Abstract:

The research of surface energy balance on snow/ice on Antarctica ice sheet is the basis for coupling the cryosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere processes, which is of great significance for understanding the process of surface mass balance of the ice sheet and enhancing the level of polar weather and climate prediction. With the improvement of polar observations in recent years, great progress has been made in our understanding of the surface energy balance of the Antarctic ice sheet, especially in albedo parameterization and derivation of the effective thermal conductivity. However, because of the vast area and variable weather conditions of Antarctica, results from most of the existing studies are only applicable to local environments which limit our ability to model and forecast. Therefore, conducting scientific experiments in key climate regions, developing sensors for the special polar environment and a basic network of meteorological stations can deepen our understanding of ice/snow–air interactions, and contribute towards further improvements of parametric coupling schemes in numerical models.