Diurnal snow pit measurements observed during the SIPEX II voyage of the Aurora Australis, 2012

Motivation:

One of the characteristics of this voyage is that we have long ice stations which last for a few days. Taking this opportunity, we decided to examine the diurnal change of snow properties at the fixed snow pit site. Since this measurement was not included in the original plan, Time interval was a bit variable from 3 hours to 5 hours depending on the progress of the other work.

Observation items:

Snow thickness, Temperature profile (every 3 cm), Grain size, Grain shape, Snow density, Hardness, Salinity

Instruments:

Folding scales, Spatula, Thermometer, Snow sampler, Magnifying glass, Salinometer

Information pertaining to the dataset:

Time - recorded in local time

Hs - snow depth in cm

Cloud measurements - oktas

Water level - distance between snow surface and surface seawater in cm

Depth - depth of the individual layer referenced to snow/ice interface (upper column) or snow surface (lower column) in cm

Ta - air temperature in degrees celsius

DH, FC, PP, DF, RG stand for Depth hoar, Faceted crystals, Precipitation particles, Decomposing and fragemented precipitation particles, Rounded grains - according to "The International Classification for Seasonal Snow on the Ground" (Colbeck et al., 1990).

Weight - g

Mid-depth - cm