Local surface mass balance processes in East Antarctica

In Antarctica, direct observations of key processes shaping the surface mass balance such as precipitation and snow deposition, wind transport of snow, and sublimation, are sparse due to the extreme environment and related difficulties in measuring the variables of interest. The ongoing project ‘Local Surface Mass Balance in East Antarctica’ (LOSUMEA) is designed to address these processes at the local scale with the objective of gaining insight on the dominant surface mass and energy balance components and their link to near-surface atmospheric dynamics and surface and sub-surface snow properties. To this end, two measurement stations have been installed near the Princess Elisabeth Station, Antarctica, in December 2016. Besides standard meteorological data the stations are equipped with snow particle counters and 3-D sonic anemometers relating wind, turbulence and mass flux. Pre- and post-storm Terrestrial Laser Scans (TLS) record the resulting surface morphological changes. While preliminary data is being analyzed, the full data set of the year 2017 is retrieved in early 2018. Addition of moisture sensors in 2018 is expected to provide valuable information on latent heat fluxes related to sublimation. This contribution presents an overview of the project experiments, the data obtained to date as well as their analysis and some first results.