Modelling the influence of snow accumulation and snow-ice formation on the seasonal cycle of the Antarctic sea-ice cover

 Recent observational and numerical studies of the maritime snow cover in the Antarctic suggest that snow on top of sea ice plays a major role in shaping the seasonal growth and decay of the ice pack in the Southern Ocean. Here, we make a quantitative assessment of the importance of snow accumulation in controlling the seasonal cycle of the ice cover with a coupled snow–sea-ice–upper-ocean model. The model takes into account snow and ice sublimation and snow deposition by condensation. A parametrisation of the formation of snow ice (ice resulting from the freezing of a mixture of snow and seawater produced by flooding of the ice floes) is also included. Experiments on the sensitivity of the snow–sea-ice system to variations in the sublimation/condensation rate, the precipitation rate, and the amount of snowfall transported by the wind into leads are discussed. Although we focus on the model response in the Southern Hemisphere, results for the Arctic are also discussed in some cases to highlight the relative importance of the processes under study in both hemispheres. It is found that the snow loss by sublimation can account for the removal of 0.45 m of snow per year in the Antarctic and that this loss significantly affects the total volume of snow ice. A precipitation decrease of 50% is conducive to large reductions in the Antarctic snow and snow-ice volumes, but it leads only to an 8% decrease in the annual mean ice volume. The Southern Ocean ice pack is more sensitive to increases in precipitation. For precipitation rates 1.5 times larger than the control ones, the annual mean snow, ice, and snow-ice volumes augment by 30, 20, and 180%, respectively. It is also found that the transfer to the ocean of as much as 50% of the precipitating snow as a result of wind transport has almost negligible effects on the total ice volume. All the experiments exhibit a marked geographical contrast in the ice-cover response, with a much larger sensitivity in the western sector of the Southern Ocean than in the eastern sector. Our results suggest that snow-related processes are of secondary importance for determining the sensitivity of the Arctic sea ice to environmental changes but that these processes could have an important part to play in the response of the Antarctic sea-ice cover to future, or current, climatic changes. Received: 30 June 1997/Accepted: 2 October 1998     

Intraannual dissimilarities between monthly mean Northern Hemisphere temperature anomalies during the twentieth century

Summary Northern Hemisphere monthly mean temperature anomalies during the twentieth century exhibit seasonal differences. To expose the most significant intermonthly dissimilarities, here we investigate this issue in more details. We show that the trends significantly differ for the months close to the equinoxes. Using the technique of multidimensional scaling analysis we find that two underlying attributes are sufficient to acceptably describe the structure of the observed intermonthly dissimilarities. Namely, these are the monthly sample percentiles around the 30th and the 70th together with the linear trends. We find that intraannual temperature anomaly dissimilarities statistically depend on the seasonal cycles of the Northern Hemisphere oceanic heat content, sea ice and snow cover and the Arctic sea ice cover as well as on the seasonality of the chaoticity of the Northern Hemisphere atmospheric dynamics. We also speculate that the annual cycles of these ocean and cryosphere characteristics statistically set the pattern for the observed course of linear warming over the calendar months.     

Uncertainties of estimates of climatic change: A review

While climate modeling gives substantial information about the future climate, there are still many uncertainties. This review addresses the question of the response of the climate system to forcing by increasing atmospheric trace gases. The uncertainties of greatest concern are: the transient adjustment controlled by ocean heat uptake; the cover of snow and ice in high latitudes; the change in cloud radiative properties; and shifts in regional patterns connected to the ocean and land surfaces and to the internal dynamics of the atmosphere.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Snow cover validation and sensitivity to CO2 in the UVic ESCM

Abstract

The University of Victoria's (UVic) Earth System Climate model is used to conduct equilibrium atmospheric CO₂ sensitivity experiments over the range 200–1600 ppm in order to explore changes in northern hemisphere snow cover and feedbacks on terrestrial surface air temperature (SAT). Simulations of warmer climates predict a retreat of snow cover over northern continents, in a northeasterly direction. The decline in northern hemisphere global snow mass is estimated to reach 33% at 600 ppm and 54% at 1200 ppm. In the most northerly regions, annual mean snow depth increases for simulations with CO₂ levels higher than present day. The shift in the latitude of maximum snowfall is estimated to be inversely proportional to the CO₂ concentration. The northern hemisphere net shortwave radiation changes are found to be greater over land than over the ocean, suggesting a stronger albedo feedback from changes in terrestrial snow cover than from changes in sea ice. Results also reveal high sensitivity of the snow mass balance under low CO₂ conditions. The amplification feedback (defined as the zonal SAT anomaly caused by doubling CO₂ divided by the equatorial anomaly) is greatest for scenarios with less than 300 ppm, reaching 1.9 at the pole for 250 ppm. The stronger feedback is attributed to the significant albedo changes over land areas. The simulation with 200 ppm triggers continuous accumulation of snow ('glaciation') in regions which, according to paleo‐reconstructions, were covered by ice during the last glacial cycle (the Canadian Arctic, Scandinavia, and the Taymir Peninsula).     

