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  • 1
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 117 (2012): F02023, doi:10.1029/2011JF002126.
    Description: Antarctic ice sheet surface melting can regionally influence ice shelf stability, mass balance, and glacier dynamics, in addition to modulating near-surface physical and chemical properties over wide areas. Here, we investigate variability in surface melting from 1999 to 2009 using radar backscatter time series from the SeaWinds scatterometer aboard the QuikSCAT satellite. These daily, continent-wide observations are explored in concert with in situ meteorological records to validate a threshold-based melt detection method. Radar backscatter decreases during melting are significantly correlated with in situ positive degree-days as well as meltwater production determined from energy balance modeling at Neumayer Station, East Antarctica. These results support the use of scatterometer data as a diagnostic indicator of melt intensity (i.e., the relative liquid water production during melting). Greater spatial and temporal melting detected relative to previous passive microwave-based studies is attributed to a higher sensitivity of the scatterometer instrument. Continental melt intensity variability can be explained in part by the dynamics of the Southern Annular Mode and the Southern Oscillation Index, and extreme melting events across the Ross Ice Shelf region may be associated with El Niño conditions. Furthermore, we find that the Antarctic Peninsula accounts for only 20% of Antarctic melt extent but greater than 50% of the total Antarctic melt intensity. Over most areas, annual melt duration and intensity are proportional. However, regional and localized distinctions exist where the melt intensity metric provides greater insight into melting dynamics than previously obtainable with other remote sensing techniques.
    Description: Support for this research was provided by NASA grant NNX10AP09G and NSF grant ANT-063203.
    Description: 2012-11-17
    Keywords: Antarctica ; Melt intensity ; Remote sensing ; Surface melting
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
    Format: application/pdf
    Format: text/plain
    Format: application/postscript
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: 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 Journal of Geophysical Research 118 (2013): 118–130, doi:10.1029/2012JC008077.
    Description: Our understanding of past sea-ice variability is limited by the short length of satellite and instrumental records. Proxy records can extend these observations but require further development and validation. We compare methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and chloride (Cl–) concentrations from a new firn core from coastal West Antarctica with satellite-derived observations of regional sea-ice concentration (SIC) in the Amundsen Sea (AS) to evaluate spatial and temporal correlations from 2002–2010. The high accumulation rate (~39 g∙cm–2∙yr–1) provides monthly resolved records of MSA and Cl–, allowing detailed investigation of how regional SIC is recorded in the ice-sheet stratigraphy. Over the period 2002–2010 we find that the ice-sheet chemistry is significantly correlated with SIC variability within the AS and Pine Island Bay polynyas. Based on this result, we evaluate the use of ice-core chemistry as a proxy for interannual polynya variability in this region, one of the largest and most persistent polynya areas in Antarctica. MSA concentrations correlate strongly with summer SIC within the polynya regions, consistent with MSA at this site being derived from marine biological productivity during the spring and summer. Cl– concentrations correlate strongly with winter SIC within the polynyas as well as some regions outside the polynyas, consistent with Cl– at this site originating primarily from winter sea-ice formation. Spatial correlations were generally insignificant outside of the polynya areas, with some notable exceptions. Ice-core glaciochemical records from this dynamic region thus may provide a proxy for reconstructing AS and Pine Island Bay polynya variability prior to the satellite era.
    Description: This research was supported by an award from the Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship Program (DOE SCGF) to ASC, a James E. and Barbara V. Moltz Research Fellowship to SBD, and by grants from NSF-OPP (#ANT-0632031 & #ANT-0631973); NSF-MRI (#EAR-1126217); NASA Cryosphere Program (#NNX10AP09G); and a WHOI Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Award for Innovative Research.
    Description: 2013-07-25
    Keywords: Sea ice ; Polynyas ; Antarctica ; Amundsen Sea ; Pine Island Bay ; Methanesulfonic acid
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
    Format: application/pdf
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  • 3
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: 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): 6148–6153, doi:10.1002/2013GL058138.
    Description: This study generates novel satellite-derived estimates of Antarctic-wide annual (1999–2009) surface meltwater production using an empirical relationship between radar backscatter from the QuikSCAT (QSCAT) satellite and melt calculated from in situ energy balance observations. The resulting QSCAT-derived melt fluxes significantly agree with output from the regional climate model RACMO2.1 and with independent ground-based observations. The high-resolution (4.45 km) QSCAT-based melt fluxes uniquely detect interannually persistent and intense melt (〉400 mm water equivalent (w.e.) year−1) on interior Larsen C Ice Shelf that is not simulated by RACMO2.1. This supports a growing understanding of the importance of a föhn effect in this region and quantifies the resulting locally enhanced melting that is spatially consistent with recently observed Larsen C thinning. These new results highlight important cryosphere-climate interactions and processes that are presently not fully captured by the coarser-resolution (27 km) regional climate model.
    Description: This research was supported by NASA Headquarters under the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship Program (grant NNX12AO01H), the NASA Cryospheric Sciences Program (grant NNX10AP09G), and the NSF Antarctic Sciences Section (grant ANT-063203).
    Description: 2014-06-04
    Keywords: Antarctica ; Surface melt ; Ice shelves ; Remote sensing
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
    Format: text/plain
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  • 4
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 27 (2014): 1343–1363, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00148.1.
    Description: The climate of West Antarctica is strongly influenced by remote forcing from the tropical Pacific. For example, recent surface warming over West Antarctica reflects atmospheric circulation changes over the Amundsen Sea, driven by an atmospheric Rossby wave response to tropical sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. Here, it is demonstrated that tropical Pacific SST anomalies also influence the source and transport of marine-derived aerosols to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Using records from four firn cores collected along the Amundsen coast of West Antarctica, the relationship between sea ice–modulated chemical species and large-scale atmospheric variability in the tropical Pacific from 1979 to 2010 is investigated. Significant correlations are found between marine biogenic aerosols and sea salts, and SST and sea level pressure in the tropical Pacific. In particular, La Niña–like conditions generate an atmospheric Rossby wave response that influences atmospheric circulation over Pine Island Bay. Seasonal regression of atmospheric fields on methanesulfonic acid (MSA) reveals a reduction in onshore wind velocities in summer at Pine Island Bay, consistent with enhanced katabatic flow, polynya opening, and coastal dimethyl sulfide production. Seasonal regression of atmospheric fields on chloride (Cl−) reveals an intensification in onshore wind velocities in winter, consistent with sea salt transport from offshore source regions. Both the source and transport of marine aerosols to West Antarctica are found to be modulated by similar atmospheric dynamics in response to remote forcing. Finally, the regional ice-core array suggests that there is both a temporally and a spatially varying response to remote tropical forcing.
    Description: This research was supported by an award from the Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship Program (DOE SCGF) to ASC, a James E. and Barbara V. Moltz Research Fellowship to SBD, and grants from NSF-OPP (ANT- 0632031 and ANT-0631973), NSF-MRI (EAR- 1126217), and the NASA Cryosphere Program (NNX10AP09G), and a WHOI Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Award for Innovative Research.
    Description: 2014-08-01
    Keywords: Antarctica ; Sea ice ; Teleconnections ; Atmosphere-ocean interaction ; Climate records ; Interannual variability
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
    Format: application/pdf
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