Snow accumulation variability in Adelie Land (East Antarctica) derived from radar and firn core data. A 600 km transect from Dome C

Polar ice sheets mass balance is a timely topic intensively studied in the context of global change and sea-level rise. However, obtaining mass balance estimates in Antarctica in particular, remains difficult due to various logistical problems. In the framework of the TASTE-IDEA program, labeled as an International Polar Year project, continuous Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) measurements were carried out during a traverse realised in Adelie Land (East Antarctica) during the 2008–2009 austral summer between the Italo-French Dome C (DC) polar plateau site and French Dumont D'Urville (DdU) coastal station. The aim of this study was to process and interpret GPR data in terms of snow accumulation, to analyse its spatial and temporal variability along the DC-DdU traverse and compare it with historical data and modeling. The emphasis has been put on the last 300 yr, from the pre-industrial to recent time period. Beta-radioactivity counting and gamma spectrometry were studied in cores at LGGE laboratory, providing a depth-age calibration for radar measurements. Over the 600 km of usable GPR data, depth and snow accumulation were determined with the help of three distinct layers visible on the radargrams (≈1730, 1799 and 1941 AD). Preliminary results reveal a gradual accumulation increase towards the coast and the occurrence of previously undocumented undulating structures between 300 and 600 km from DC. Results agree fairly well with data from previous studies and modeling. Concluding on temporal variations is difficult because of the margin of error introduced by density estimation. This study should have various applications such as for model validation.