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How well can we parameterize past accumulation rates in polarice sheets?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Eric J. Steig*
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, U.S.A.
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Abstract

An important component of models of the cryosphere is the calculation ofaccumulation rates over polar ice sheets. As a first-order approximation,many models rely on the assumption that temperature is the main controllingfactor for precipitation. However, compilation of available ice-core data,including a new core from Taylor Dome, East Antarctica, suggests thatprecipitation is significantly decoupled from temperature for a largeproportion of both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. While theestimated glacial-to-interglacial change in temperature does not differgreatly among ice cores from each ice sheet, the estimated change inaccumulation rate varies by more than a factor of 2. A simple vapor-pressureparameterization gives reasonable estimates of accumulation in the ice-sheetinterior, but this is not necessarily the case close to the ice-sheetmargin, where synoptic weather systems are important.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © International Glaciological Society 1997
Figure 0

Fig. 1. Upper line: surface temperature at Vostok, Antarctica, over the last 25 ka on the “extended glaciological time-scale” (EGT) (Jouzel and others, 1993). Lower solid line: the relative accumulation rate (normalized to a modern value of 1) calculated from the vapor-pressure relationship (Lorius and others, 1985). Dotted line: the relative accumulation rate calculated from10 Be concentrations (Raisbeck and others, 1987).

Figure 1

Fig. 2. Upper line: surface temperature at Taylor Dome, Antarctica, calculated from δ18O measurements at Taylor Dome, assuming that δ18O = 8 δD+ 10 and ∂δD/∂T = 9‰/°C (after Jouzel and others, 1996). Lower line: relative accumulation rate from 10Be measurements (Steig, 1996).

Figure 2

Fig. 3. Upper line: surface temperature at Summit, Greenland, calculated from borehole temperatures and δ18O values (Cuffey and others, 1995). Lower solid line: relative accumulation rate calculated from the vapor-pressure relationship (Lorius and others, 1985). Dotted line: flow-model calculations of accumulation (Cuffey and Clow, in press).