The effect of atmospheric CO2 and ice sheet topography on LGM climate

The role of reduced atmospheric CO₂ concentration and ice sheet topography plus its associated land albedo on the LGM climate is investigated using a coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice climate system model. The surface cooling induced by the reduced CO₂ concentration is larger than that by the ice sheet topography plus other factors by about 30% for the surface air temperature and by about 100% for the sea surface temperature. A large inter-hemispheric asymmetry in surface cooling with a larger cooling in the Northern Hemisphere is found for both cases. This asymmetric inter-hemispheric temperature response is consistent in the ice sheet topography case with earlier studies using an atmospheric model coupled with a mixed-layer ocean representation, but contrasts with these results in the reduced CO₂ case. The incorporation of ocean dynamics presumably leads to a larger snow and sea ice feedback as a result of the reduction in northward ocean heat transport, mainly as a consequence of the decrease in the North Atlantic overturning circulation by the substantial freshening of the North Atlantic convection regions. A reversed case is found in the Southern Ocean. Overall, the reduction in atmospheric CO₂ concentration accounts for about 60% of the total LGM climate change.     

Test of a simple two-layer parameterisation to simulate the energy balance and temperature of a snow pack

Summary  Reasonably simple yet realistic modelling schemes simulating the heat and mass balance within a snow pack are required to provide the necessary boundary conditions for meteorological and hydrological models. An improvement to a one-layer snow energy balance model (UEB, Tarboton etal., 1995) is proposed to better simulate snow surface and snow pack temperatures and, as a result, snowmelt. The modified scheme is assessed against measured snow data from the WINTEX field campaign during spring 1997 in northern Finland, and compared with results from a complex multi-layer snow energy balance scheme. The results show that separation of a one-layer representation into two snow layers and a soil layer enables a more realistic simulation of soil and snow temperatures as well as of the snow surface temperature. The two-layer and the multi-layer snow schemes yielded comparable results for internal processes in the snow whenever the simulation was carried out under similar boundary forcing. The modified scheme is proposed for use as a sub-scheme in meteorological or hydrological models, or as a tool for simulating spatially-variable snowmelt and the surface energy balance during seasonal snow cover. Received November 18, 1999 Revised June 17, 2000     

General circulation model CO2 sensitivity experiments: Snow-sea ice albedo parameterizations and globally averaged surface air temperature

Two experiments are performed with the NCAR Community Climate Model (CCM) coupled to a swamp ocean with annually averaged solar forcing. A swamp ocean model is one in which the ocean temperature is computed from a surface energy balance. Both experiments are run with present (1 × CO₂) and doubled (2 × CO₂) amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂). The first tests the sensitivity of the model to a snow and sea-ice-albedo formulation which facilitates relatively greater ice melt. The second assesses the model response when the basic state of the model in the control run is colder due to a 2% decrease in solar constant. Both are compared to a previous experiment with the same model using a different snow and sea-ice-albedo formulation and the present value of the solar constant. It is found that the globally averaged surface air temperature increase due to a doubling of CO₂ is highly dependent on (1) the type of snow-sea-ice-albedo formulation used such that the parameterization which better facilitates relatively greater ice melt exhibits a greater sensitivity to increased CO₂, and (2) the basic state of the control run such that the colder the basic state, the greater the warming due to increased CO₂.A portion of this study is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy as part of its Carbon Dioxide Research Program.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation     

