Recent increase in South Pole snow accumulation

This paper summarizes the 37 year history of net accumulation measurements at the geographic South Pole obtained by numerous investigators using a variety of techniques. These data lead to the conclusion that annual net snow accumulation has increased in the vicinity of South Pole Station (SPS) since 1955. The records were examined for evidence of a “station effect” and it is concluded that not all of the observed increase can be attributed to snow drift associated with the presence of the station. Furthermore, the accumulation increase at the South Pole appears consistent with increases observed at other locations on the East Antarctic Plateau, and in the Peninsula region as well. These data suggest that the recent accumulation increase at SPS may be regionally extensive over the East Antarctic Plateau.

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Analysis of a 200 year snow accumulation series from the South Pole

Archives for Meteorology Geophysics and Bioclimatology Series A ◽

10.1007/bf02246754 ◽

1965 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 227-250 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

M. B. Giovinetto ◽

W. Schwerdtfeger

Keyword(s):

Snow Accumulation ◽

South Pole ◽

The South

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The flourishing forests of Antarctica

The Emerald Planet ◽

10.1093/oso/9780192806024.003.0013 ◽

2007 ◽

Author(s):

David Beerling

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

The Other ◽

Cold Weather ◽

South Pole ◽

The South ◽

Altitude Sickness ◽

Antarctic Plateau ◽

The Times ◽

The Antarctic ◽

As If

By arriving at the South Pole on 14 December 1911, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (1872–1928) reached his destination over a month ahead of the British effort led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868–1912). As Scott’s party approached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, they were devastated to see from afar the Norwegian’s black flag. On arrival, they discovered the remains of his camp with ski and sledge tracks, and numerous dog footprints. Amundsen, it turned out, had used dogs and diversionary tactics to secure victory while the British team had man-hauled their sledges. These differences were not lost on The Times in London, which marked the achievement with muted praise, declaring it ‘not quite in accordance with the spirit of fair and open competition which hitherto marked Antarctic exploration’. Exhausted, Scott and his men spent time the following day making scientific observations around the Pole, erected ‘our poor slighted Union Jack’, and photographed themselves in front of it (Plate 11). Lieutenant Bowers took the picture by pulling a string to activate the shutter. It is perhaps the most well known, and at the same time the saddest picture, of the entire expedition—a poignant image of the doomed party, all of whom look utterly fed up as if somehow sensing the fate awaiting them. The cold weather, icy wind, and dismal circumstances led Scott to acerbically remark in his diary: ‘Great god! This is an awful place and terrible enough to have laboured to it without the reward of priority.’ By this time, the party had been hauling their sledges for weeks, and all the men were suffering from dehydration, owing to fatigue and altitude sickness from being on the Antarctic plateau that sits nearly 3000m above sea level. Three of them, Captain Oates, Seaman Evans, and Bowers, were badly afflicted with frostbitten noses and cheeks. Ahead lay the return leg, made all the more unbearable by the crippling psychological blow of knowing they had been second to the Pole. After a gruelling 21-day trek in bitterly cold summit winds, the team reached their first cache of food and fuel, covering the distance six days faster than it had taken them to do the leg in the other direction.

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δD And δ18O In South Pole Snow: Further Comparison With Meteorological Data and The Record From the Last Millennium (Abstract)

Annals of Glaciology ◽

10.1017/s0260305500006686 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

pp. 208

Author(s):

J. R. Petit ◽

J. Jouzel ◽

J. C. White ◽

Qian Qiu-yu ◽

M. Legrand ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Seasonal Variation ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Meteorological Data ◽

