Temperature Gradients in the Antarctic Ice Sheet

Abstract

AbstractMeasurements of ice temperature to depths of 30–40 m. are given for a number of points on the ice sheet in MacRobertson Land. Variations of mean surface temperature with elevation and with latitude, and the temperature gradients below a depth of 15 m. are compared with results from other parts of Antarctica and from Greenland. Explanations of negative temperature gradients near the surface of ice sheets are reviewed, and an equation derived by Robin is checked against the measurements following its recent justification from conduction theory. Surface ice velocities necessary for development of the observed temperature gradients are computed, and these values are then compared with ice velocities estimated independently from flow measurements at the coast and continuity considerations. It is found that, if negative gradients are attributed solely to the Robin effect, improbably high ice velocities are called for, and so climatic change is reconsidered. Some evidence of secular warming in Antarctica is mentioned and a recent numerical solution of the conduction equation for the surface-warming case is described. It is concluded that the measured temperature profiles can be explained reasonably by climatic amelioration.