Extreme firn metamorphism: impact of decades of vapor transport on near-surface firn at a low-accumulation glazed site on the East Antarctic plateau

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dc.contributor.authorAlbert, Mary
dc.contributor.authorShuman, Christopher
dc.contributor.authorCourville, Zoe
dc.contributor.authorBauer, Robert
dc.contributor.authorFahnestock, Mark
dc.contributor.authorScambos, Ted
dc.date.accessioned2022-02-21T15:09:15Z
dc.date.available2022-02-21T15:09:15Z
dc.date.issued2017-09-14
dc.description.abstractSnow and firn properties control the transport of vapor, gases and water between the atmosphere and the underlying strata. An understanding of this transport and the properties that control it is important for predicting air–snow transfer of chemical species and for interpreting ice cores. Remote-sensing images of East Antarctica show large areas of alternating light and dark bands. These low-amplitude, long-wavelength features have glazed downwind faces and rough upwind faces and are called megadunes. The first linked measurements of the permeability and the associated microstructure for a glazed area within a well-defined megadune area are reported in this paper. Permeability and density were measured, along with grain-scale properties derived from digital image processing of preserved thick sections, at this cold, low-accumulation glazed site. A clear layering pattern exists. In the top meter the firn density ranges from 0.24 to 0.50 g cm⁻³. Permeability measurements range from 50 x 10⁻¹⁰ to 200 x 10⁻¹⁰μ², several times greater than corresponding profiles from warmer, higher-accumulation sites like Siple Dome, Antarctica. It is shown that buoyancy-driven natural convection may be important in post-depositional processes in very cold, low-accumulation sites like this.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipWe thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor, M. Frezzotti; their constructive comments improved this paper. The 109th Air National Guard and Ken Borek Air provided superior air service in Antarctica. We thank Raytheon Polar Services for logistics and science support in Antarctica, and Ice Coring and Drilling Services for use of the hand-coring device. We also thank L. ‘Mac’ Cathles for assistance with the figures. The support of the US National Science Foundation through grant NSF-OPP 0125276 is gratefully acknowledged.en_US
dc.description.urihttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/annals-of-glaciology/article/extreme-firn-metamorphism-impact-of-decades-of-vapor-transport-on-nearsurface-firn-at-a-lowaccumulation-glazed-site-on-the-east-antarctic-plateau/152493260C339E986A8919D145CB64DDen_US
dc.format.extent6 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articlesen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m216sl-acpl
dc.identifier.citationAlbert, Mary, Christopher Shuman, Zoe Courville, Robert Bauer, Mark Fahnestock, and Ted Scambos. 2004. “Extreme Firn Metamorphism: Impact of Decades of Vapor Transport on near-Surface Firn at a Low-Accumulation Glazed Site on the East Antarctic Plateau.” Annals of Glaciology 39. Cambridge University Press: 73–78. doi:10.3189/172756404781814041.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.3189/172756404781814041
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/24292
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherCambridge University Pressen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology
dc.rightsThis work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.en_US
dc.rightsPublic Domain Mark 1.0*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/*
dc.titleExtreme firn metamorphism: impact of decades of vapor transport on near-surface firn at a low-accumulation glazed site on the East Antarctic plateauen_US
dc.typeTexten_US
dcterms.creatorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9606-767Xen_US

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