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Microwave radiometer SSM/I (Special Sensor Microwave Imager) data and scatterometer QuikSCAT (Quick Scatterometer) data have been widely used for near-surface snow melt detection based on their sensitivity to liquid water present in snow. The SSM/I data have high reliability and the QuikSCAT data have high spatial resolution. In order to improve the accuracy of Antarctic near-surface snow melt detection, we propose a new method based on the synergy of SSM/I and QuikSCAT data, i.e. the snow melt physical model incorporates the complementary advantages of both datasets. Based on comparisons with temperature data from three automatic weather stations, the proposed algorithm improved the accuracy of snow melt detection. The algorithm could also be applied to other regions, which would provide further evidence to support its use and additional data to document changes in the Antarctic due to global climate change.

The annual mean oxygen-isotope content of Antarctic snow is strongly influenced by the seasonal variability of accumulation. Since the annual mean δ18O value is frequently used to derive mean annual temperatures from ice cores, changes in atmospheric circulation pattern can lead to large errors in the deduced temperature record. At the German Antarctic wintering base, Neumayer, accumulation measurements have been carried out continuously over the last 16 years. Weekly readings of accumulation stakes combined with snow pits and shallow firn cores are used to investigate the influence of the seasonal variability of accumulation on the annual mean δ18O values and to estimate the possible error in the determination of annual mean temperatures from ice cores by using the oxygen-isotope record.

In 1939 Dr Thomas C. Poulter, Director of the Armour Institute, Chicago and a veteran of Byrd's second Antarctic expedition, designed and constructed a 30 tonne wheeled vehicle known as the Snow Cruiser for use with the US Antarctic Service Expedition. Designed for self-contained long-distance travel, the vehicle had many new features including twin diesel engines, independent electric drive and steering on each of its four wheels, and a light aircraft carried on the roof. It was built in Chicago and tested briefly on sand dunes nearby, before being driven to Boston amid much public interest for shipment to Antarctica. At the Bay of Whales the vehicle quickly became bogged down in snow, and never moved farther south than the expedition's winter quarters. Modern evaluation of wheel-snow interaction suggests that the Snow'Cruiser unladen was three to five times too heavy for its tyres to support it on snow surfaces. It was nevertheless a bold attempt to push forward the frontiers of mobility in exploration, which failed in a spectacular fashion. The vehicle was left behind when the expedition returned home, and has subsequently been lost.