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Inhibition of the positive snow-albedo feedback by precipitation in interior Antarctica

Abstract

The high albedo of snow largely determines the climate of polar regions by controlling energy absorption at the surface. In Antarctica, where light-absorbing impurities are few, snow albedo is mostly determined by the size of snow grains1. Snow metamorphism, the process of grain coarsening, occurs at a rate that increases with temperature2,3, so that snow albedo generally decreases as temperature increases. This increases energy absorption at the surface and atmospheric warming ensues, leading to a positive snow-albedo feedback. Here we use passive microwave satellite data and model outputs to show that this feedback is inhibited by small increases in precipitation. This is explained by the fact that grain coarsening in Antarctica is more sensitive to the deposition of small grains on the surface than previously assumed. We deduce that projected future increases in precipitation4 can increase snow albedo by 0.4% on average during the twenty-first century and hence overcompensate the expected albedo decrease owing to warming (0.3% for 3 °C). Albedo-change projections in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Projects 3 and 5 do not reach a consensus on the sign and amplitude of this compensation, showing the need for a finer representation of the impact of precipitation on albedo in Antarctica.

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Figure 1: Grain index and size time series at Dome C (75°06′ S, 123°23′ E) for the period November 2008–March 2010.
Figure 2: Time series of grain index and size at Dome C for the period 2001–2010.
Figure 3: Amplitude of grain-index increase in summer (1 December–15 January) as a function of accumulated precipitation between 1 December and 15 January.
Figure 4: Increase of the grain index in summer (1 December–15 January) in Antarctica (average 1999–2010).

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the LEFE/Charmant, PNTS, Ice2sea (European Union 7th Framework Programme number 226375; contribution number 94) and ANR MONISNOW programmes. We are grateful to the French Polar Institute (IPEV) for the logistic support at Concordia station in Antarctica through the CALVA programme. AMSU-B data were kindly provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System. We thank S. Warren and C. Zender for helpful comments.

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G.P. wrote the manuscript, processed satellite data, collected measurements at Dome C and ran the radiative transfer model and the metamorphism model. F.D. wrote the manuscript and interpreted grain size data. G.K. ran the LMDz model and processed CMIP data. L.A. and E.L. contributed to measurements.

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Correspondence to G. Picard.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Picard, G., Domine, F., Krinner, G. et al. Inhibition of the positive snow-albedo feedback by precipitation in interior Antarctica. Nature Clim Change 2, 795–798 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1590

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