Surface and snowdrift sublimation at Princess Elisabeth station, East Antarctica

Thiery, Wim; Gorodetskaya, Irina; Lipzig, Nicole Van; Broeke, M. R. van den; Reijmer, C. H.; Munneke, Peter Kuipers

doi:10.5194/tc-6-841-2012

Cited by 45 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Also at PE, most of the blowing snow events (N = 1643, 92 %) are associated with the warm synoptic and transitional regimes, when moist air is brought from the ocean, that precipitate inland (Gorodetskaya et al, 2013). Thiery et al (2012) also showed that at PE drifting snow sublimation occurs mostly during transitional regimes. These regimes occur 41-48 % of the time (Gorodetskaya et al, 2013.…”

Section: Blowing Snow and Meteorological Regimesmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…This phenomenon occurs approximatively on 70 % of the Antarctic continent during winter (Palm et al, 2011). In addition, drifting and blowing snow sublimation contributes substantially to SMB (Kodama et al, 1985;Takahashi et al, 1992;Thiery et al, 2012;Dai and Huang, 2014). This process can even be more effective to remove mass than surface sublimation (van den Broeke et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Blowing snow detection from ground-based ceilometers: application to East Antarctica

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Blowing snow impacts Antarctic ice sheet surface mass balance by snow redistribution and sublimation. However, numerical models poorly represent blowing snow processes, while direct observations are limited in space and time. Satellite retrieval of blowing snow is hindered by clouds and only the strongest events are considered. Here, we develop a blowing snow detection (BSD) algorithm for ground-based remote-sensing ceilometers in polar regions and apply it to ceilometers at Neumayer III and Princess Elisabeth (PE) stations, East Antarctica. The algorithm is able to detect (heavy) blowing snow layers reaching 30 m height. Results show that 78 % of the detected events are in agreement with visual observations at Neumayer III station. The BSD algorithm detects heavy blowing snow 36 % of the time at Neumayer (2011Neumayer ( -2015 and 13 % at PE station (2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016). Blowing snow occurrence peaks during the austral winter and shows around 5 % interannual variability. The BSD algorithm is capable of detecting blowing snow both lifted from the ground and occurring during precipitation, which is an added value since results indicate that 92 % of the blowing snow is during synoptic events, often combined with precipitation. Analysis of atmospheric meteorological variables shows that blowing snow occurrence strongly depends on fresh snow availability in addition to wind speed. This finding challenges the commonly used parametrizations, where the threshold for snow particles to be lifted is a function of wind speed only. Blowing snow occurs predominantly during storms and overcast conditions, shortly after precipitation events, and can reach up to 1300 m a.g.l. in the case of heavy mixed events (precipitation and blowing snow together). These results suggest that synoptic conditions play an important role in generating blowing snow events and that fresh snow availability should be considered in determining the blowing snow onset.

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Section: Blowing Snow and Meteorological Regimesmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blowing snow detection from ground-based ceilometers: application to East Antarctica

et al. 2017

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“…In addition, the complete SEB contains turbulent fluxes as well, which can play an important role in energy exchanges between surface and atmosphere (Curry et al, 2000;Van Den Broeke et al, 2006;de Boer et al, 2014) and in mass-related processes such as sublimation (Thiery et al, 2012), in addition to the radiative fluxes considered here. Since turbulent fluxes cannot be retrieved from CloudSat and CALIPSO observations, these are not included in the present study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving satellite-retrieved surface radiative fluxes in polar regions using a smart sampling approach

