Twentieth century increase in snowfall in coastal West Antarctica

The Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic ice sheet has been losing mass in recent decades; however, long records of snow accumulation are needed to place the recent changes in context. Here we present 300 year records of snow accumulation from two ice cores drilled in Ellsworth Land, West Antar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Thomas, Elizabeth R., Hosking, J. Scott, Tuckwell, Rebecca R., Ludlow, Emily C.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Geophysical Union 2015
Subjects:
Antarctic
West Antarctica
Amundsen Sea
West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Ellsworth Land
Antarc*
Antarctica
Ice Sheet
Online Access:http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/504557/
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/504557/1/Thomas_et_al-2015-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2015GL065750
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Summary:The Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic ice sheet has been losing mass in recent decades; however, long records of snow accumulation are needed to place the recent changes in context. Here we present 300 year records of snow accumulation from two ice cores drilled in Ellsworth Land, West Antarctica. The records show a dramatic increase in snow accumulation during the twentieth century, linked to a deepening of the Amundsen Sea Low (ASL), tropical sea surface temperatures, and large-scale atmospheric circulation. The observed increase in snow accumulation and interannual variability during the late twentieth century is unprecedented in the context of the past 300 years and evidence that the recent deepening of the ASL is part of a longer trend.

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