Effect of a warm air masses in April on the snowpack properties of the
MOSAiC floe
Abstract
An improved understanding of the seasonality of the Arctic snowpack
properties related to the timing and intensity of snowmelt processes is
the key driver to better quantify atmosphere-ice-ocean interactions, and
in particular the seasonal energy and mass budgets of the ice-covered
polar oceans. Various satellite data products over the last decades have
shown a trend towards an earlier snowmelt onset in the Arctic, thus
contributing to Arctic amplification and sea-ice decline, underlining
the need to better understand these processes. We present here the
physical snow properties from spring 2020 examined during the
“Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic
Climate” (MOSAiC). We focus on southerly air mass advection events in
mid-April that were associated with near-surface air temperatures near
freezing at the MOSAiC floe. In doing so, we emphasize a single sampling
site that was revisited daily-to-weekly throughout the spring. At the
sampling site, snow depth ranged from 10 to 14 cm with the bulk density
varying between 200 to 350 kg m-3, mainly driven by freshly fallen snow.
The vertical snow structure prior to the warm event was characterized by
large pores with distinct snow crystal structures and widespread depth
hoar crystals, both related to the strong temperature gradient in the
snowpack. During the warm air intrusion, increasing temperatures
temporarily reversed the thermal gradient in the snow. The warm snow
surface, now above a relatively cold snow/ice interface, resulted
temporary negative vertical heat flux values observed to be up to -12
Wm-2. Because the snow/ice interface is close to freezing, the negative
flux is an indicator that melt may have occurred. Once temperatures
dropped again, the vertical temperature and heat flux gradients returned
back to the previous patterns. However, the decreased snow grain sizes
throughout the snowpack due to the warming and the associated compacted
lower layers now dominated the snowpack. Such a temporary warm spell
event has decisive impacts on the sea-ice energy and mass budget of the
MOSAiC floe. Understanding this effect on a local scale will help to
transfer that knowledge to larger spatial scales, and thus to quantify
the influence of warm air intrusions during winter and/or spring in the
ice-covered Arctic basin.