CCN measurements at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica research station during three austral summers

For three austral summer seasons (2013-2016, each from December to February) aerosol particles arriving at the Belgian Antarctic research station Princess Elisabeth (PE) in Dronning Maud Land in East Antarctica were characterized. This included number concentrations of total aerosol particles (N CN ) and cloud condensation nuclei (N CCN ), the particle number size distribution (PNSD), the aerosol particle hygroscopicity, and the influence of the air mass origin on N CN and N CCN . In general N CN was found to range from 40 to 6700cm -3 , with a median of 333cm -3 , while N CCN was found to cover a range between less than 10 and 1300cm-3 for supersaturations (SSs) between 0.1% and 0.7%. It is shown that the aerosol is dominated by the Aitken mode, being characterized by a significant amount of small, and therefore likely secondarily formed, aerosol particles, with 94% and 36% of the aerosol particles smaller than 90 and ≈35nm, respectively. Measurements of the basic meteorological parameters as well as the history of the air masses arriving at the measurement station indicate that the station is influenced by both marine air masses originating from the Southern Ocean and coastal areas around Antarctica (marine events - MEs) and continental air masses (continental events - CEs). CEs, which were defined as instances when the air masses spent at least 90% of the time over the Antarctic continent during the last 10 days prior to arrival at the measurements station, occurred during 61% of the time during which measurements were done. CEs came along with rather constant N CN and N CCN values, which we denote as Antarctic continental background concentrations. MEs, however, cause large fluctuations in N CN and N CCN , with low concentrations likely caused by scavenging due to precipitation and high concentrations likely originating from new particle formation (NPF) based on marine precursors. The application of HYSPLIT back trajectories in form of the potential source contribution function (PSCF) analysis indicate that the region of the Southern Ocean is a potential source of Aitken mode particles. On the basis of PNSDs, together with N CCN measured at an SS of 0.1%, median values for the critical diameter for cloud droplet activation and the aerosol particle hygroscopicity parameter ° were determined to be 110nm and 1, respectively. For particles larger than ĝ‰110nm the Southern Ocean together with parts of the Antarctic ice shelf regions were found to be potential source regions. While the former may contribute sea spray particles directly, the contribution of the latter may be due to the emission of sea salt aerosol particles, released from snow particles from surface snow layers, e.g., during periods of high wind speed, leading to drifting or blowing snow. The region of the Antarctic inland plateau, however, was not found to feature a significant source region for aerosol particles in general or page276 for cloud condensation nuclei measured at the PE station in the austral summer

AWS measurements at the Belgian Antarctic station Princess Elisabeth, in Dronning Maud Land, for precipitation and surface mass balance studies

The Antarctic mass balance and the hydrological cycle of the entire planet are tightly linked together. Evaporation from the ocean surface in the tropical and middle latitudes, poleward moisture and energy transport, changes in the midlatitude atmospheric dynamics, cloud formation microphysics - all these processes determine the amount of precipitation in Antarctica. The main objective of our project is to improve the understanding of the atmospheric branch of the hydrological cycle of Antarctica covering the chain from evaporation/sublimation at the surface via cloud formation to snowfall. As there is a lack of data on the clouds and precipitation processes in the Antarctic, the first goal is to establish a new database that can be used for local process studies and large-scale model evaluation. The base for our measurements is the new Belgian Antarctic station Princess Elisabeth (PE) built on the Utsteinen Ridge in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica (71 57’ S and 23 20’ E, 1400masl, 180km inland). Princess Elisabeth station is located in a nearly thousand kilometer wide "data gap", where no long-term measurements of the surface mass balance have been done up to date and where regional climate models show large differences in snow accumulation estimates

Meteorological regimes and accumulation patterns at Utsteinen, Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica: Analysis of two contrasting years

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

Surface and snowdrift sublimation at Princess Elisabeth station, East Antarctica

In the near-coastal regions of Antarctica, a significant fraction of the snow precipitating onto the surface is removed again through sublimation – either directly from the surface or from drifting snow particles. Meteorological observations from an Automatic Weather Station (AWS) near the Belgian research station Princess Elisabeth in Dronning Maud Land, East-Antarctica, are used to study surface and snowdrift sublimation and to assess their impacts on both the surface mass balance and the surface energy balance during 2009 and 2010. Comparison to three other AWSs in Dronning Maud Land with 11 to 13 yr of observations shows that sublimation has a significant influence on the surface mass balance at katabatic locations by removing 10–23% of their total precipitation, but at the same time reveals anomalously low surface and snowdrift sublimation rates at Princess Elisabeth (17mmw.e. yr−1 compared to 42mmw.e. yr−1 at Svea Cross and 52mmw.e. yr−1 at Wasa/Aboa). This anomaly is attributed to local topography, which shields the station from strong katabatic influence, and, therefore, on the one hand allows for a strong surface inversion to persist throughout most of the year and on the other hand causes a lower probability of occurrence of intermediately strong winds. This wind speed class turns out to contribute most to the total snowdrift sublimation mass flux, given its ability to lift a high number of particles while still allowing for considerable undersaturation

Ground-based observations of cloud properties, precipitation and meteorological conditions at Princess Elisabeth station in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

