Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T16:07:11.780Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Snow particle sizes and their distributions in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, at sample, local and regional scales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2016

Susanne Ingvander ,
Peter Jansson ,
Ian A. Brown ,
Shuji Fujita ,
Shin Sugyama ,
Sylviane Surdyk ,
Hiroyuki Enomoto ,
Margareta Hansson  and
Per Holmlund
Susanne Ingvander*
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Peter Jansson
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Ian A. Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Shuji Fujita
Affiliation:
National Institute of Polar Research, Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), Midori-chou 10-3, Tachikawa, Tokyo, 190-0014, Japan Department of Polar Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Tokyo, Japan
Shin Sugyama
Affiliation:
Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Nishi-8, Kita-19, Sapporo, 060-0819, Japan
Sylviane Surdyk
Affiliation:
National Institute of Polar Research, Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), Midori-chou 10-3, Tachikawa, Tokyo, 190-0014, Japan
Hiroyuki Enomoto
Affiliation:
National Institute of Polar Research, Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), Midori-chou 10-3, Tachikawa, Tokyo, 190-0014, Japan Department of Polar Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Tokyo, Japan
Margareta Hansson
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Per Holmlund
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this study, snow particle size variability was investigated along a transect in Dronning Maud Land from the coast to the polar plateau. The aim of the study was to better understand the spatial and temporal variations in surface snow properties. Samples were collected twice daily during a traverse in 2007–08 to capture regional variability. Local variability was assessed by sampling in 10×10 m grids (5 m spacing) at selected locations. The particle size and shape distributions for each site were analysed through digital image analysis. Snow particle size variability is complex at different scales, and shows an internal variability of 0.18–3.31 mm depending on the sample type (surface, grid or pit). Relationships were verified between particle size and both elevation and distance to the coast (moisture source). Regional seasonal changes were also identified, particularly on the lower elevations of the polar plateau. This dataset may be used to quantitatively analyse the optical properties of surface snow for remote sensing. The details of the spatial and temporal variations observed in our data provide a basis for further studies of the complex and coupled processes affecting snow particle size and the interpretation of remote sensing of snow covered areas.

Keywords

gridsmeteorologyplateausnow grain sizesnow pitstraverse
Type
Physical Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , June 2016 , pp. 219 - 231
Check for updates
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ACIA. 2005. Impacts of a warming Arctic: Arctic climate impact assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1046 pp.Google Scholar
Ahrens, C.D. 1999. Meteorology today: an introduction to weather, climate and the environment, 6th edition. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Thomson Learning, 610 pp.Google Scholar
Albert, M.R. 2002. Effects of snow on firn and ventilation on sublimation rates. Annals of Glaciology, 35, 52–56.Google Scholar
Birnbaum, G., Freitag, J., Brauner, R., König-Langlo, G., Schulz, E., Kipfstuhl, S., Oerter, H., Reijmer, C.H., Schlosser, E., Faria, S.H., Ries, H., Loose, B., Herber, A., Duda, M.G., Powers, J.G., Manning, K.W. & van den Broeke, M.R. 2010. Strong-wind events and their influence on the formation of snow dunes: observations from Kohnen station, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology, 56, 891–902.Google Scholar
Definiens . 2008. Definiens Developer 7.0 user guide. Munich: Definiens AG.Google Scholar
