Snow Accumulation at Mt Erebus Saddle

The topography of Mt Erebus Saddle promotes strong winds leading to significant compaction of the surface snow (~0.45 gcm⁻³). Furthermore, average snow accumulation lies in the range of 72 – 150 cm yr⁻¹ water equivalent (Fig.XX). This is more than one order of magnitude higher than the regional average (Bromwich, 1988; Bromwich et al., 1998; Bertler et al., 2004a; Bertler et al., 2004b) and provides ideal characteristics for a high resolution ice core gas record. To measure the accumulation rate at the drill site we deployed three snow stakes, which we hope will endure the high wind velocities and snow accumulation.

Fig. 7: Snow accumulation (cm) in the Southern McMurdo Sound region (after Bromwich)