Quantifying the snowmelt–albedo feedback at Neumayer Station, East Antarctica

Jakobs, Constantijn L.; Reijmer, Carleen H.; Kuipers Munneke, Peter; König-Langlo, Gert; van den Broeke, Michiel R.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1473-2019

Articles | Volume 13, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1473-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1473-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 13, issue 5

Research article

|

15 May 2019

Research article |

| 15 May 2019

Quantifying the snowmelt–albedo feedback at Neumayer Station, East Antarctica

Constantijn L. Jakobs, Carleen H. Reijmer, Peter Kuipers Munneke, Gert König-Langlo, and Michiel R. van den Broeke

Data sets

Basic and other measurements, and meteorological synoptical observations from Neumayer Station, 1992-04 to 2016-01, reference list of 572 datasets G. König-Langlo https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.874984

Short summary

We use 24 years of observations at Neumayer Station, East Antarctica, to calculate the surface energy balance and the associated surface melt, which we find to be mainly driven by the absorption of solar radiation. Meltwater can refreeze in the subsurface snow layers, thereby decreasing the surface albedo and hence allowing for more absorption of solar radiation. By implementing an albedo parameterisation, we show that this feedback accounts for a threefold increase in surface melt at Neumayer.