Surface mass balance (snow accumulation rate) at Dome Fuji

The surface mass balance (SMB) at Dome Fuji, East Antarctica, was estimated using 36 bamboo stakes (grid of 6 x 6, placed at 20-m intervals) from 1995 to 2006. The heights of the stake tops from the snow surface were measured at 0.5 cm resolution twice monthly in 1995, 1996, 1997, and 2003, and once a year for the rest of the study period. To account for snow settling, the average snow density at the stake base during the measurements was used for converting the stake-height data to SMB. The annual SMB from 1995 to 2006 at Dome Fuji was 27.3 ± 1.5 kg m-2 a-1. This result agrees well with the annual SMB from AD 1260 to 1993 (26.4 kg m-2 a-1) estimated from volcanic signals in the Dome Fuji ice core.