EGU2020-9891
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-9891
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Systematic underestimation of snow accumulation rate by stake measurements in central Antarctica

Alexey Ekaykin1,2, Natalia Tebenkova1,2, Vladimir Lipenkov1, Arina Veres1,2, Kirill Tchikhatchev1, and Andreas Richter3
Alexey Ekaykin et al.
  • 1Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Climate and Environment Research Laboratory, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (ekaykin@aari.ru)
  • 2Institute of Earth Sciences, St Petersburg State Univercity, St Petersburg, Russian Federation
  • 3TU Dresden, Institut für Planetare Geodäsie, Germany

We demonstrate that the accumulation-stake measurements in central Antarctica systematically underestimate the value of the snow build-up due to the compaction of snow layer between the stake base and the snow surface. We have developed two methods to define the corresponding correction to the snow build-up measurements at the stake farm near Vostok station. The first method is based on "Sorge's law" to calculate the rate of thinning of the snow layers using the vertical snow density profile. The second method consists of direct instrumental measurements of this thinning in the field. We have also involved the data of other two independent methods to estimate the snow accumulation rate in the vicinity of Vostok - first, geodetic data on the rate of snow layer sinking and, second, glaciological data from snow pits. The most reliable estimate of the snow accumulation rate in this region is 2.26±0.10 g cm-2 year-1, that is 8±4 % higher than initial (not corrected) value from the accumulation-stake measurements.

How to cite: Ekaykin, A., Tebenkova, N., Lipenkov, V., Veres, A., Tchikhatchev, K., and Richter, A.: Systematic underestimation of snow accumulation rate by stake measurements in central Antarctica, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-9891, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-9891, 2020