The Response of Arctic Sea Ice to Global Change

The sea ice-covered polar oceans have received wider attention recently for two reasons. Firstly, the global conveyor belt circulation of the ocean is believed to be forced in the North and South Atlantic through deep water formation, which to a large degree is controlled by the variations of the sea ice margin and especially by the sea ice export to lower latitudes. Secondly, CO₂ response experiments with coupled climate models show an enhanced warming in polar regions for increased concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases. Whether this large response in high latitudes is due to real physical feedback processes or to unrealistic simplifications of the sea ice model component remains to be determined. Coupled climate models generally use thermodynamic sea ice models or sea ice models with oversimplified dynamics schemes. Realistic dynamic-thermodynamic sea ice models are presently implemented only at a few modeling centers. Sensitivity experiments with thermodynamic and dynamic-thermodynamic sea ice models show that the more sophisticated models are less sensitive to perturbations of the atmospheric and oceanic boundary conditions. Because of the importance of the role of sea ice in mediating between atmosphere and ocean an improved representation of sea ice in global climate models is required. This paper discusses present sea ice modeling as well as the sensitivity of the sea ice cover to changes in the atmospheric boundary conditions. These numerical experiments indicate that the sea ice follows a smooth response function: sea ice thickness and export change by 2% of the mean value per 1 Wm^-2 change of the radiative forcing.     

On the Arctic Ocean ice thickness response to changes in the external forcing

Submarine and satellite observations show that the Arctic Ocean ice cover has undergone a large thickness reduction and a decrease in the areal extent during the last decades. Here the response of the Arctic Ocean ice cover to changes in the poleward atmospheric energy transport, F _wall, is investigated using coupled atmosphere-ice-ocean column models. Two models with highly different complexity are used in order to illustrate the importance of different internal processes and the results highlight the dramatic effects of the negative ice thickness—ice volume export feedback and the positive surface albedo feedback. The steady state ice thickness as a function of F _wall is determined for various model setups and defines what we call ice thickness response curves. When a variable surface albedo and snow precipitation is included, a complex response curve appears with two distinct regimes: a perennial ice cover regime with a fairly linear response and a less responsive seasonal ice cover regime. The two regimes are separated by a steep transition associated with surface albedo feedback. The associated hysteresis is however small, indicating that the Arctic climate system does not have an irreversible tipping point behaviour related to the surface albedo feedback. The results are discussed in the context of the recent reduction of the Arctic sea ice cover. A new mechanism related to regional and temporal variations of the ice divergence within the Arctic Ocean is presented as an explanation for the observed regional variation of the ice thickness reduction. Our results further suggest that the recent reduction in areal ice extent and loss of multiyear ice is related to the albedo dependent transition between seasonal and perennial ice i.e. large areas of the Arctic Ocean that has previously been dominated by multiyear ice might have been pushed below a critical mean ice thickness, corresponding to the above mentioned transition, and into a state dominated by seasonal ice.     

Radiative Forcing and Climate Response Due to Black Carbon in Snow and Ice

The radiative forcing and climate response due to black carbon(BC) in snow and/or ice were investigated by integrating observed effects of BC on snow/ice albedo into an atmospheric general circulation model(BCC AGCM2.0.1) developed by the National Climate Center(NCC) of the China Meteorological Administration(CMA).The results show that the global annual mean surface radiative forcing due to BC in snow/ice is +0.042 W m 2,with maximum forcing found over the Tibetan Plateau and regional mean forcing exceeding +2.8 W m 2.The global annual mean surface temperature increased 0.071 C due to BC in snow/ice.Positive surface radiative forcing was clearly shown in winter and spring and increased the surface temperature of snow/ice in the Northern Hemisphere.The surface temperatures of snow-covered areas of Eurasia and North America in winter(spring) increased by 0.83 C(0.6 C) and 0.83 C(0.46 C),respectively.Snowmelt rates also increased greatly,leading to earlier snowmelt and peak runoff times.With the rise of surface temperatures in the Arctic,more water vapor could be released into the atmosphere,allowing easier cloud formation,which could lead to higher thermal emittance in the Arctic.However,the total cloud forcing could decrease due to increasing cloud cover,which will offset some of the positive feedback mechanism of the clouds.     

