Event-driven deposition of snow on the Antarctic Plateau: Analyzing field measurements with SNOWPACK

64Citations
Citations of this article
55Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

Antarctic surface snow has been studied by means of continuous measurements and observations over a period of 3 yr at Dome C. Snow observations include solid deposits in form of precipitation, diamond dust, or hoar, snow temperatures at several depths, records of deposition and erosion on the surface, and snow profiles. Together with meteorological data from automatic weather stations, this forms a unique dataset of snow conditions on the Antarctic Plateau. Large differences in snow amounts and density exist between solid deposits measured 1 m above the surface and deposition at the surface. We used the snow-cover model SNOWPACK to simulate the snow-cover evolution for different deposition parameterizations. The main adaptation of the model described here is a new event-driven deposition scheme. The scheme assumes that snow is added to the snow cover permanently only during periods of strong winds. This assumption followed from the comparison between observations of solid deposits and daily records of changes in snow height: solid deposits could be observed on tables 1 m above the surface on 94 out of 235 days (40%) while deposition at the surface occurred on 59 days (25%) during the same period, but both happened concurrently on 33 days (14%) only. This confirms that precipitation is not necessarily the driving force behind non-temporary snow height changes. A comparison of simulated snow height to stake farm measurements over 3 yr showed that we underestimate the total accumulation by at least 33%, when the total snow deposition is constrained by the measurements of solid deposits on tables 1 m above the surface. During shorter time periods, however, we may miss over 50% of the deposited mass. This suggests that the solid deposits measured above the surface and used to drive the model, even though comparable to ECMWF forecasts in its total magnitude, should be seen as a lower boundary. As a result of the new deposition mechanism, we found a good agreement between model results and measurements of snow temperatures and recorded snow profiles. In spite of the underestimated deposition, the results thus suggest that we can obtain quite realistic simulations of the Antarctic snow cover by the introduction of event-driven snow deposition. © 2013 Author(s).

References Powered by Scopus

Evaluating the use of 'goodness-of-fit' measures in hydrologic and hydroclimatic model validation

3625Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

The detailed snowpack scheme Crocus and its implementation in SURFEX v7.2

448Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

A physical SNOWPACK model for the Swiss avalanche warning Part II. Snow microstructure

413Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cited by Powered by Scopus

Clouds enhance Greenland ice sheet meltwater runoff

180Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Observing and Modeling Ice Sheet Surface Mass Balance

143Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Coping with difficult weather and snow conditions: Reindeer herders' views on climate change impacts and coping strategies

90Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Groot Zwaaftink, C. D., Cagnati, A., Crepaz, A., Fierz, C., MacElloni, G., Valt, M., & Lehning, M. (2013). Event-driven deposition of snow on the Antarctic Plateau: Analyzing field measurements with SNOWPACK. Cryosphere, 7(1), 333–347. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-333-2013

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 27

63%

Researcher 10

23%

Professor / Associate Prof. 4

9%

Lecturer / Post doc 2

5%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Earth and Planetary Sciences 31

74%

Environmental Science 8

19%

Physics and Astronomy 2

5%

Computer Science 1

2%

Article Metrics

Tooltip
Mentions
Blog Mentions: 1

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free