Pattern of annual snow accumulation along a west Greenland flow line: no significant change observed during recent decades

Abstract

At 10 positions on a traverse along a West Greenland flow line, shallow drillings and pit studies were performed in summer 1990. Continuous in situ hydrogen peroxide analyses on these samples allowed the seasonal firn stratigraphy to be established and thus to collect seasonally adjusted subsamples from the core in the field. The mean annual accumulation rate decreases from about 440 mm water equivalent at the western sites T9 and T13 to about 250 mm at the central positions T41 and Crête. Most of the prominent inter-annual changes of the surface mass balance appear to be well preserved over the area investigated. A comparison of the accumulation rates of the last decades with earlier measurements along the same Greenland flow line shows no significant change in accumulation rates during the last forty years. Further, there is no significant evidence for a pronounced increase in the Greenland surface mass balance as suggested by satellite altimetry. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0889.1994.t01-3-00005.x