6aac675f95eb |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:c719de4475fa4950897e6aac675f95eb |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:c719de4475fa4950897e6aac675f95eb 2024-09-15T17:43:20+00:00 Extreme events of snow grain size increase in East Antarctica and their relationship with meteorological conditions C. Stefanini G. Macelloni M. Leduc-Leballeur V. Favier B. Pohl G. Picard 2024-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-593-2024 https://doaj.org/article/c719de4475fa4950897e6aac675f95eb EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/593/2024/tc-18-593-2024.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-18-593-2024 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/c719de4475fa4950897e6aac675f95eb The Cryosphere, Vol 18, Pp 593-608 (2024) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2024 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-593-2024 2024-08-05T17:50:03Z This study explores the seasonal variations in snow grain size on the East Antarctic Plateau, where dry metamorphism occurs, by using microwave radiometer observations from 2000 to 2022. Local meteorological conditions and large-scale atmospheric phenomena have been considered in order to explain some peculiar changes in the snow grains. We find that the highest ice divide is the region with the largest grain size in the summer, mainly because the wind speed is low. Moreover, some extreme grain size values with respect to the average (over +3 σ ) were identified. In these cases, the ERA5 reanalysis revealed a high-pressure blocking close to the onsets of the summer increase in the grain size. It channels moisture intrusions from the mid-latitudes, through atmospheric rivers that cause major snowfall events over the plateau. If conditions of weak wind and low temperature occur during the following weeks, dry snow metamorphism is facilitated, leading to grain growth. This determines anomalous high maximums of the snow grain size at the end of summer. These phenomena confirm the importance of moisture intrusion events in East Antarctica and their impact on the physical properties of the ice sheet surface, with a co-occurrence of atmospheric rivers and seasonal changes in the grain size with a significance of over 95 %. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles The Cryosphere 18 2 593 608 |
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 C. Stefanini G. Macelloni M. Leduc-Leballeur V. Favier B. Pohl G. Picard Extreme events of snow grain size increase in East Antarctica and their relationship with meteorological conditions |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
This study explores the seasonal variations in snow grain size on the East Antarctic Plateau, where dry metamorphism occurs, by using microwave radiometer observations from 2000 to 2022. Local meteorological conditions and large-scale atmospheric phenomena have been considered in order to explain some peculiar changes in the snow grains. We find that the highest ice divide is the region with the largest grain size in the summer, mainly because the wind speed is low. Moreover, some extreme grain size values with respect to the average (over +3 σ ) were identified. In these cases, the ERA5 reanalysis revealed a high-pressure blocking close to the onsets of the summer increase in the grain size. It channels moisture intrusions from the mid-latitudes, through atmospheric rivers that cause major snowfall events over the plateau. If conditions of weak wind and low temperature occur during the following weeks, dry snow metamorphism is facilitated, leading to grain growth. This determines anomalous high maximums of the snow grain size at the end of summer. These phenomena confirm the importance of moisture intrusion events in East Antarctica and their impact on the physical properties of the ice sheet surface, with a co-occurrence of atmospheric rivers and seasonal changes in the grain size with a significance of over 95 %. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
C. Stefanini G. Macelloni M. Leduc-Leballeur V. Favier B. Pohl G. Picard |
author_facet |
C. Stefanini G. Macelloni M. Leduc-Leballeur V. Favier B. Pohl G. Picard |
author_sort |
C. Stefanini |
title |
Extreme events of snow grain size increase in East Antarctica and their relationship with meteorological conditions |
title_short |
Extreme events of snow grain size increase in East Antarctica and their relationship with meteorological conditions |
title_full |
Extreme events of snow grain size increase in East Antarctica and their relationship with meteorological conditions |
title_fullStr |
Extreme events of snow grain size increase in East Antarctica and their relationship with meteorological conditions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Extreme events of snow grain size increase in East Antarctica and their relationship with meteorological conditions |
title_sort |
extreme events of snow grain size increase in east antarctica and their relationship with meteorological conditions |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-593-2024 https://doaj.org/article/c719de4475fa4950897e6aac675f95eb |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 18, Pp 593-608 (2024) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/593/2024/tc-18-593-2024.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-18-593-2024 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/c719de4475fa4950897e6aac675f95eb |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-593-2024 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
593 |
op_container_end_page |
608 |
_version_ |
1810490276056137728 |