Air/snow, snow/ice and ice/water interfaces detection from high-resolution vertical temperature profiles measured by ice mass-balance buoys on an Arctic lake

Yubing Cheng,Anna Kontu,Zeliang Liao,Timo Vihma,Qinghua Yang,Bin Cheng,Fei Zheng

doi:10.1017/aog.2020.51

Abstract

AbstractSnow and ice were monitored by thermistor-string-based Snow and Ice Mass Balance Array (SIMBA) in Lake Orajärvi in northern Finland. An existing automatic SIMBA-algorithm was further developed to derive air/snow, snow/ice and ice/water interfaces based on the SIMBA environment temperature (ET) profiles. The identified interfaces agreed with in situ observations made in 2011/12 winter season. The method was capable to identify upward-moving snow/ice interface that was also visible from SIMBA heating temperature (HT) profiles, which responds to differences in the thermal diffusivities of air, snow, ice and water. The SIMBA data obtained in winters 2017/18 and 2018/19 were used to investigate snow and ice mass balance. An upward-moving snow/ice interface was detected as a result of meteoric ice (snow ice and superimposed ice) formation. Snow contributed to granular lake ice formation up to 40–55% of the total ice thickness on the seasonal mean. Heavy snowfalls and low air temperature in early winter are favourable for granular ice formation. The seasonal mean snow depth on nearby land was 2.7–2.9 times of that on the lake. The estimation of freeboard from snow and ice mass-balance measurement is sensitive to the snow density. Accurate ice freeboard calculation is still a challenge.

Highlights

In boreal and Arctic lakes, when the air temperature drops below freezing point in early winter, lake water releases heat to the atmosphere, usually resulting in columnar ice formation
We introduced a concept called Snow and Ice Mass Balance Array (SIMBA)-environment temperature (ET) Temperature Minimum Resolution Criteria (TMRC)
This ice layer cannot have been formed via freezing of lake water because it was placed above the snow-ice layer that was formed at the snow/ice interface

Summary

Introduction

In boreal and Arctic lakes, when the air temperature drops below freezing point in early winter, lake water releases heat to the atmosphere, usually resulting in columnar ice formation. A heavy snowpack pushes columnar ice below the water surface, resulting in a negative freeboard and formation of slush and refreezes to snow-ice (Leppäranta, 1983; Eicken and others, 1995; Rösel and others, 2018). Snow-to-ice transformation results in granular ice formation, and the growth of the ice layer from the snow/ ice interface upwards. This is different from the columnar ice growth downwards from the ice bottom

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