| Summary: | Antarctica is a major component in the climate system of the earth, acting as a large heat sink in the energy balance. The climatic conditions of Antarctica maintain the snow and ice cover that blankets almost completely the surface area of the continent. Physical properties of snow readily respond to changing environmental conditions and remote sensing signals are sensitive to these properties. The annual changes in the physical properties of the snow cover, especially in the coastal area, must be taken into account when snow cover and climate models are produced. In situ observations are needed for calibration and validation of these models. The aim of the present study was to examine the annual cycle of the active 10-m surface layer in western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. The data were collected along a 300-km-long transect from the coast to the edge of the high plateau during the field campaigns in austral summers 2004-2005, 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 as a part of the Finnish Antarctic Research Programme (FINNARP). The studies were focused on the uppermost part of the ice sheet covering the most recent annual accumulation in the coastal area. The results showed that the present study lakes froze completely during winter and showed similar evolution but the exact timing depended on the location. In January, the general structure of lake Suvivesi was following: two layers, each about 1 m thick, an upper layer with a thin ice layer on top and main body of liquid water, and a lower layer containing slush and hard ice sub-layers. The formation and the depth scale of the present study lakes are determined by the light extinction distance and thermal diffusion coefficient, limiting the growth to less than ~1.5 m in one summer. In Antarctica, the mean spectral diffuse extinction coefficient varied between 0.04 and 0.31 cm-1 (10-20-cm snow layer) and varied only slightly between locations when the grain type was the same. The theoretically calculated average depth where broadband irradiance (400-700-nm band) was 1 % ...
|
|---|