The Impact of Sediment-Laden Snow and Sea Ice in the Arctic on Climate

Sea ice formed over shallow Arctic shelves often entrains sediments resuspended from the sea floor. Some of this sediment-laden ice advects offshore into the Transpolar Drift Stream and the Beaufort Gyre of the Arctic Basin. Through the processes of seasonal melting at the top surface, and the freezing of clean ice on the bottom surface, these sediments tend, over time, to concentrate at the top of the ice where they can affect the surface albedo, and thus the absorbed solar radiation, when the ice is snow free. Similarly, wind-blown dust can reduce the albedo of snow. The question that is posed by this study is what is the impact of these sediments on the seasonal variation of sea ice, and how does it then affect climate? Experiments were conducted with a coupled energy balance climate-thermodynamic sea ice model to examine the impact of including sediments in the sea ice alone and in the sea ice and overlying snow. The focus of these experiments was the impact of the radiative and not the thermal properties of the sediments. The results suggest that if sea ice contains a significant amount of sediments which are covered by clean snow, there is only a small impact on the climate system. However, if the snow also contains significant sediments the impact on sea ice thickness and surface air temperature is much more significant.     

Sensitivity experiments performed with an energy balance atmosphere model coupled to an advection-diffusion ocean model

Summary In this paper a simple climate model is presented which is used to perform some sensitivity experiments. The atmospheric part is represented by a vertically and zonally averaged layer in which the surface air temperature, radiative fluxes at the surface and at the top of the atmosphere, the turbulent fluxes between atmosphere and surface and the snow cover are calculated. This atmospheric layer is coupled to a two-dimensional advection-diffusion ocean model in which the zonal overturning pattern is prescribed. The ocean model evaluates the temperature distribution, the amount of sea-ice and the meridional and vertical heat fluxes. The present-day climate simulated by the model compares reasonably well with observations of the seasonal and latitudinal distribution of temperature, radiation, surface alebdo, sea-ice and snow cover and meridional energy fluxes. Then, the sensitivity of the model-simulated present-day climate to perturbations in the incident solar radiation at the top of the atmosphere is investigated. The temperature response displays large latitudinal and seasonal variations, which is in qualitative agreement with results obtained with other climate models. It is found that the seasonal variation of sea-ice cover (and hence, the effective oceanic heat capacity) is one of the most important elements determining seasonal variations in climate sensitivity. Differences in sensitivity between the seasonal and annual mean version of the model are discussed. Finally, the equilibrium response to perturbations in some selected model variables is presented; these variables include meridional diffusion coefficients, drag coefficient, sea-ice thickness, atmospheric CO₂-concentration and cloud optical thickness.With 13 Figures     

Sea‐ice dynamics and CO2 sensitivity in a global climate model

Abstract

Present‐day results and CO₂ sensitivity are described for two versions of a global climate model (genesis) with and without sea‐ice dynamics. Sea‐ice dynamics is modelled using the cavitating‐fluid method of Flato and Hibler (1990, 1992). The atmospheric general circulation model originated from the NCAR Community Climate Model version 1, but is heavily modified to include new treatments of clouds, penetrative convection, planetary boundary‐layer mixing, solar radiation, the diurnal cycle and the semi‐Lagrangian transport of water vapour. The surface models include an explicit model of vegetation (similar to BATS and SiB), multilayer models of soil, snow and sea ice, and a slab ocean mixed layer.

When sea‐ice dynamics is turned off, the CO₂‐induced warming increases drastically around ～60–80°S in winter and spring. This is due to the much greater (and unrealistic) compactness of the Antarctic ice cover without dynamics, which is reduced considerably when CO₂ is doubled and exposes more open ocean to the atmosphere. With dynamics, the winter ice is already quite dispersed for 1 × CO₂ so that its compactness does not decrease as much when CO₂ is doubled.     

Assessment of Snow Depth over Arctic Sea Ice in CMIP6 Models Using Satellite Data

Snow depth over sea ice is an essential variable for understanding the Arctic energy budget.In this study,we evaluate snow depth over Arctic sea ice during 1993-2014 simulated by 31 models from phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project(CMIP6)against recent satellite retrievals.The CMIP6 models capture some aspects of the observed snow depth climatology and variability.The observed variability lies in the middle of the models’simulations.All the models show negative trends of snow depth during 1993-2014.However,substantial spatiotemporal discrepancies are identified.Compared to the observation,most models have late seasonal maximum snow depth(by two months),remarkably thinner snow for the seasonal minimum,an incorrect transition from the growth to decay period,and a greatly underestimated interannual variability and thinning trend of snow depth over areas with frequent occurrence of multi-year sea ice.Most models are unable to reproduce the observed snow depth gradient from the Canadian Arctic to the outer areas and the largest thinning rate in the central Arctic.Future projections suggest that snow depth in the Arctic will continue to decrease from 2015 to 2099.Under the SSP5-8.5 scenario,the Arctic will be almost snow-free during the summer and fall and the accumulation of snow starts from January.Further investigation into the possible causes of the issues for the simulated snow depth by some models based on the same family of models suggests that resolution,the inclusion of a hightop atmospheric model,and biogeochemistry processes are important factors for snow depth simulation.     

