Variability in dry Antarctic firn : Investigations on spatially distributed snow and firn samples from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica
The interpretation of paleo-climate information gained from polar ice cores presumes a precise knowledge about the processes of signal formation, in particular that of air and greenhouse gas related signals. In contrast to all other climatic signals air is entrapped at the firn-ice transition 50 - 1...
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2014
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ftsubbremen:oai:media.suub.uni-bremen.de:Publications/elib/771 2023-05-15T14:04:15+02:00 Variability in dry Antarctic firn : Investigations on spatially distributed snow and firn samples from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica Variabilität in Antarktischem Firn : Untersuchungen an räumlich verteilten Schnee- und Firnproben aus Dronning Maud Land, Antarktis Klein, Katharina Miller, Heinrich Lemke, Peter 2014-11-14 application/pdf https://media.suub.uni-bremen.de/handle/elib/771 https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-00104117-15 eng eng Universität Bremen FB5 Geowissenschaften https://media.suub.uni-bremen.de/handle/elib/771 urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-00104117-15 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Antartica DML Firn Snow Density Impurities Physical Properties Variability 550 550 Earth sciences and geology ddc:550 Dissertation doctoralThesis 2014 ftsubbremen 2022-11-09T07:09:26Z The interpretation of paleo-climate information gained from polar ice cores presumes a precise knowledge about the processes of signal formation, in particular that of air and greenhouse gas related signals. In contrast to all other climatic signals air is entrapped at the firn-ice transition 50 - 100m below the surface. Therefore, the air enclosure deserves a broad understanding of all possible processes affecting firn densification over the 100 - 3000 years lasting compaction from snow to ice. Data obtained from one firn or ice core provide informations about one location of the ice sheet. However, this information is not necessarily representative due to local processes, like for example accumulation, which are not constant over time and space. Thus, to understand the spatial and temporal variability in polar firn and its development, spatially extended high resolution investigations of firn cores are required. Spatially distributed firn cores allow to bridge this gap between point measurements and area measurements. This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of the development of spatial and temporal variability in polar firn. For this purpose, five firn cores distributed over only a few kilometres were analyzed. Additionally, the spatial and temporal variability of surface snow at the same site in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, was retrieved. Important parameters for the study of the snow surface were the specific surface area (SSA) of the snow, its isotopic composition and the meteorological conditions. To investigate the densification process, high resolution density profiles of the firn cores were obtained, as well as their impurity content. For the first time the surface snow SSA development during two months in austral summer was observed. The expected decrease of SSA was altered by precipitation events. Only small amounts of precipitation were sufficient to rapidly increase the SSA, which has a high impact on the development of the albedo. In contrast to previous assumptions, the ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Antarktis* antartic* DML Dronning Maud Land East Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet Media SuUB Bremen (Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen) Antarctic East Antarctica Austral Dronning Maud Land |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Media SuUB Bremen (Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen) |
op_collection_id |
ftsubbremen |
language |
English |
topic |
Antartica DML Firn Snow Density Impurities Physical Properties Variability 550 550 Earth sciences and geology ddc:550 |
spellingShingle |
Antartica DML Firn Snow Density Impurities Physical Properties Variability 550 550 Earth sciences and geology ddc:550 Klein, Katharina Variability in dry Antarctic firn : Investigations on spatially distributed snow and firn samples from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Antartica DML Firn Snow Density Impurities Physical Properties Variability 550 550 Earth sciences and geology ddc:550 |
description |
The interpretation of paleo-climate information gained from polar ice cores presumes a precise knowledge about the processes of signal formation, in particular that of air and greenhouse gas related signals. In contrast to all other climatic signals air is entrapped at the firn-ice transition 50 - 100m below the surface. Therefore, the air enclosure deserves a broad understanding of all possible processes affecting firn densification over the 100 - 3000 years lasting compaction from snow to ice. Data obtained from one firn or ice core provide informations about one location of the ice sheet. However, this information is not necessarily representative due to local processes, like for example accumulation, which are not constant over time and space. Thus, to understand the spatial and temporal variability in polar firn and its development, spatially extended high resolution investigations of firn cores are required. Spatially distributed firn cores allow to bridge this gap between point measurements and area measurements. This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of the development of spatial and temporal variability in polar firn. For this purpose, five firn cores distributed over only a few kilometres were analyzed. Additionally, the spatial and temporal variability of surface snow at the same site in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, was retrieved. Important parameters for the study of the snow surface were the specific surface area (SSA) of the snow, its isotopic composition and the meteorological conditions. To investigate the densification process, high resolution density profiles of the firn cores were obtained, as well as their impurity content. For the first time the surface snow SSA development during two months in austral summer was observed. The expected decrease of SSA was altered by precipitation events. Only small amounts of precipitation were sufficient to rapidly increase the SSA, which has a high impact on the development of the albedo. In contrast to previous assumptions, the ... |
author2 |
Miller, Heinrich Lemke, Peter |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Klein, Katharina |
author_facet |
Klein, Katharina |
author_sort |
Klein, Katharina |
title |
Variability in dry Antarctic firn : Investigations on spatially distributed snow and firn samples from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica |
title_short |
Variability in dry Antarctic firn : Investigations on spatially distributed snow and firn samples from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica |
title_full |
Variability in dry Antarctic firn : Investigations on spatially distributed snow and firn samples from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Variability in dry Antarctic firn : Investigations on spatially distributed snow and firn samples from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Variability in dry Antarctic firn : Investigations on spatially distributed snow and firn samples from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica |
title_sort |
variability in dry antarctic firn : investigations on spatially distributed snow and firn samples from dronning maud land, antarctica |
publisher |
Universität Bremen |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://media.suub.uni-bremen.de/handle/elib/771 https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-00104117-15 |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctica Austral Dronning Maud Land |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctica Austral Dronning Maud Land |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Antarktis* antartic* DML Dronning Maud Land East Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Antarktis* antartic* DML Dronning Maud Land East Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
https://media.suub.uni-bremen.de/handle/elib/771 urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-00104117-15 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
_version_ |
1766275279963029504 |