On the Snow Accumulation Pattern in Coastal East Antarctica

In light of future sea-level change investigations of the polar ice sheets have become a major concern in climate sciences. Despite all research efforts it is not accurately known today whether the large ice sheet of Antarctica is losing or gaining mass. This leads to large uncertainties in predictions regarding sea-level rise in the 21st century. Part of the uncertainty in determination of the Antarctic mass balance is due to the fact that this huge continent is not covered sufficiently by ground-based measurements. Helgard Anschütz contributes with her study on snow-accumulation rates in coastal East Antarctica new data sets and insight in local features that affect the accumulation pattern. The study discusses small-scale spatial and temporal variability of snow accumulation over the last decades in relation to current satellite missions and large-scale models. This book is essentially her Ph.D. thesis and will be of interest for climate scientist and everybody interested in the polar regions and their effect on global climate.