Abstract
PRECIPITATION fluctuations over Antarctica are a potentially important contributor to variations in global sea level1,2. Direct measurement of precipitation is, however, fraught with practical difficulties3. Two methods may be used to calculate indirectly the net flux of water (precipitation minus sublimation rate) to the surface of Antarctica: the first uses values of poleward atmospheric moisture transport obtained from climatological studies, and the second uses glaciological measurements of the accumulation rate. Here I show that the two estimates so derived are in marked disagreement for the entire continent but concur for the interior area between 80° S and the pole. I conclude that the large discrepancy near the coast is due to a calculated poleward moisture transport that is smaller than the actual value, as a result of deficiencies in evaluating the effects of cyclones and surface winds at the coast. Improvements in the climatological atmospheric database should therefore make possible reliable estimates of Antarctic precipitation variations.
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Bromwich, D. Estimates of Antarctic precipitation. Nature 343, 627–629 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/343627a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/343627a0
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