Influence of Persistent Wind Scour on the Surface Mass Balance of Antarctica
Accurate quantification of surface snow accumulation over Antarctica is a key constraint for estimates of the Antarctic mass balance, as well as climatic interpretations of ice-core records. Over Antarctica, near-surface winds accelerate down relatively steep surface slopes, eroding and sublimating...
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ftnasantrs:oai:casi.ntrs.nasa.gov:20140012682 2023-05-15T13:33:56+02:00 Influence of Persistent Wind Scour on the Surface Mass Balance of Antarctica Nicolas, Julien P. Bell, Robin E. Fearson, Nicholas Studinger, Michael Scambos, Ted A. Das, Indrani Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Creyts, Timothy T. vandenBroeke, Michiel R. Wolovick, Michael Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available March 31, 2013 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20140012682 unknown Document ID: 20140012682 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20140012682 Copyright, Distribution as joint owner in the copyright CASI Geophysics Meteorology and Climatology GSFC-E-DAA-TN7511 Nature Geoscience; 6; 367-371 2013 ftnasantrs 2019-07-21T00:24:13Z Accurate quantification of surface snow accumulation over Antarctica is a key constraint for estimates of the Antarctic mass balance, as well as climatic interpretations of ice-core records. Over Antarctica, near-surface winds accelerate down relatively steep surface slopes, eroding and sublimating the snow. This wind scour results in numerous localized regions (< or = 200 sq km) with reduced surface accumulation. Estimates of Antarctic surface mass balance rely on sparse point measurements or coarse atmospheric models that do not capture these local processes, and overestimate the net mass input in wind-scour zones. Here we combine airborne radar observations of unconformable stratigraphic layers with lidar-derived surface roughness measurements to identify extensive wind-scour zones over Dome A, in the interior of East Antarctica. The scour zones are persistent because they are controlled by bedrock topography. On the basis of our Dome A observations, we develop an empirical model to predict wind-scour zones across the Antarctic continent and find that these zones are predominantly located in East Antarctica. We estimate that approx. 2.7-6.6% of the surface area of Antarctica has persistent negative net accumulation due to wind scour, which suggests that, across the continent, the snow mass input is overestimated by 11-36.5 Gt /yr in present surface-mass-balance calculations. Other/Unknown Material Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica ice core NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Antarctic East Antarctica The Antarctic |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
op_collection_id |
ftnasantrs |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Geophysics Meteorology and Climatology |
spellingShingle |
Geophysics Meteorology and Climatology Nicolas, Julien P. Bell, Robin E. Fearson, Nicholas Studinger, Michael Scambos, Ted A. Das, Indrani Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Creyts, Timothy T. vandenBroeke, Michiel R. Wolovick, Michael Influence of Persistent Wind Scour on the Surface Mass Balance of Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Geophysics Meteorology and Climatology |
description |
Accurate quantification of surface snow accumulation over Antarctica is a key constraint for estimates of the Antarctic mass balance, as well as climatic interpretations of ice-core records. Over Antarctica, near-surface winds accelerate down relatively steep surface slopes, eroding and sublimating the snow. This wind scour results in numerous localized regions (< or = 200 sq km) with reduced surface accumulation. Estimates of Antarctic surface mass balance rely on sparse point measurements or coarse atmospheric models that do not capture these local processes, and overestimate the net mass input in wind-scour zones. Here we combine airborne radar observations of unconformable stratigraphic layers with lidar-derived surface roughness measurements to identify extensive wind-scour zones over Dome A, in the interior of East Antarctica. The scour zones are persistent because they are controlled by bedrock topography. On the basis of our Dome A observations, we develop an empirical model to predict wind-scour zones across the Antarctic continent and find that these zones are predominantly located in East Antarctica. We estimate that approx. 2.7-6.6% of the surface area of Antarctica has persistent negative net accumulation due to wind scour, which suggests that, across the continent, the snow mass input is overestimated by 11-36.5 Gt /yr in present surface-mass-balance calculations. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Nicolas, Julien P. Bell, Robin E. Fearson, Nicholas Studinger, Michael Scambos, Ted A. Das, Indrani Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Creyts, Timothy T. vandenBroeke, Michiel R. Wolovick, Michael |
author_facet |
Nicolas, Julien P. Bell, Robin E. Fearson, Nicholas Studinger, Michael Scambos, Ted A. Das, Indrani Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Creyts, Timothy T. vandenBroeke, Michiel R. Wolovick, Michael |
author_sort |
Nicolas, Julien P. |
title |
Influence of Persistent Wind Scour on the Surface Mass Balance of Antarctica |
title_short |
Influence of Persistent Wind Scour on the Surface Mass Balance of Antarctica |
title_full |
Influence of Persistent Wind Scour on the Surface Mass Balance of Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Influence of Persistent Wind Scour on the Surface Mass Balance of Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Influence of Persistent Wind Scour on the Surface Mass Balance of Antarctica |
title_sort |
influence of persistent wind scour on the surface mass balance of antarctica |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20140012682 |
op_coverage |
Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctica The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctica The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica ice core |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica ice core |
op_source |
CASI |
op_relation |
Document ID: 20140012682 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20140012682 |
op_rights |
Copyright, Distribution as joint owner in the copyright |
_version_ |
1766047224925519872 |