Methods of snowmelt calculation in the Antarctic oasis Larsemann Hills

Abstract

This paper studies the validity of snowmelt calculation methods, which are mostly used in hydrology, for the Larsemann Hills oasis (East Antarctica). The study bases on snow surveys data obtained on catchments of Law Lake, Reid Lake and Stepped Lake during the 65th season of the Russian Antarctic Expedition (RAE) in 2019–2020. Materials of the fond of Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) are also used: snow surveys data collected on the catchment of Stepped Lake during the 57th RAE season in 2012 and on catchments of Law Lake, Reid Lake, Scandrett Lake and Stepped Lake during the 62th RAE season in 2017. Considered three methods of snowmelt calculation were derived by P. P. Kuz’min, E. G. Popov, Yu. B. Vinogradov Results of calculation are compared with snowmelt value obtained according to snow surveys. The paper shows two variants of calculations: in the first albedo of snow is determined from function of snow age as different values for each day, in the second albedo is determined from remote sensing data as average value for all period. Results of snowmelt calculation depend on the method which sets value of snow albedo: relative inaccuracies of results obtained of all discussed methods are smaller when albedo is determined as average value. The equation by Kuz’min gives the smallest inaccuracies of snowmelt calculation results in relative to real snowmelt values estimated from snow survey data. This snowmelt calculation method in the majority of cases reviewed gives satisfactory results and should be recommended for estimation of snowmelt values for this Antarctic territory.