Abstract: Accurate and reliable measurements of near surface ice temperatures provide important inputs to numerical models that assess the mass and energy balances of polar ice sheets. Based on observation data collected from the 10 m temperature chain at Taishan Station during the 32nd Chinese Antarctic Research Expedition during 2015–2016, the high-resolution vertical profiles of snow temperature at Taishan Station was measured for the first time. The daily, monthly and seasonal characteristics of near-surface snow temperatures are discussed. Results show that the characteristics of heat transfer in the firn. Variations in temperature decrease with depth into the firn, while the phase of temperature variations exhibits gradually increasing lag with depth. The peak and trough of temperature fluctuations are delayed by more than 100 days from the near ground to a depth of 10 m. Additionally, there are notable seasonal distinctions in the vertical firn temperature regime. The temperature distribution profiles in winter and summer or spring and autumn are opposite but not completely symmetrical. The amplitude of near-surface temperature fluctuations in the summer is larger than that in winter, and the amplitude of near-surface temperature fluctuations in autumn is higher than that in spring, which is closely related to the heating effect of shortwave radiation and the phase lag of seasonal temperature fluctuations.

Key words: East Antarctica, Taishan Station, snow layer, temperature fluctuation, vertical temperature