Impacts of snow accumulation on air temperature measured by automatic weather stations on the Antarctic ice sheet  

作　　者：MAYongFeng BIAN LinGen XIAO CunDe 

机构地区：[1]Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China [2]College of Earth Science, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China [3]State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

出　　处：《Chinese Journal of Polar Science》2011年第1期17-24,共8页极地研究（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos.40575033, 40776002, 40620120112);the National Science and Technology Infrastructure Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant no. 2006BAC06B05)

摘　　要：The heights of automatic weather station （AWS） sensors over the Antarctic ice sheet are nominal and change with snow accumulation or ablation. Therefore, the measured data may not be used directly. In this study, we analyzed the impact of snow accumulation on AWS observations using continuous measurements from three AWS that were deployed on the traverse route from the Zhongshan Station to Dome A over East Antarctica. We then corrected the measured air temperature to account for changes in the sensor height relative to the snow surface to improve the authenticity and representativeness of the observation data from the AWS. The results show that （i） the annual mean snow accumulations at Dome A, Eagle and LGB69 were approximately O. 11 m, 0.30 m and 0.49 m, respectively, and the corresponding annual mean air temperature differences between the corrected and measured values at 1 m in height were 0.34℃, 0.29℃ and 0.35℃ （ii） the impact on air temperature from accumulation decreases with height from the surface; （iii） the air temperature difference between the corrected and measured values was not directly proportional to the snow accumulation but was related to the seasonal air temperature variations and the intensity of the local surface inversion; and （iv） the averaged corrected air temperature was higher than the measured values except during the summer when there were days without temperature inversion. The magnitude of the temperature difference between the corrected and measured was mainly determined by snow accumulation and the intensity of the local surface inversion.The heights of automatic weather station （AWS） sensors over the Antarctic ice sheet are nominal and change with snow accumulation or ablation. Therefore, the measured data may not be used directly. In this study, we analyzed the impact of snow accumulation on AWS observations using continuous measurements from three AWS that were deployed on the traverse route from the Zhongshan Station to Dome A over East Antarctica. We then corrected the measured air temperature to account for changes in the sensor height relative to the snow surface to improve the authenticity and representativeness of the observation data from the AWS. The results show that （i） the annual mean snow accumulations at Dome A, Eagle and LGB69 were approximately O. 11 m, 0.30 m and 0.49 m, respectively, and the corresponding annual mean air temperature differences between the corrected and measured values at 1 m in height were 0.34℃, 0.29℃ and 0.35℃ （ii） the impact on air temperature from accumulation decreases with height from the surface; （iii） the air temperature difference between the corrected and measured values was not directly proportional to the snow accumulation but was related to the seasonal air temperature variations and the intensity of the local surface inversion; and （iv） the averaged corrected air temperature was higher than the measured values except during the summer when there were days without temperature inversion. The magnitude of the temperature difference between the corrected and measured was mainly determined by snow accumulation and the intensity of the local surface inversion.

关 键 词：AWS snow accumulation temperature correction 

分 类 号：P415.12[天文地球—大气科学及气象学] TU831.1[建筑科学—供热、供燃气、通风及空调工程]