Ice Core ◽

Snow Accumulation ◽

South Pole ◽

The South ◽

Isotope Record ◽

Δd And Δ18o ◽

Isotope Content

The stable-isotope content of precipitation (δD and δ18O) is governed by the successive fractionation processes which occur during the atmospheric water cycle. As a result there is, in polar areas, a well-obeyed and theoretically well-understood linear relationship between the mean istopic content of snow and its mean temperature of formation. This relationship is well documented on a spatial scale but poorly known for a given site on a temporal basis, the main reason being that relatively long-term and sufficiently detailed meteorological data are only available for a few polar sites. The South Pole appears to be a suitable place for such a study because: (i) snow accumulation is high enough (∼20 cm of snow per year), thus reducing the possibility that annual layers will be lost as a result of wind; (ii) seasonal variation in isotope content is still preserved in snow up to 50 years old; (iii) meteorological data are available from the time the station was opened in 1957. Our previous studies of surface and recently deposited snow at the South Pole were very encouraging in this respect; they have been extended with a two-fold purpose: (i) to test the geographical representativity of the isotope record by comparing results from various cores taken within a 10 km radius of the station. The cores are dated by various techniques, such as stratigraphy, seasonal variation in isotopic content, beta-radioactivity fall-out layers, and detection by solid conductivity measurements of the high “spike” which is thought to correspond to the 1815 Tambora eruption; (ii) to discuss the South Pole isotope record over the last 1000 years as recovered from a 127 m deep ice core.

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Spatial Distribution of Microparticles Within Antarctic Snow-Fall

Annals of Glaciology ◽

10.3189/s0260305500002962 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 300-306 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lonnie G. Thompson ◽

Ellen Mosley Thompson

Keyword(s):

Size Distribution ◽

Snow Accumulation ◽

Distribution Data ◽

South Pole ◽

The South ◽

Near Surface ◽

Ross Ice Shelf ◽

Particle Accumulation ◽

Base Camp ◽

Antarctic Snow

The concentration and size distribution of water insoluble microparticles were measured in 2 332 snow and firn samples from (a) two sites on the Antarctic Peninsula, (b) the Byrd station strain network, West Antarctica, (c) the Q-13 and base camp sites on the Ross Ice Shelf, and (d) the South Pole and Dome C sites in East Antarctica. These near-surface microparticle studies indicate that, while the number of particles per unit volume of sample remains fairly uniform from site to site, the annual particle accumulation is greatest at locations nearest the coast and decreases rapidly with distance inland. The relationship between particle accumulation and distance from the coast is analogous to a relationship between snow accumulation and distance from the coast. Ten times more particles are deposited annually at stations within 50 km of the coast than at the South Pole and Dome C sites. The size distribution data reveal that, with the possible exception of the Q-13 site, the particulates deposited in Antarctica are well-sorted, indicating little contribution from local sources.

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Submillimeter Site Testing at Dome C, Antarctica

Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia ◽

10.1071/as03018 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 21 (3) ◽

pp. 256-263 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Paolo G. Calisse ◽

Michael C. B. Ashley ◽

Michael G. Burton ◽

Michael A. Phillips ◽

John W. V. Storey ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South Pole ◽

Site Testing ◽

The South ◽

Atmospheric Opacity ◽

Antarctic Plateau ◽

Under Construction ◽

The Antarctic ◽

Better Than

AbstractWe have developed a 350 μm radiometer to perform automated site testing in remote regions of Antarctica. In summer 2000–2001 the instrument operated at Concordia, a new station under construction at Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau. We present the results, and compare them with the atmospheric opacity measured at the South Pole in the same five-week period. During these five weeks, observing conditions at Dome C were, on average, substantially better than those at the South Pole.

