Seasonal variations of snowpack temperature and thermal conductivity of snow in the vicinity of Vostok station, Antarctica

• Published in: Arctic and Antarctic Research
• Main Authors: Yu. A. Shibayev, K. B. Tchikhatchev, V. Ya. Lipenkov, A. A. Ekaykin, E. Lefebvre, L. Arnaud, J.-R. Petit, Ю. А. Шибаев, К. Б. Чихачев, В. Я. Липенков, А. А. Екайкин, Э. Лефевр, Л. Арно, Ж.-Р. Пети
• Other Authors: This work was financially supported by the Russian Fund for Basic Research, grant 18–55–16002 НЦНИЛ_а. The research was carried out in the network of the Russian-French International Associated Laboratory (LIA) “Climates and Environments from Ice Archives”. We are grateful to the Russian Antarctic Expedition and French Polar Institute which provided logistic support for this work at Vostok Station., Работа выполнена при финансовой поддержке Российского фонда фундаментальных исследований, грант 18–55–16002 НЦНИЛ_а. Исследование проводилось в рамках деятельности российско-французской Международной ассоциированной лаборатории (МАЛ) «Ледниковые архивы данных о климате и окружающей среде». Авторы благодарны Российской антарктической экспедиции и Французскому полярному институту за логистическую поддержку работ на станции Восток.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Russian
• Published: Государственный научный центр Российской Федерации Арктический и антарктический научно-исследовательский институт 2019
• Subjects: численные эксперименты; heat-transfer model; numerical experiments; snow; snow metamorphism; temperature measurements; thermophysical properties; метаморфизм снега; модель теплопереноса; снег; температура; теплофизические свойства; Antarctic; Dome Fuji; Dome Fuji Station; The Antarctic; Vostok Station; Annals of Glaciology; Antarc*; Antarctica; Antarctica Journal; Arctic; Ice Sheet; Journal of Glaciology; Polar Research; The Cryosphere; Антарктида
• Online Access: https://www.aaresearch.science/jour/article/view/161; https://doi.org/10.30758/0555-2648-2019-65-2-169-185

The data on snow the temperature which was monitored to a depth of 10 m in the vicinity of Vostok Station by the TAUTO autonomous system in 2010–2017 are presented. By analyzing seasonal temperature variations at different depth with the aid of a heat-transfer model we have inferred a relationship between relative thermal conductivity of snow and its porosity at this site. The same approach was also applied to analyze similar data obtained at Dome Fuji station in 1995–1997. It was found that the thermal conductivity of snow layers with identical density is noticeably lower at Dome Fuji than at Vostok, which point to a difference in structural characteristics of snow that determine its thermophysical properties. We demonstrate that the conduction is the dominant heat-transport mechanism which controls the temperature distribution in snow pack on the Antarctic plateau. The obtained parameters of the heat-transfer model can be used for reconstructing the past surface temperature variations from the long-term temperature measurements in the upper 100 m thick layer of the ice sheet.