To understand the current and future evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet, a good knowledge of the surface mass balance is essential. Regional climate models have proven to be suitable tools for this purpose, but only if they realistically represent the meteorological conditions in the region of interest. It is important to evaluate not only the net accumulation in the models, but also the processes leading to precipitation. Clouds are of importance both for precipitation formation and for the surface radiative budget. As there is a lack of data on the clouds and precipitation processes in the Antarctic, the first goal of our project is to establish a new database that can be used for an in-depth model evaluation

AWS measurements at the Belgian Antarctic station Princess Elisabeth, in Dronning Maud Land, for precipitation and surface mass balance studies

The Antarctic mass balance and the hydrological cycle of the entire planet are tightly linked together. Evaporation from the ocean surface in the tropical and middle latitudes, poleward moisture and energy transport, changes in the midlatitude atmospheric dynamics, cloud formation microphysics - all these processes determine the amount of precipitation in Antarctica. The main objective of our project is to improve the understanding of the atmospheric branch of the hydrological cycle of Antarctica covering the chain from evaporation/sublimation at the surface via cloud formation to snowfall. As there is a lack of data on the clouds and precipitation processes in the Antarctic, the first goal is to establish a new database that can be used for local process studies and large-scale model evaluation. The base for our measurements is the new Belgian Antarctic station Princess Elisabeth (PE) built on the Utsteinen Ridge in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica (71 57’ S and 23 20’ E, 1400masl, 180km inland). Princess Elisabeth station is located in a nearly thousand kilometer wide "data gap", where no long-term measurements of the surface mass balance have been done up to date and where regional climate models show large differences in snow accumulation estimates

High variability of climate and surface mass balance induced by Antarctic ice rises

Ice rises play key roles in buttressing the neighbouring ice shelves and potentially provide palaeoclimate proxies from ice cores drilled near their divides. Little is known, however, about their influence on local climate and surface mass balance (SMB). Here we combine 12 years (2001–12) of regional atmospheric climate model (RACMO2) output at high horizontal resolution (5.5 km) with recent observations from weather stations, ground penetrating radar and firn cores in coastal Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, to describe climate and SMB variations around ice rises. We demonstrate strong spatial variability of climate and SMB in the vicinity of ice rises, in contrast to flat ice shelves, where they are relatively homogeneous. Despite their higher elevation, ice rises are characterized by higher winter temperatures compared with the flat ice shelf. Ice rises strongly influence SMB patterns, mainly through orographic uplift of moist air on the upwind slopes. Besides precipitation, drifting snow contributes significantly to the ice-rise SMB. The findings reported here may aid in selecting a representative location for ice coring on ice rises, and allow better constraint of local ice-rise as well as regional ice-shelf mass balance

The extraordinary March 2022 East Antarctica “heat” wave. Part II: impacts on the Antarctic ice sheet

Between March 15-19, 2022, East Antarctica experienced an exceptional heatwave with widespread 30-40° C temperature anomalies across the ice sheet. In Part I, we assessed the meteorological drivers that generated an intense atmospheric river (AR) which caused these record-shattering temperature anomalies. Here in Part II, we continue our large, collaborative study by analyzing the widespread and diverse impacts driven by the AR landfall. These impacts included widespread rain and surface melt which was recorded along coastal areas, but this was outweighed by widespread, high snowfall accumulations resulting in a largely positive surface mass balance contribution to the East Antarctic region. An analysis of the surface energy budget indicated that widespread downward longwave radiation anomalies caused by large cloud-liquid water contents along with some scattered solar radiation produced intense surface warming. Isotope measurements of the moisture were highly elevated, likely imprinting a strong signal for past climate reconstructions. The AR event attenuated cosmic ray measurements at Concordia, something previously never observed. Finally, an extratropical cyclone west of the AR landfall likely triggered the final collapse of the critically unstable Conger Ice Shelf while further reducing an already record low sea-ice extent

The extraordinary March 2022 East Antarctica “heat” wave. Part I: observations and meteorological drivers

Between March 15-19, 2022, East Antarctica experienced an exceptional heatwave with widespread 30-40° C temperature anomalies across the ice sheet. This record-shattering event saw numerous monthly temperature records being broken including a new all-time temperature record of -9.4° C on March 18 at Concordia Station despite March typically being a transition month to the Antarctic coreless winter. The driver for these temperature extremes was an intense atmospheric river advecting subtropical/mid-latitude heat and moisture deep into the Antarctic interior. The scope of the temperature records spurred a large, diverse collaborative effort to study the heatwave’s meteorological drivers, impacts, and historical climate context. Here we focus on describing those temperature records along with the intricate meteorological drivers that led to the most intense atmospheric river observed over East Antarctica. These efforts describe the Rossby wave activity forced from intense tropical convection over the Indian Ocean. This led to an atmospheric river and warm conveyor belt intensification near the coastline which reinforced atmospheric blocking deep into East Antarctica. The resulting moisture flux and upper-level warm air advection eroded the typical surface temperature inversions over the ice sheet. At the peak of the heatwave, an area of 3.3 million km2 in East Antarctica exceeded previous March monthly temperature records. Despite a temperature anomaly return time of about one hundred years, a closer recurrence of such an event is possible under future climate projections. In a subsequent manuscript, we describe the various impacts this extreme event had on the East Antarctic cryosphere