Bravo Lechuga, C orcid.org/0000-0003-4822-4786, Bozkurt, D, Gonzalez-Reyes, A et al. (4 more authors) (2019) Assessing Snow Accumulation Patterns and Changes on the Patagonian Icefields. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 7 (30). ISSN 2296-665X
Abstract
Recent evidence shows that most of Patagonian glaciers are receding rapidly. Due to the lack of in-situ long-term meteorological observations, the understanding of how glaciers are responding to changes in climate over this region is extremely limited and high uncertainties exist in the glacier surface mass balance model parameterizations. This precludes a robust assessment of glacier response to current and projected climate change. An issue of central concern is the accurate estimation of precipitation phase. In this work, we have assessed spatial and temporal patterns in snow accumulation in both the North Patagonia Icefield (NPI) and South Patagonia Icefield (SPI). We used a regional climate model, RegCM4.6 and four Phase Partitioning Methods (PPM) and short-term snow accumulation observations using ultrasonic depth gauges (UDG). Snow accumulation shows that rates are higher on the west side relative to the east side for both Icefields. The values depend on the PPM used and reach a mean difference of 1,500 mm w.e. with some areas reaching differences higher than 3,500 mm w.e. These differences could lead to divergent mass balance estimations, depending on the scheme used to define the snow accumulation. Good agreement is found in comparing UDG observations with modeled data on the plateau area of the SPI during a short time period, however, there are important differences between rates of snow accumulation determined in this work and previous estimations using ice core data at annual scale. Significant positive trends are mainly present in the autumn season on the west side of the SPI, while on the east side, significant negative trends in autumn were observed. Overall, for the rest of the area and during other seasons, no significant changes can be determined. In addition, glaciers with positive and stable elevation and frontal changes determined by previous works, are related to areas where snow accumulation has increased during the period 2000-2015. This suggests that increases in snow accumulation are attenuating the response of some Patagonian glaciers to warming in a regional context of overall glacier retreat.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Copyright © 2019 Bravo, Bozkurt, Gonzalez-Reyes, Quincey, Ross, Farías-Barahona and Rojas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) |
Keywords: | Snow accumulation, Patagonian icefields, Snow trends, Glacier mass balance, regional climate model |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) > River Basin Processes & Management (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 13 Mar 2019 13:21 |
Last Modified: | 27 Mar 2019 16:07 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Frontiers Media |
Identification Number: | 10.3389/fenvs.2019.00030 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:143576 |