An improved snow hydrology for GCMs. Part 1: snow cover fraction,albedo, grain size,and age

A new, physically-based snow hydrology has been implemented into the NCAR CCM1. The snow albedo is based on snow depth, solar zenith angle, snow cover pollutants, cloudiness, and a new parameter, the snow grain size. Snow grain size in turn depends on temperature and snow age. An improved expression is used for fractional snow cover which relates it to surface roughness and to snow depth. Each component of the new snow hydrology was implemented separately and then combined to make a new control run integrated for ten seasonal cycles. With the new snow hydrology, springtime snow melt occurs more rapidly, leading to a more reasonable late spring and summer distribution of snow cover. Little impact is seen on winter snow cover, since the new hydrology affects snow melt directly, but snowfall only indirectly, if at all. The influence of the variable grain size appears more important when snow packs are relatively deep while variable fractional snow cover becomes increasingly important as the snow pack thins. Variable surface roughness affects the snow cover fraction directly, but shows little effect on the seasonal cycle of the snow line. As an applicaion of the new snow hydrology, we have rerun simulations involving Antarctic and Northern Hemisphere glaciation; these simulations were previously made with CCM1 and the old snow hydrology. Relatively little difference is seen for Antarctica, but a profound difference occurs for the Northern Hemisphere. In particular, ice sheets computed using net snow accumulations from the GCM are more numerous and larger in extent with the new snow hydrology. The new snow hydrology leads to a better simulation of the seasonal cycle of snow cover, however, our primary goal in implementing it into the GCM is to improve the predictive capabilities of the model. Since the snow hydrology is based on fundamental physical processes, and has well-defined parameters, it should enable model simulations of climatic change in which we have increased confidence.This paper was presented at the Second International Conference on Modelling of Global Climate Variability, held in Hamburg 7–11 September 1992 under the auspices of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. Guest Editor for these papers is L. Dümenil     

On modelling the seasonal thermodynamic cycle of sea ice in studies of climatic change

Recent work in modelling climatic changes due to increased atmospheric CO₂ has shown the maximum change to occur in the polar regions as a result of seasonal reductions in sea ice coverage. Typically, sea ice thermodynamics is modelled in a very simple way, whereby the storage of both sensible and latent heat within the ice is ignored, and the effects of snow cover on conductivity and on surface albedo and of oceanic heat flux on bottom ablation may also be neglected. This paper considers whether omission of these processes is justified within the context of quantitatively determining regional climatic changes. A related question, whether omission of ice dynamics can be justified, is not considered.Relatively complete one-dimensional models of sea-ice thermodynamics have previously been developed and tested for a variety of environmental conditions by Maykut and Untersteiner (1969, 1971) and by Semtner (1976). A simpler model which neglects the storage of sensible and latent heat is described in the Appendix to Semtner (1976). In that model, the errors in annual-mean ice thickness which would arise from neglect of heat storage can be compensated by increases in albedo and in conductivity. Here we examine the seasonal cycle of ice thickness predicted by such a model and find significant errors in phase (one month lead) and in amplitude (50% overestimate). The amplitude errors are enhanced as snowfall and oceanic heat flux diminish (or are neglected). This suggests that substantial errors may occur in climate simulations which use very simple formulations of sea ice thermodynamics, whereby early and excessive melting exaggerates the seasonal disappearance of sea ice.To illustrate the above point, two models are configured to examine the local response of Arctic sea ice to a quadrupling of atmospheric CO₂. The first model neglects a number of physical processes and mimics the behavior of sea ice found in Manabe and Stouffer (1980), both for present and enhanced levels of CO₂. The more complete second model gives a better simulation of Arctic ice for the present level of CO₂ and shows a reduced response to CO₂ quadrupling relative to that in Manabe and Stouffer (1980). In particular, the change in surface temperature is cut by a factor of two. In view of this result, a more complete treatment of sea ice thermodynamics would seem warranted in further studies of climate change. Only a minor computational increase is required.A portion of this study is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy as a part of its Carbon Dioxide Research Program.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

An Overview of the Studies on Black Carbon and Mineral Dust Deposition in Snow and Ice Cores in East Asia