Domine, F., Albert, M., Hultwelker, T., Jacobi, H.-W., Kokhanovsky, A.A., Lehning, M., Picard, G. & Simpson, W.R. 2008. Snow physics as relevant to snow photochemistry. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 8, 171–180.Google Scholar
Fierz, C., Armstrong, R.L., Durand, Y., Etchevers, P., Greene, E., Mcclung, D.M., Nishimura, K., Satyawali, P.K. & Sokratov, S.A. 2009. International classification for seasonal snow on the ground. IHP–VII technical documents in hydrology No. 83, IACS contribution No. 1. Paris: UNESCO–IHP.Google Scholar
Frezzotti, M., Gandolfi, S., La Marca, F. & Urbini, S. 2002. Snow dunes and glazed surfaces in Antarctica: new field and remote-sensing data. Annals of Glaciology, 34, 81–88.Google Scholar
Fujita, K. & Abe, O. 2006. Stable isotopes in daily precipitation at Dome Fuji, East Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 33, 10.1029/2006GL026936.Google Scholar
Fujita, S., Okuyama, J., Hori, A. & Hondoh, T. 2009. Metamorphism of stratified firn at Dome Fuji, Antarctica: a mechanism for local insolation modulation of gas transport conditions during bubble close off. Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface, 114, 10.1029/2008JF001143.Google Scholar
Fujita, S., Holmlund, P., Andersson, I., Brown, I., Enomoto, H., Fujii, Y., Fujita, K., Fukui, K., Furukawa, T., Hansson, M., Hara, K., Hoshina, Y., Igarashi, M., Iizuka, Y., Imura, S., Ingvander, S., Karlin, T., Motoyama, H., Nakazawa, F., Oerter, H., Sjöberg, L.E., Sugiyama, S., Surdyk, S., Ström, J., Uemura, R. & Wilhelms, F. 2011. Spatial and temporal variability of snow accumulation rate on the East Antarctic ice divide between Dome Fuji and EPICA DML. Cryosphere, 5, 1057–1081.Google Scholar
Gay, M., Fily, M., Genthon, C., Frezzotti, M., Oerter, H. & Winther, J.G. 2002. Snow grain size measurements in Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology, 48, 527–535.Google Scholar
Ingvander, S., Johansson, C., Jansson, P. & Pettersson, R. 2012. Comparison of digital and manual methods of snow grain size estimation. Hydrology Research, 43, 192–202.Google Scholar
Ingvander, S., Brown, I.A., Jansson, P., Holmlund, P., Johansson, C. & Rosqvist, G. 2013. Particle size sampling and object-oriented image analysis for field investigations of snow particle size, shape, and distribution. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research, 45, 330–341.Google Scholar
Kärkäs, E., Martma, T. & Sonninen, E. 2005. Physical properties and stratigraphy of surface snow in western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Polar Research, 24, 55–67.Google Scholar
Kärkäs, E., Granberg, H.B., Kanto, K., Rasmus, K., Lavoie, C. & Lepparanta, M. 2002. Physical properties of the seasonal snow cover in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. Annals of Glaciology, 34, 89–94.Google Scholar
Kikuchi, T., Fukushima, Y. & Nishimura, K. 2005. Snow entrainment coefficient estimated by field observations and wind tunnel experiments. Journal of Cold Regions Engineering, 19, 117–129.Google Scholar
King, J.C. & Turner, J. 1997. Antarctic meteorology and climatology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 424 pp.Google Scholar
Kokhanovsky, A., Rozanov, V.V., Aoki, T., Odermatt, D., Brockmann, C., Krüger, O., Bouvet, M., Dursh, M. & Hori, A. 2011. Sizing of snow grains using backscattered solar light. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 32, 6975–7008.Google Scholar
Legagneux, L., Taillandier, A.S. & Domine, F. 2004. Grain growth theories and the isothermal evolution of the specific surface area of snow. Journal of Applied Physics, 95, 6175–6184.Google Scholar
Lemke, P., Ren, J., Alley, R.B., Allison, I., Carrasco, J., Flato, G., Fujii, Y., Kaser, G., Mote, P., Thomas, R.H. & Zhang, T. 2007. Observations: changes in snow, ice and frozen ground. In Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K.B., Tignor, M. & Miller, H.L., eds. Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 337–385.Google Scholar
