Moisture source of precipitation in Western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

Reijmer, C. H.; Broeke, M.R. van den

doi:10.1017/s0954102001000293

Cited by 58 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(34 reference statements)

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“…Note that this constancy in the flux records implies that the significant variations in concentration records are essentially reflecting the glacial/interglacial changes in snow accumulation rate. Concerning the significance of any glacial-interglacial change in the fluxes found at EDML compared to EDC, it should be taken into account that a larger fraction of the aerosol is wet deposited at EDML in recent times (Reijmer and Van den Broeke, 2001;Gö ktas et al, 2002). Therefore, the fluxes of NH 4 þ and nssSO 4 2À represent conservative indicators for the past atmospheric aerosol concentration change and the true variability would be even lower (corrected for any wet deposition, which is itself dependent on snow accumulation).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ammonium and non-sea salt sulfate in the EPICA ice cores as indicator of biological activity in the Southern Ocean

Kaufmann

Fundel

Fischer

et al. 2010

Quaternary Science Reviews

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a b s t r a c tSulfate (SO 4 2À ) and ammonium (NH 4 þ ) flux records over the last 150,000 years from both Antarctic EPICA ice cores (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) are presented. The ice core record from Dome C is influenced by the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean (SO), whereas Dronning Maud Land is facing the Atlantic sector. Generally, they reflect the past atmospheric aerosol load and, thus, potentially reveal the fingerprint of marine biogenic sources from the SO. The most important feature of both, the nssSO 4 2À as well as NH 4 þ flux records, is the absence of any significant glacial cycles, in contrary to the distinct transitions for mineral dust and sea salt aerosol over the last 150,000 years. This finding challenges the iron fertilization hypothesis on long time scales, as the significant changes in dust, e.g. from the last glacial maximum toward the Holocene have neither an impact on nssSO 4 2À nor on NH 4 þ fluxes found in interior Antarctica. The inter-site correlation of both species is weak, r 2 ¼ 0.42 for the nssSO 4 2À flux and r 2 ¼ 0.12 for the NH 4 þ flux respectively, emphasizing the local source characteristics of biogenic aerosol from the SO.Millennial variability in NH 4 þ and nssSO 4 2À is within the uncertainty of our flux estimates. Correlation with mineral dust and sea ice derived sodium shows only a very weak influence of dust deposition on those insignificant changes in nssSO 4 2À flux for the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, but also small transport changes or terrigeneous sulfate contributions may contribute to those variations at EDML.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ammonium and non-sea salt sulfate in the EPICA ice cores as indicator of biological activity in the Southern Ocean

Kaufmann

Fundel

Fischer

et al. 2010

Quaternary Science Reviews

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“…In the eastern sector of these depressions warm moist air is advected southward, occasionally bringing snow to Berkner Island. In both DML and Berkner Island the meteorological conditions associated with snowfall are exceptional with respect to the average conditions (Noone and others, 1999;Reijmer and van den Broeke, 2001). …”

Section: Prevailing Synoptic Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal and spatial variability of the surface mass balance in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, as derived from automatic weather stations

Reijmer¹,

Broeke²

2003

J. Glaciol.

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ABSTRACT. Measurements of changes in surface height carried out with sonic altimeters mounted on automatic weather stations in Dronning Maud Land (DML) and on Berkner Island, Antarctica, are used to derive the surface mass balance. The surface mass balance is positive at all sites, i.e. accumulation outweighs ablation. The spatial and temporal variability in accumulation is high. Accumulation occurs in numerous small events and a few large events per year. The larger events contribute more to the annual accumulation than the small events; $50% of all accumulation is contributed by 10^25% of all events. The accumulation generally decreases with increasing distance from the coast and elevation. Annual averaged values range from $375 AE 59 mm w.e. a^1 near the coast to $33 AE 25 mm w.e. a^1on the Antarctic plateau and are in good agreement with long-term averaged annual accumulation rates obtained from snow pits and firn cores. The records show seasonal dependency of the amount of accumulation, with a maximum in winter in the coastal and escarpment region of DML and in summer on Berkner Island and on the plateau. The seasonal cycles are significant on Berkner Island, and in the coastal area and part of the escarpment region.

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“…Air mass origin is defined here as the BT position 4 days before arrival at DI. This 4 day figure was chosen as a result of the work of Reijmer and van den Broeke (2001). They used back trajectories and associated moisture data from the ERA-15 data to conclude that most of the moisture uptake for DML precipitation in 1998 occurred 3-5 days before the event.…”

Section: Back Trajectory Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

An examination of the precipitation delivery mechanisms for Dolleman Island, eastern Antarctic Peninsula

Russell

McGregor

Marshall

2004

Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography

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The variability of size and source of significant precipitation events were studied at an Antarctic ice core drilling site: Dolleman Island (DI), located on the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Significant precipitation events that occur at DI were temporally located in the ECMWF re-analysis data set, ERA-40. The annual and summer precipitation totals from ERA-40 at DI both show significant increases over the re-analysis period. Three dimensional backwards air parcel trajectories were then run for 5-days using the ECMWF ERA-15 wind fields. Cluster analyses were performed on two sets of these backwards trajectories: all days in the range 1979-1992 (the climatological timescale) and a subset of days when a significant precipitation event occurred. The principal air mass sources and delivery mechanisms were found to be the Weddell Sea via lee cyclogenesis, the South Atlantic when there was a weak Circumpolar Trough (CPT) and the South Pacific when the CPT was deep. The occurrence of precipitation bearing air masses arriving via a strong CPT was found to have a significant correlation with the Southern Annular Mode (SAM), however, the arrival of air masses from the same region over the climatological timescale showed no such correlation. Despite the dominance in both groups of back trajectories of the westerly circulation around Antarctica, some other key patterns were identified. Most notably there was a higher frequency of lee cyclogenesis events in the significant precipitation trajectories compared to the climatological timescale. There was also a tendency for precipitation trajectories to come from more northerly latitudes, mostly from 50-70°S. ENSO was found to have a strong influence on the mechanism by which the precipitation was delivered; the frequency of occurrence of precipitation from the east (west) of DI increased during El Niño (La Niña) events.

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Moisture source of precipitation in Western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

Cited by 58 publications

References 25 publications

Ammonium and non-sea salt sulfate in the EPICA ice cores as indicator of biological activity in the Southern Ocean

Ammonium and non-sea salt sulfate in the EPICA ice cores as indicator of biological activity in the Southern Ocean

Temporal and spatial variability of the surface mass balance in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, as derived from automatic weather stations

An examination of the precipitation delivery mechanisms for Dolleman Island, eastern Antarctic Peninsula

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