Black carbon （BC） is the most eff ective insoluble light-absorbing particulate （ILAP）, which can strongly absorb solar radiation at visible wavelengths. Once BC is deposited in snow via dry or wet process, even a small amount of BC could signifi cantly decrease snow albedo, enhance absorption of solar radiation, accelerate snow melting, and cause climate feedback. BC is considered the second most important component next to CO2 in terms of global warming. Similarly, mineral dust （MD） is another type of ILAP. So far, little attention has been paid to quantitative measurements of BC and MD deposition on snow surface in the midlatitudes of East Asia, especially over northern China. In this paper, we focus on reviewing several experiments performed for collecting and measuring scavenging BC and MD in the high Asian glaciers over the mountain range （such as the Himalayas） and in seasonal snow over northern China. Results from the surveyed literature indicate that the absorption of ILAP in seasonal snow is dominated by MD in the Qilian Mountains and by local soil dust in the Inner Mongolian region close to dust sources. The detection of BC in snow and ice cores using modern techniques has a large bias and uncertainty when the snow sample is mixed with MD. Evidence also indicates that the reduction of snow albedo by BC and MD perturbations can signifi cantly increase the net surface solar radiation, cause surface air temperature to rise, reduce snow accumulation, and accelerate snow melting.     

Upward flushing of sea water through first year ice

Abstract

Observations in both the ice and slush layers suggest that sea water intrudes into the snow layer following a snow storm. Ice temperature values recorded at 1 cm below the snow‐ice interface show that the upward flux of sea water is of short duration. This is followed by a period of intense brine drainage characterized by the migration of a salty brine layer, with salinities up to 42 psu. These results suggest that a snow storm induces a complete (upward) flushing of the brine channel network and major modifications of snow and ice characteristics.

Melt rates and downward brine fluxes were calculated using salinity measured in a 40 cm deep box placed on the ice‐water interface, which isolated a 50 × 50 cm area of sea ice from ocean mixing processes. In this semi‐isolated environment, observed salinity changes allowed us to determine melt water fluxes and brine drainage or flushing even though ice thickness measurements did not show any significant change. Melt rates up to 21 cm/month and equivalent growth rates up to 32 cm/month were measured.     

Seasonal snowline instability in an energy balance model

The stability properties of a seasonal, one dimensional energy balance climate model are examined. The model contains idealized landsea geography, an interactive moving snowline and high space-time resolution. For a polar land cap surrounded by ocean we find a bifurcation in the seasonal cycle solutions as a function of solar constant leading to qualitatively different climate regimes: one with continental snow-free summers and the other with perennial snow cover over a large area surrounding the pole. In the parameterspace neighborhood of a bifurcation an infinitesimal change in any radiation budget parameter can cause the transition from one state to the other. Of special interest to those planning more elaborate numerical experiments (GCMs) is the result that 10s of seasonal cycles may be necessary for the model to damp out transient effects before settling upon a repeating seasonal cycle if parameter values are such that the solution is near a bifurcation. This latter finding is unexpected, since the longest time scale in the linear version of the energy balance model is about 5 years.     

Snow accumulation and its moisture origin over Dome Argus, Antarctica

The spatial and temporal variability of snow accumulation near Dome Argus, Antarctica, is assessed using new snow pit and stake measurement data together with existing snow pit, ice core and automatic weather station records. Snow accumulation rate shows large inter-annual variations, but stable multi-decadal levels over the last seven centuries. Spatial variations in snow accumulation within the space of 50 km of Dome Argus are relatively small, probably thanks to the smooth topography. A comparison of theses accumulation observations with ECMWF reanalyses (ERA-40 and ERA-Interim) suggests ECMWF reanalysis captures the seasonal variations, but underestimates the overall snow accumulation at Dome Argus by ~50 %. The moisture sources for precipitation over Dome Argus are examined by means of a Lagrangian moisture source diagnostic, based on the tracing of specific humidity changes along air parcel trajectories, for the period 2000–2004 using operational ECMWF analysis data. Dome Argus mainly receives moisture from the mid-latitude (46 ± 4°S) South Indian Ocean, with a seasonal latitudinal shift of about 6°. Compared to other central East Antarctic deep ice core sites such as Dome F, Dome C, Vostok, and EPICA Dronning Maud Land, Dome Argus has a more southerly moisture origin, probably due to topographic influences on the moisture transport paths. These results have important implications for the interpretation of future ice cores at Dome Argus.