et al. 2016

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Abstract. The surface energy budget (SEB) of polar regions is key to understanding the polar amplification of global climate change and its worldwide consequences. However, despite a growing network of ground-based automatic weather stations that measure the radiative components of the SEB, extensive areas remain where no ground-based observations are available. Satellite remote sensing has emerged as a potential solution to retrieve components of the SEB over remote areas, with radar and lidar aboard the CloudSat and CALIPSO satellites among the first to enable estimates of surface radiative long-wave (LW) and short-wave (SW) fluxes based on active cloud observations. However, due to the small swath footprints, combined with a return cycle of 16 days, questions arise as to how CloudSat and CALIPSO observations should be optimally sampled in order to retrieve representative fluxes for a given location. Here we present a smart sampling approach to retrieve downwelling surface radiative fluxes from CloudSat and CALIPSO observations for any given land-based point-of-interest (POI) in polar regions. The method comprises a spatial correction that allows the distance between the satellite footprint and the POI to be increased in order to raise the satellite sampling frequency. Sampling frequency is enhanced on average from only two unique satellite overpasses each month for limited-distance sampling < 10 km from the POI, to 35 satellite overpasses for the smart sampling approach. This reduces the root-meansquare errors on monthly mean flux estimates compared to ground-based measurements from 23 to 10 W m −2 (LW) and from 43 to 14 W m −2 (SW). The added value of the smart sampling approach is shown to be largest on finer temporal resolutions, where limited-distance sampling suffers from severely limited sampling frequencies. Finally, the methodology is illustrated for Pine Island Glacier (Antarctica) and the Greenland northern interior. Although few ground-based observations are available for these remote areas, important climatic changes have been recently reported. Using the smart sampling approach, 5-day moving average time series of downwelling LW and SW fluxes are demonstrated. We conclude that the smart sampling approach may help to reduce the observational gaps that remain in polar regions to further refine the quantification of the polar SEB.

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“…Both drifting snow sublimation and surface sublimation have been quantified for the PE station (Thiery et al, 2012). At the 5 local scale, their significance can be fairly large (e.g.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

How does the ice sheet surface mass balance relate to snowfall? Insights from a ground-based precipitation radar in East Antarctica

Souverijns¹,

Gossart²,

Gorodetskaya³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Abstract. Local surface mass balance (SMB) measurements are crucial for understanding changes in the total mass of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, including its contribution to sea level rise. Despite continuous attempts to decipher mechanisms controlling the local SMB, a clear understanding of the separate components is still lacking, while snowfall measurements are almost absent. In this study, the different terms are quantified at the Princess Elisabeth (PE) station in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. Furthermore, the relation between snowfall and accumulation at the surface is investigated. To achieve this, a 5 unique collocated set of remote sensing instrumentation (Micro Rain Radar, ceilometer, Automatic Weather Station, among others) was established operating for an unprecedented time period of 37 months. Snowfall originates mainly from moist and warm air advected from lower latitudes associated with cyclone activity. However, snowfall events are much more common than accumulation events. During 38 % of the snowfall cases observed, the freshly-fallen snow is ablated by the wind during the course of the event. Generally, snow storms of longer duration have a higher chance to attain for accumulation at the local scale, 10 while shorter events usually attain for ablation (on average 17 and 12 hours respectively). As such, SMB records cannot be considered a good proxy for snowfall at the local scale. Accumulation and ablation also occur during non-snowfall conditions. A large part of the accumulation at the station takes place when preceding snowfall events were occurring in upstream coastal areas. This fresh snow is easily picked up and transported in shallow drifting snow layers to more inland locations, even when wind speed is relatively low (< 7 ms −1 ). Ablation events are mainly related to katabatic winds originating from the Antarctic 15 plateau and the mountain ranges in the south. These dry winds are able to remove snow and lead to a decrease in the local SMB. This work highlights that, even though observations are local, the SMB is strongly influenced by synoptic upstream conditions.

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Surface and snowdrift sublimation at Princess Elisabeth station, East Antarctica

Cited by 45 publications

References 66 publications

Blowing snow detection from ground-based ceilometers: application to East Antarctica

Blowing snow detection from ground-based ceilometers: application to East Antarctica

Improving satellite-retrieved surface radiative fluxes in polar regions using a smart sampling approach

How does the ice sheet surface mass balance relate to snowfall? Insights from a ground-based precipitation radar in East Antarctica

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