Accumulation patterns around Dome C, East Antarctica, in the last 73 kyr

• Published in: The cryosphere Vol. 12; no. 4; pp. 1401 - 1414
• Main Authors: Cavitte, Marie G. P., Parrenin, Frédéric, Ritz, Catherine, Young, Duncan A., Van Liefferinge, Brice, Blankenship, Donald D., Frezzotti, Massimo, Roberts, Jason L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Katlenburg-Lindau Copernicus GmbH 17.04.2018; Copernicus; Copernicus Publications
• Subjects: Accumulation; Advection; Climatology; Curvature; Domes; Earth Sciences; Glaciology; Horizontal advection; Ice; Ice ages; Precipitation; Radar; Sciences of the Universe; Snow accumulation; Surveys; Topography; Wind direction; Antarctica; Lake Vostok
• ISSN: 1994-0424; 1994-0416; 1994-0424; 1994-0416
• DOI: 10.5194/tc-12-1401-2018

We reconstruct the pattern of surface accumulation in the region around Dome C, East Antarctica, since the last glacial. We use a set of 18 isochrones spanning all observable depths of the ice column, interpreted from various ice-penetrating radar surveys and a 1-D ice flow model to invert for accumulation rates in the region. The shallowest four isochrones are then used to calculate paleoaccumulation rates between isochrone pairs using a 1-D assumption where horizontal advection is negligible in the time interval of each layer. We observe that the large-scale (100s km) surface accumulation gradient is spatially stable through the last 73 kyr, which reflects current modeled and observed precipitation gradients in the region. We also observe small-scale (10 s km) accumulation variations linked to snow redistribution at the surface, due to changes in its slope and curvature in the prevailing wind direction that remain spatially stationary since the last glacial.