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Sulfate in air and snow at the South Pole: Implications for transport and deposition at sites with low snow accumulation

Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres ◽

10.1029/2000jd900351 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 105 (D18) ◽

pp. 22825-22832 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Susan Harder ◽

Stephen G. Warren ◽

Robert J. Charlson

Keyword(s):

Snow Accumulation ◽

South Pole ◽

The South

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Millimetre Astronomy from the High Antarctic Plateau: Site Testing at Dome C

Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia ◽

10.1071/as99167 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 167-174 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

L. Valenziano ◽

G. Dall'Oglio

Keyword(s):

Wind Speed ◽

Meteorological Data ◽

Large Fraction ◽

Precipitable Water ◽

South Pole ◽

Site Testing ◽

The South ◽

Precipitable Water Vapour ◽

Average Wind Speed ◽

Antarctic Plateau

AbstractPreliminary site testing results at Dome C (Antarctica) are presented, using both Automatic Weather Station (AWS) meteorological data (1986–1993) and Precipitable Water Vapour (PWV) measurements made by the authors. A comparison with the South Pole and other sites is made. The South Pole is a well established astrophysical observing site, where extremely good conditions are reported for a large fraction of time during the year. Dome C, where Italy and France are building a new scientific station, is a potential observing site in the millimetre and submillimetre range. AWS are operating at both sites and they have been continuously monitoring temperature, pressure and wind speed and direction for more than ten years. Site testing instruments are already operating at the South Pole (AASTO, Automated Astrophysical Site-Testing Observatory), while light experiments have been running at Dome C (APACHE, Antarctic Plateau Anisotropy CHasing Experiment) during summertime. A direct comparison between the two sites is planned in the near future, using the AASTO. The present analysis shows that the average wind speed is lower at Dome C (∼1 ms−1) than at the South Pole (∼2 ms−1), while temperature and PWV are comparable.

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Measurements of OH and RO<sub>2</sub> radicals at Dome C, East Antarctica

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions ◽

10.5194/acpd-14-14999-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 14 (10) ◽

pp. 14999-15044 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

A. Kukui ◽

M. Legrand ◽

S. Preunkert ◽

M. M. Frey ◽

R. Loisil ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Boundary Layer ◽

Oxidative Capacity ◽

Local Times ◽

Oh Radicals ◽

Peroxy Radicals ◽

South Pole ◽

The South ◽

Primary Radical ◽

Antarctic Plateau ◽

Photochemical Modelling

Abstract. Concentrations of OH radicals and the sum of peroxy radicals, RO2, were measured in the boundary layer for the first time on the East Antarctic Plateau at the Concordia Station (Dome C, 75.10° S, 123.31° E) during the austral summer 2011/2012. The median concentrations of OH and RO2 radicals were 3.1 × 106 molecule cm−3 and 9.9 × 107 molecule cm−3, respectively. These values are comparable to those observed at the South Pole, confirming that the elevated oxidative capacity of the Antarctic atmospheric boundary layer found at the South Pole is not restricted to the South Pole but common over the high Antarctic plateau. At Concordia, the concentration of radicals showed distinct diurnal profiles with the median maximum of 5.2 × 106 molecule cm−3 at 11:00 and the median minimum of 1.1 × 106 molecule cm−3 at 01:00 for OH radicals and 1.7 × 108 molecule cm−3 and 2.5 × 107 molecule cm−3 for RO2 radicals at 13:00 and 23:00, respectively (all times are local times). Concurrent measurements of O3, HONO, NO, NO2, HCHO and H2O2 demonstrated that the major primary source of OH and RO2 radicals at Dome C was the photolysis of HONO, HCHO and H2O2, with the photolysis of HONO contributing ∼75% of total primary radical production. However, photochemical modelling with accounting for all these radical sources overestimates the concentrations of OH and RO2 radicals by a factor of 2 compared to field observations. Neglecting the OH production from HONO in the photochemical modelling results in an underestimation of the concentrations of OH and RO2 radicals by a factor of 2. To explain the observations of radicals in this case an additional source of OH equivalent to about 25% of measured photolysis of HONO is required. Even with a factor of 4 reduction in the concentrations of HONO, the photolysis of HONO represents the major primary radical source at Dome C. Another major factor leading to the large concentration of OH radicals measured at Dome C was large concentrations of NO molecules and fast recycling of peroxy radicals to OH radicals.

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