The GLACIOCLIM SurfAce Mass Balance of Antarctica (SAMBA) Observatory

Adéile Land research observatory, used by LGGE-CNRS, France (The Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l’Environnement).

See http://www-lgge.ujf-grenoble.fr/ServiceObs/SiteWebAntarc/glacioclim-samba.html for full information.

French and French-Italian stations in Terre Adélie and at Dome C (Wilkes Land) provide an opportunity (i.e. access and logistical support) for long term monitoring of the surface mass balance of Antarctica in these regions. The projected observation system includes stakes networks on the coastal blue ice at Cap Prudhomme near the Dumont d’Urville station and at Dome C near the Concordia station, as well as a 150 km stakes line extending from Cap Prudhomme inland, in the general direction of Dome C (see map below).

Meteorological observations are currently available at Dumont d’Urville (Météo-France operational weather station on Petrels Island, 5km from the coast), at Cap Prudhomme (GLACIOCLIM automatic weather station) on the coast, at D10 and D47 (~5 km and ~150 km inland from Cap Prudhomme; University of WisconsinAntarctic Meteorological Research Program Automatic Weather Stations [AMRC-AWS]) and at Dome C (AMRC-AWS).

Most field equipment, access to and life support in Antarctica for scientists in charge of the program, and logistical support for setting up, maintaining and regularly monitoring the observation system, are currently provided by the french polar institute (IPEV). This is IPEV program 411. The French Ministry of Research and National Institute for Sciences of the Universe (INSU) also provide support to this programme.

The stakes line is surveyed once a year during the Antarctic summer. The Dome C stakes are monitored once a year in summer at least, and also in winter for the network close to the Concordia station. The Cap Prudhomme blue ice network is surveyed in winter provided access from the Dumont d’Urville station is safe (unlikely in austral fall as long as sea-ice is not firmly established). Meteorological data are basically available year round.

The program was initiated in early 2004.

CALVA Programme

This site is also used for the French Polar Institute’s CALVA program, which includes activities for ice2sea.

The ongoing global climate change has a complex signature in Antarctica. The set-back of the stratospheric ozone hole (Montreal protocol), natural variability cycles (Antarctic oscillation), a complex contribution by the southern ocean, presently result in a delayed response on a large part of the continent (east Antarctica) but a strong signature elsewhere (Peninsula, Weddell and Belingshausen sectors).

It is very likely that climate changes in the course of the present century will be significant over Antarctica (Krinner et al. 2007, Genthon et al. 2009) but the magnitude and detailed chronology of this change remains to be firmly established. Climate change over Antarctica will affect mass balance and thus sea-level with global consequences.

Therefore, it is important to make sure that meteorological and climate models used to predict climate and mass balance change over Antarctica are calibrated and validated with proper field data. Such observation is necessarily of limited spatial and to some extent temporal significance. It is thus important to also improve our ability to exploit satellite information to inter- and extrapolate the field data to scales compatible with models and more generally to the full scale of Antarctica. A main point about the present project is is that it jointly coordinates field activities in support of both climate models and satellite remote sensing.

The objectives of the project are to deploy, maintain and exploit a set of automatic autonomous instrumental systems, to carry manual observations on the field , and to participate in special observing campaigns to improve calibration of and validate analysis and forecast climate models and satellite data processing algorithms. Selection of necessary data and of methods to acquire the data are thus determined by the common and specific needs of models and remote sensing.