Airborne-radar and ice-core observations of annual snow accumulation over Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica confirm the spatiotemporal variability of global and regional atmospheric models
Citable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/6234As published
https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50706DOI
10.1002/grl.50706Keyword
West Antarctica; Snow accumulation; Airborne radar; FirnAbstract
We use an airborne-radar method, verified with ice-core accumulation records, to determine the spatiotemporal variations of snow accumulation over Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica between 1980 and 2009. We also present a regional evaluation of modeled accumulation in Antarctica. Comparisons between radar-derived measurements and model outputs show that three global models capture the interannual variability well (r > 0.9), but a high-resolution regional model (RACMO2) has better absolute accuracy and captures the observed spatial variability (r = 0.86). Neither the measured nor modeled accumulation records over Thwaites Glacier show any trend since 1980. Although an increase in accumulation may potentially accompany the observed warming in the region, the projected trend is too small to detect over the 30 year record.
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Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 40 (2013): 3649–3654, doi:10.1002/grl.50706.
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Suggested Citation
Article: Medley, Brooke, Joughin, Ian, Das, Sarah B., Steig, Eric J., Conway, Howard, Gogineni, S., Criscitiello, Alison S., McConnell, Joseph R., Smith, B. E., van den Broeke, Michiel R., Lenaerts, Jan T. M., Bromwich, D. H., Nicolas, J. P., "Airborne-radar and ice-core observations of annual snow accumulation over Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica confirm the spatiotemporal variability of global and regional atmospheric models", Geophysical Research Letters 40 (2013): 3649–3654, DOI:10.1002/grl.50706, https://hdl.handle.net/1912/6234Related items
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