The mass balance of Antarctica
This page exists mostly to hold some links to various
pages, reports, etc on the mass balance of Antarctica. By mass balance, I mean the difference
between accumulation and ablation. By accumulation I mean
primarily Precipitation minus Evaporation (P-E) (evaporation includes
sublimation in this context) although there are additional surface
losses from snowdrift and sublimation of lofted snow. By
ablation I mean primarily calving of icebergs, but this term also includes
loss by melting of the undersides of iceshelves.
Note that "surface mass balance" generally means the term that I have called accumulation
above, sometimes this is shortened just to "mass balance" and this can be
confusing. The surface mass balance is generally agreed to be about 150 mm/y (plus or minus up
to 20%, though the degree of accuracy is, of course, unknown too; also, the value is not
constant in time) (averaged
over Antarctica, but with very wide variations from more than 1000 mm/year to less that 50 mm/year
in the interior to some smaller areas with average net loss).
Antarctica: climate change and sea level (by Ice and Climate Division, BAS)
Antarctic Mass Balance and Sea Level Change (Charles R. Bentley)
igloo.gsfc.nasa.gov/wais/ (West Antarctic Ice Sheet Initiative)
World Data Center-A (WDC-A) for Glaciology (not directly relevant)
Reassessment of net surface mass balance in Antarctica
(David G. Vaughan et al.)
[draft paper] and the main figure
Some of my papers are relevant to the surface mass balance
Climate info for Antarctica including mass balance pictures.
Page by W. M. Connolley
NERC /
BAS /
ICD /
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