TY - JOUR
T1 - Meteorological regimes and accumulation patterns at Utsteinen, Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica: Analysis of two contrasting years
AU - Gorodetskaya, I.V.
AU - van Lipzig, N.P.M.
AU - van den Broeke, M.R.
AU - Mangold, A.
AU - Boot, W.
AU - Reijmer, C.H.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Since February 2009, an automatic weather station (AWS) has been operating near
Utsteinen Nunatak, north of the Sør Rondane Mountains, in Dronning Maud Land at the
ascent to the East Antarctic Plateau. This paper gives an assessment of the meteorological
conditions, radiative fluxes, and snow accumulation for the first 2 years of operation, 2009 to
2010, analyzed in terms of meteorological regimes. Three major meteorological regimes—
cold katabatic, warm synoptic, and transitional synoptic—are identified using cluster analysis
based on five parameters derived from the AWS measurements (wind speed, specific
humidity, near-surface temperature inversion, surface pressure, and incoming longwave flux
indicative of cloud forcing). For its location, the relatively mild climate at Utsteinen can be
explained by the high frequency of synoptic events (observed 41%–48% of the time), and a
lack of drainage of cold air from the plateau due to mountain sheltering. During the cold
katabatic regime, a strong surface cooling leads to a strong near-surface temperature inversion
buildup. A large difference in accumulation is recorded by the AWS for the first 2 years:
235mm water equivalent in 2009 and 27mm water equivalent in 2010. Several large
accumulation events during the warm synoptic regime occurring mainly in winter were
responsible for the majority of the accumulation in 2009. Mostly, small accumulation events
occurred during 2010, frequently followed by snow removal. This interannual variability in
snow accumulation at the site is related to the intensity of the local synoptic events as recorded
by meteorological regime characteristics.
AB - Since February 2009, an automatic weather station (AWS) has been operating near
Utsteinen Nunatak, north of the Sør Rondane Mountains, in Dronning Maud Land at the
ascent to the East Antarctic Plateau. This paper gives an assessment of the meteorological
conditions, radiative fluxes, and snow accumulation for the first 2 years of operation, 2009 to
2010, analyzed in terms of meteorological regimes. Three major meteorological regimes—
cold katabatic, warm synoptic, and transitional synoptic—are identified using cluster analysis
based on five parameters derived from the AWS measurements (wind speed, specific
humidity, near-surface temperature inversion, surface pressure, and incoming longwave flux
indicative of cloud forcing). For its location, the relatively mild climate at Utsteinen can be
explained by the high frequency of synoptic events (observed 41%–48% of the time), and a
lack of drainage of cold air from the plateau due to mountain sheltering. During the cold
katabatic regime, a strong surface cooling leads to a strong near-surface temperature inversion
buildup. A large difference in accumulation is recorded by the AWS for the first 2 years:
235mm water equivalent in 2009 and 27mm water equivalent in 2010. Several large
accumulation events during the warm synoptic regime occurring mainly in winter were
responsible for the majority of the accumulation in 2009. Mostly, small accumulation events
occurred during 2010, frequently followed by snow removal. This interannual variability in
snow accumulation at the site is related to the intensity of the local synoptic events as recorded
by meteorological regime characteristics.
U2 - 10.1002/jgrd.50177
DO - 10.1002/jgrd.50177
M3 - Article
SN - 2169-897X
VL - 118
SP - 1
EP - 16
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
ER -