Cunde Xiao

State of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean climate system

This paper reviews developments in our understanding of the state of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean climate, and its relation to the global climate system over the last few millennia. Climate over this and earlier periods has not been stable, as evidenced by the occurrence of abrupt changes in atmospheric circulation and temperature recorded in Antarctic ice core proxies for past climate. Two of the most prominent abrupt climate change events are characterized by intensification of the circumpolar westerlies (also known as the Southern Annular Mode) between ~6000 and 5000 years ago and since 1200-1000 years ago. Following the last of these is a period of major trans-Antarctic reorganization of atmospheric circulation and temperature between AD1700 and 1850. The two earlier Antarctic abrupt climate change events appear linked to but predate by several centuries even more abrupt climate change in the North Atlantic, and the end of the more recent event is coincident with reorganization of atmospheric circulation in the North Pacific. Improved understanding of such events and of the associations between abrupt climate change events recorded in both hemispheres is critical to predicting the impact and timing of future abrupt climate change events potentially forced by anthropogenic changes in greenhouse gases and aerosols. Special attention is given to the climate of the past 200 years, which was recorded by a network of recently available shallow firn cores, and to that of the past 50 years, which was monitored by the continuous instrumental record. Significant regional climate changes have taken place in the Antarctic during the past 50 years. Atmospheric temperatures have increased markedly over the Antarctic Peninsula, linked to nearby ocean warming and intensification of the circumpolar westerlies. Glaciers are retreating on the Peninsula, in Patagonia, on the sub-Antarctic islands, and in West Antarctica adjacent to the Peninsula. The penetration of marine air masses has become more pronounced over parts of West Antarctica. Above the surface, the Antarctic troposphere has warmed during winter while the stratosphere has cooled year-round. The upper kilometer of the circumpolar Southern Ocean has warmed, Antarctic Bottom Water across a wide sector off East Antarctica has freshened, and the densest bottom water in the Weddell Sea has warmed. In contrast to these regional climate changes, over most of Antarctica near-surface temperature and snowfall have not increased significantly during at least the past 50 years, and proxy data suggest that the atmospheric circulation over the interior has remained in a similar state for at least the past 200 years. Furthermore, the total sea ice cover around Antarctica has exhibited no significant overall change since reliable satellite monitoring began in the late 1970s, despite large but compensating regional changes. The inhomogeneity of Antarctic climate in space and time implies that recent Antarctic climate changes are due on the one hand to a combination of strong multi-decadal variability and anthropogenic effects and, as demonstrated by the paleoclimate record, on the other hand to multi-decadal to millennial scale and longer natural variability forced through changes in orbital insolation, greenhouse gases, solar variability, ice dynamics, and aerosols. Model projections suggest that over the 21st century the Antarctic interior will warm by 3.4° ± 1oC, and sea ice extent will decrease by ~30%. Ice sheet models are not yet adequate enough to answer pressing questions about the effect of projected warming on mass balance and sea level. Considering the potentially major impacts of a warming climate on Antarctica, vigorous efforts are needed to better understand all aspects of the highly coupled Antarctic climate system as well as its influence on the Earths climate and oceans.

Near surface climate of the traverse route from Zhongshan Station to Dome A, East Antarctica

Abstract Seasonal variation of temperature, pressure, snow accumulation, winds, and their harmonic analysis are presented by using the data from Zhongshan Station and three Automatic Weather Stations deployed between the East Antarctic coast and the summit of the ice sheet at Dome A for the period 2005–07. Results show that: 1) temperature, snow accumulation and specific humidity decrease with increasing elevation and distance from the coast, with snow accumulation decreasing from 199 mm water equivalent (w.e.) yr-1 at LGB69 (180 km from the coast) to 31 mm w.e. yr-1 at Dome A, 2) Dome A experiences an extremely low minimum temperature of -82.5°C with the monthly mean temperature below -50°C for eight months in contrast to Zhongshan Station which does not show any monthly mean temperatures below -20°C, 3) mean surface wind speed increases from the coast to the escarpment region, and then reduces rapidly towards the interior plateau with the strongest winds occurring at katabatic sites with the greatest surface slopes, 4) temperature and pressure all shows a distinct biannual oscillation with a main minimum in spring and a secondary minimum in autumn, differing slightly from station to station, and 5) winter temperature corelessness increases as a function of elevation and distance from the coast, from 0.260 at the coastal Zhongshan Station to 0.433 at Dome A.

Dissolved organic matter and inorganic ions in a central Himalayan glacier--insights into chemical composition and atmospheric sources.