Lesaffre, B., Pougatch, E. & Martin, E. 1998. Objective determination of snow-grain characteristics from images. Annals of Glaciology, 26, 112–118.Google Scholar
Libbrecht, K.G. 2005. The physics of snow crystals. Reports on Progress in Physics, 68, 855–895.Google Scholar
Mellor, M. 1965. Blowing snow. Cold regions science and engineering part III, section A3c. Hanover, NH: US Army Material Command, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.Google Scholar
Massom, R.A., Pook, M.J., Comiso, J.C., Adams, N., Turner, J., Lachlan-Cope, T. & Gibson, T.T. 2004. Precipitation over the interior East Antarctic Ice Sheet related to midlatitude blocking-high activity. Journal of Climate, 17, 1914–1928.Google Scholar
Nolin, A.W. & Dozier, J. 2000. A hyperspectral method for remotely sensing the grain size of snow. Remote Sensing of Environment, 74, 207–216.Google Scholar
Oerter, H., Graf, W., Wilhelms, F., Minkin, A. & Miller, H. 1999. Accumulation studies on Amundsenisen, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, by means of tritium, dielectric profiling and stable-isotope measurements: first results from the 1995–96 and 1996–97 field seasons. Annals of Glaciology, 29, 10.3189/172756499781820914.Google Scholar
Painter, T.H., Rittger, K., McKenzie, C., Slaughter, P., Davis, R.E. & Dozier, J. 2009. Retrieval of subpixel snow covered area, grain size and albedo from MODIS. Remote Sensing of the Environment, 113, 868–879.Google Scholar
Radok, U. & Lile, R.C. 1977. A year of snow accumulation at Plateau Station. Antarctic Research Series, 25, 17–26.Google Scholar
Reijmer, C.H. & van den Broeke, M.R. 2003. Temporal and spatial variability of the surface mass balance in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, as derived from automatic weather stations. Journal of Glaciology, 49, 512–520.Google Scholar
Richardson, C., Aarholt, E., Hamran, S.E., Holmlund, P. & Isaksson, E. 1997. Spatial distribution of snow in western Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, mapped by a ground-based snow radar. Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth, 102, 10.1029/97JB01441.Google Scholar
Scambos, T.A., Haran, T.M., Fahnestock, M.A., Painter, T.H. & Bohlander, J. 2007. MODIS-based Mosaic of Antarctica (MOA) data sets: continent-wide surface morphology and snow grain size. Remote Sensing of Environment, 111, 242–257.Google Scholar
Schlosser, E., Manning, K.W., Powers, G.J., Duda, M.G., Birnbaum, G. & Fujita, K. 2010. Characteristics of high-precipitation events in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 115, 10.1029/2009JD013410.Google Scholar
Shuman, C.A., Zwally, H.J., Schutz, B.E., Brenner, A.C., DiMarzio, J.P., Suchdeo, V.P. & Fricker, H.A. 2006. ICESat Antarctic elevation data: preliminary precision and accuracy assessment. Geophysical Research Letters, 33, 10.1029/2005GL025227.Google Scholar
Sommerfeld, R.A. & LaChapelle, E. 1970. The classification of snow metamorphism. Journal of Glaciology, 9, 3–17.Google Scholar
Sugiyama, S., Enomoto, H., Fujita, S., Fukui, K., Nakazawa, F., Holmlund, P. & Surdyk, S. 2012. Snow density along the route traversed by the Japanese-Swedish Antarctic Expedition 2007/08. Journal of Glaciology, 58, 529–539.Google Scholar
ISMASS Committee . 2004. Recommendations for the collection and synthesis of Antarctic ice sheet mass balance data. Global and Planetary Change, 42, 1–15.Google Scholar
Van den Broeke, M., Reijmer, C, van As, D., De Wal, R.V. & Oerlemans, J. 2005. Seasonal cycles of Antarctic surface energy balance from automatic weather stations. Annals of Glaciology, 41, 131–139.Google Scholar
Wiscombe, W.J. & Warren, S.G. 1980. A model for the spectral albedo of snow. I: Pure snow. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 37, 2712–2733.Google Scholar
Zwally, H.J., Giovinetto, M.B., Li, J., Cornejo, H.G., Beckley, M.A., Brenner, A.C., Saba, J.L. & Yi, D.H. 2005. Mass changes of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and shelves and contribution to sea-level rise: 1992–2002. Journal of Glaciology, 51, 509–527.Google Scholar