American Geophysical Union Become an AGU Member
Subscribe to AGU Journals		 AGU Home AGU Publications

Editor's Highlight

Subscriber Access to Full Article (Nonsubscribers may purchase for $9.00, Includes print PDF, file size: 158030 bytes)

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 35, L01706, doi:10.1029/2007GL032529, 2008

A doubling in snow accumulation in the western Antarctic Peninsula since 1850

Elizabeth R. Thomas

British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK


Gareth J. Marshall

British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK


Joseph R. McConnell

Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada, USA


Abstract

We present results from a new medium depth (136 metres) ice core drilled in a high accumulation site (73.59°S, 70.36°W) on the south-western Antarctic Peninsula during 2007. The Gomez record reveals a doubling of accumulation since the 1850s, from a decadal average of 0.49 mweq y−1 in 1855–1864 to 1.10 mweq y−1 in 1997–2006, with acceleration in recent decades. Comparison with published accumulation records indicates that this rapid increase is the largest observed across the region. Evaluation of the relationships between Gomez accumulation and the primary modes of atmospheric circulation variability reveals a strong, temporally stable and positive relationship with the Southern Annular Mode (SAM). Furthermore, the SAM is demonstrated to be a primary factor in governing decadal variability of accumulation at the core site (r = 0.66). The association between Gomez accumulation and ENSO is complex: while sometimes statistically significant, the relationship is not temporally stable. Thus, at decadal scales we can utilise the Gomez accumulation as a suitable proxy for SAM variability but not for ENSO.

Received 31 October 2007; accepted 6 December 2007; published 12 January 2008.

Keywords: snow accumulation; Southern Annular Mode; Antarctica.

Index Terms: 3305 Atmospheric Processes: Climate change and variability (1616, 1635, 3309, 4215, 4513); 0724 Cryosphere: Ice cores (4932); 1854 Hydrology: Precipitation (3354); 1621 Global Change: Cryospheric change (0776); 9310 Geographic Location: Antarctica (4207).

Subscriber Access to Full Article (Nonsubscribers may purchase for $9.00, Includes print PDF, file size: 158030 bytes)

Citation: Thomas, E. R., G. J. Marshall, and J. R. McConnell (2008), A doubling in snow accumulation in the western Antarctic Peninsula since 1850, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L01706, doi:10.1029/2007GL032529.