The densification of layered polar firn

Abstract

[1] High-resolution density profiles of 16 firn cores from Greenland and Antarctica are investigated in order to improve our understanding of the densification of layered polar firn. A vertical resolution of 1–5 mm enables us to study the detailed densification processes and the evolution of the layering and the resulting variability in density with increasing depth. The densification of layered firn is important for the process of air enclosure in ice and is connected with the observed formation of a nondiffusive zone. Our findings show the following. (1) Mean density profiles, obtained from high-resolution measurements, only partly show clear transitions in densification rate at densities of 550, 730, or 820–840 kg/m3, as they are commonly used in literature. (2) The density variability, induced by the layering, shows a similar pattern at all sites: high variabilities at the surface, a rapid drop to a relative minimum in variability at mean density of 600–650 kg/m3, followed by a second relative maximum. (3) This leads to increased variability at densities of the firn-ice transition for most of the sites. (4) The variability at the surface decreases with increasing mean annual temperature and accumulation rate, whereas the variability at the firn-ice transition increases. We can exclude a change in local climate conditions as an explanation for the density variability since the firn cores in this study cover a broad range in mean annual temperature, accumulation rate, and age. Overall, high-resolution density profiles deliver a more complex picture of compaction of polar firn as a layered granular medium than has been obtained from mean density profiles in the past.