Melting of Himalayan glaciers can be accelerated by the deposition of airborne black carbon and mineral dust as it leads to significant reductions of the surface albedo of snow and ice. Whereas South Asia has been shown a primary source region to these particles, detailed sources of these aerosol pollutants remain poorly understood. In this study, the chemical compositions of snow pit samples collected from Jima Yangzong glacier in the central Himalayas were analyzed to obtain information of atmospheric aerosols deposited from summer 2009 to spring 2010. Especially, an Aerodyne high resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) was used for the first time to chemically characterize the dissolved organic and inorganic matter (DOM and DIM) in snow samples. The concentrations of these species varied seasonally, with high levels observed during the winter-spring period and low levels during the summer monsoon period. On average, the dissolved substances was dominated by organics (58%) with important contributions from inorganic species, NO3(-) (12.5%), Ca(2+) (9.1%), NH4(+) (8.7%), and SO(4)(2-) (8.1%). DOM was found more oxidized with an average (± 1σ) atomic oxygen-to-carbon ratio (nO/nC) of 0.64 (± 0.14) and organic mass-to-carbon ratio (OM/OC) of 2.01 (± 0.19) during the winter-spring periods compared to the summer season (nO/nC = 0.31 ± 0.09 and OM/OC = 1.58 ± 0.12). In addition, biomass burning particles were found significantly enhanced in snow during the winter-spring periods, consistent with HYSPLIT back trajectory analysis of air mass history, which indicates prevailing atmospheric transport from northwest India and Nepal.

Surface characteristics at Dome A, Antarctica: first measurements and a guide to future ice-coring sites

Abstract An assessment of the glaciological and meteorological characteristics of Dome A, the summit of the East Antarctic ice sheet, is made based on field investigations during the austral summer of 2004/05. Knowledge of these characteristics is critical for future international studies such as deep ice-core drilling. The assessment shows that: (1) Dome A is characterized by a very low 10m depth firn temperature, –58.3˚C (nearly 3˚C lower than at EPICA Dome C and 1˚C lower than at Vostok). (2) Automatic weather station (AWS) measurements of snow surface height and reference layers in a snow pit indicate the present-day snow accumulation rate at Dome A is within the range 1–3cmw.e. a–1. Densification models suggest a range of 1–2cmw.e. a–1. This is lower than at other sites along the ice divide of East Antarctica (IDEA). Annual layers at Dome A are thus potentially thinner than at other sites, so that a longer record is preserved in a given ice thickness. (3) The average wind speed observed at Dome A (<4ms–1) is lower than at other sites along IDEA. Together, these parameters, combined with radio-echo sounding data and information on the subglacial drainage distribution beneath Dome A, suggest Dome A as a candidate site for obtaining the oldest ice core.

Widespread albedo decreasing and induced melting of Himalayan snow and ice in the early 21st century.

Background The widely distributed glaciers in the greater Himalayan region have generally experienced rapid shrinkage since the 1850s. As invaluable sources of water and because of their scarcity, these glaciers are extremely important. Beginning in the twenty-first century, new methods have been applied to measure the mass budget of these glaciers. Investigations have shown that the albedo is an important parameter that affects the melting of Himalayan glaciers. Methodology/Principal Findings The surface albedo based on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data over the Hindu Kush, Karakoram and Himalaya (HKH) glaciers is surveyed in this study for the period 2000–2011. The general albedo trend shows that the glaciers have been darkening since 2000. The most rapid decrease in the surface albedo has occurred in the glacial area above 6000 m, which implies that melting will likely extend to snow accumulation areas. The mass-loss equivalent (MLE) of the HKH glacial area caused by surface shortwave radiation absorption is estimated to be 10.4 Gt yr-1, which may contribute to 1.2% of the global sea level rise on annual average (2003–2009). Conclusions/Significance This work probably presents a first scene depicting the albedo variations over the whole HKH glacial area during the period 2000–2011. Most rapidly decreasing in albedo has been detected in the highest area, which deserves to be especially concerned.

The scope of science for the International Polar Year, 2007-2008

Produced by the ICSU/WMO Joint Committee for IPY 2007–2008 By: Ian Allison and Michel Beland (Co-Chairs), Keith Alverson, Robin Bell, David Carlson, Kjell Danell, Cynan Ellis-Evans, Eberhard Fahrbach, Edith Fanta, Yoshiyuki Fujii, Gisbert Gilbertson, Leah Goldfarb, Grete Hovelsrud-Broda, Johannes Huber, Vladimir Kotlyakov, Igor Krupnik, Jeronimo Lopez-Martinez, Tillmann Mohr, Dahe Qin, Volker Rachold, Chris Rapley, Odd Rogne, Eduard Sarukhanian, Colin Summerhayes, Cunde Xiao

Evaluation of atmospheric boundary layer–surface process relationships in a regional climate model along an East Antarctic traverse

Some primary physical relationships related to the surface climate and atmospheric boundary layer were examined over East Antarctica and evaluated in the regional climate model HIRHAM for 2005–2008. For stable conditions, the observation-derived relationship between wind-scaled sensible heat flux and air-surface temperature difference distinctively differs between different surface flux parameterizations. Some of them decrease the heat transfer coefficient CH for strongly stable conditions, while others, such as the Louis scheme, do not. However, HIRHAM’s application of the Louis parameterization produces small CH for strongly stable conditions similar to observations and other schemes, likely because a surface roughness much larger than observed is used and the bulk Richardson number differs. For Zhongshan, the observed radiation-cloud, temperature-cloud, and temperature-wind relationships are reproduced in the model, though quantitative differences are evident. An observed longwave warming effect of clouds is larger in the model, while the reduction of downwelling shortwave radiation by clouds is twice as large in the model. The model partially reproduces an observed weak wind regime associated with atmospheric decoupling, but fails to reproduce increasing temperatures with increasing winds. The quantitative differences in the radiation-cloud relationship suggest that errors in cloud characteristics produce a significant deficiency in downwelling net radiation for clear and cloudy conditions. This deficiency is the likely cause of HIRHAM’s strong cold bias in the surface temperature and positive bias in near-surface stability. The sensible heat flux analyses and a sensitivity test suggest that errors in the sensible heat flux relationship are not the primary cause.

