Insignificant Change in Antarctic Snowfall Since the International Geophysical Year
Andrew J. Monaghan,1*
David H. Bromwich,1
Ryan L. Fogt,1
Sheng-Hung Wang,1
Paul A. Mayewski,3
Daniel A. Dixon,3
Alexey Ekaykin,4
Massimo Frezzotti,5
Ian Goodwin,6
Elisabeth Isaksson,7
Susan D. Kaspari,3
Vin I. Morgan,8
Hans Oerter,9
Tas D. Van Ommen,8
Cornelius J. Van der Veen,2
Jiahong Wen10
Antarctic snowfall exhibits substantial variability over a range of time scales, with consequent impacts on global sea level and the mass balance of the ice sheets. To assess how snowfall has affected the thickness of the ice sheets in Antarctica and to provide an extended perspective, we derived a 50-year time series of snowfall accumulation over the continent by combining model simulations and observations primarily from ice cores. There has been no statistically significant change in snowfall since the 1950s, indicating that Antarctic precipitation is not mitigating global sea level rise as expected, despite recent winter warming of the overlying atmosphere.
1 Polar Meteorology Group, Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
2 Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
3 Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA.
4 Arctic and Antarctic Research Center, St. Petersburg 199397, Russia.
5 National Agency for New Technologies, Energy, and the Environment, Rome 00060, Italy.
6 School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales 2308, Australia.
7 Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromso N-9296, Norway.
8 Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Antarctic Division and Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, Private Bag 80, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia.
9 Alfred Wegner Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven D-27515, Germany.
10 Department of Geography, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: monaghan.11{at}osu.edu
