Snow grain size surveys and remotely sensed analyses of snow conditions on East Antarctica - SnowGrainSize

Increased availability of remotely sensed data enables the development of studies on both spatial and temporal variations of processes and variables on Antarctic glaciers and ice sheets. This increased availability in remotely sensed data requires increased understanding of the surface properties and the relation between remote sensing data and field sampling. Snow grain size is a parameter of great interest being a function of the local climate determined by moisture content and air temperature. This study is exceptionally extensive; covering distance, depth, local variations and temporal changes. The study has 1104 separate samples, sampled using unchanged instrumentation and gathered by the same scientist. The spread of the samples are 0-4m in depth, 3000km in distance and elevation from 350 to 3615m.a.s.l. The grain size and shape results are correlated with coincident and historical satellite data including SAR imagery from ENVISAT ASAR, QuikSCAT scatterometry and optical-thermal satellite data (MERIS & MODIS) over the study area.

The scientific programmes were linked to several international consortia and the entire project was part of the Trans-Antarctic Scientific Traverses Expeditions ? Ice Divide of East Antarctica (TASTE-IDEA). The scientific programmes were developed from the International Trans Antarctic Scientific Expeditions (ITASE), the Japanese deep ice core drilling programme Dome F (NIPR) and the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA).

We ran a 3000 km traverse between the Japanese station Syowa and the Swedish station Wasa, via the deep ice core drilling sites Dome Fuji and EPICA-DML. The route covered areas in both the Antarctic Southern Atlantic Ocean sector and the Antarctic Indian Ocean sector. The traverse was carried out during the austral summer 2007/08.