Global pollution shown by lead and cadmium contents in precipitation of polar regions and Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

The analysis of the major ions, lead and cadmium has been performed for snow-pit samples collected from the Arctic, the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and the Antarctic Ice Sheet. These snow pits were excavated respectively from the snowpack in Canadian Northwest Territory (NWT) and the central Arctic, three glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and surface snow along the route of the International Trans-Antarctic Expedition (ITAE). The source regions for the lead pollution of central Arctic have been identified by analyzing of stable lead isotopic ratios, meteorological and atmospheric chemistry studies. It shows that the central Arctic is still under intensive lead input, despite the fact that lead content in Greenland Ice Sheet displays a rapid decreasing since the 1970s due to US and some European countries’ campaigns to reduce lead-containing gasoline-additives. This is because there are multiple lead sources for the central Arctic, including the countries that have not performed gasoline-additives reducing. The backgrounds of atmospheric aerosol compositions, as well as the concentrations of lead and cadmium in precipitation of the early 1990s, are contrasted among the Arctic, Antarctica and Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The measured lead content in the snowfall at the typical sites of the three regions is divided into natural (background) and anthropogenic components. It is found that natural lead concentration (mainly crustal and/or sea-salt lead) is roughly equal among the three regions (< 3×1012g · g1). However, the percentage of the natural lead to the measured lead is negligible in precipitation in the central Arctic and the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, while it is considerable in Antarctic precipitation. The anthropogenic component of lead (>50% in Antarctic precipitation, >97% in the Arctic and the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau ) is mainly responsible for the lead input to both polar regions and to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Lead pollution may have spread into the whole troposphere and the most remote regions on earth.

The seasonal variations of δ18O, Cl-, Na+, No3 - and Ca2+ in the snow and firn recovered from Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarctica

Snow and firn samples recovered from two snow pits (2.5 and 4.5 m deep) and one 50-m firn core along the route of the 1996/1997 Chinese First Antarctic Inland Traverse Expedition in Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica, have been measured for chemical composition and oxygen isotope ratio. In the two snow pits, the variations of NO3− are partly in phase with that of δ18O, while the variations of Cl− and Na− are in inverse phase with that of δ18O. The variations of Cl−, Na+, NO3− and δ18IO show obvious seasonal variations and annual stratagraphy. However, with the depth increasing, the seasonal variations of δ18O are gradually smoothed below 3 m (corresponding to about 10-year mass accumulation) in depth while the seasonal variations of Cl−, Na+ and NO3− are kept fairly well in the whole profile of the 50-m firn core (corresponding to about 250-year mass accumulation). The results provide a useful tool for dating the snow stratum in this region. On the contrary, no obvious seasonal variations of Ca2+ are found in the profiles.

Assessment of Snow Cover Vulnerability over the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Abstract By using daily air temperature and precipitation data, and the weather phenomena data of daily snowfall from 98 meteorological stations over the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), this paper performs an “at-risk” evaluation on snowfall and accumulated snow over the QTP under current climate situation and future climate warming condition. When rainfall, snowfall, or accumulated snow weather phenomena occur, critical values are determined based on daily air temperature and precipitation for current climate conditions. Air temperature of 0°C is defined as the critical value of temperature for rainfall or snowfall, while 0°C air temperature and 4.0 mm (autumn) or 3.0 mm (spring) snowfall amounts are defined as the critical values for accumulated snowfall. Analyses based on the above critical values disclose that under current climate condition, stations with “at-risk” accumulated snow account for 33% and 36% of all stations, and the “at-risk” snowfall stations reach 78% and 81% in autumn and spring, respectively. Spatially, most stations with “at-risk” accumulated snow are located on the southern and eastern edge of the QTP, and stations with “at-risk” snowfall are also apparent at the northern edge. If the air temperature increases by 2.5°C in 2050, only the snowfall at a few “at-risk” snowfall stations will transform into rainfall, while most “at-risk” accumulated snow stations will face the problem that snowfall is hardly accumulated. Additionally, most stations will become “at-risk” accumulated snow stations, indicating that both the snow depth and the snow cover duration will decline in most areas of the QTP, including a delay of the start date and an advancing of the end date of snow cover. Citation Ma, L., D. Qin, L. Bian, et al., 2011: Assessment of snow cover vulnerability over the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Adv. Clim. Change Res., 2 (2), doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1248.2011.00093.