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A comprehensive compilation of observed records is needed for accurate quantification of surface mass balance (SMB) over Antarctica, which is a key challenge for calculation of Antarctic contribution to global sea level change. Here, we present the AntSMB dataset: a new quality-controlled dataset of a variety of published field measurements of the Antarctic Ice Sheet SMB by means of stakes, snow pits, ice cores, ultrasonic sounders, and ground-penetrating radar (GPR). The dataset collects 3579 individual multi-year-averaged observations, 687 annually resolved time series from 675 sites extending back over the past 1000 years, and daily resolved records covering 245 years from 32 sites across the whole ice sheet. These records are derived from ice cores, snow pits, stakes/stake farms, and ultrasonic sounders. Furthermore, GPR multi-year-averaged measurements are included in the dataset, covering an area of 22 025 km2. This is the first ice-sheet-scale compilation of SMB records at different temporal (daily, annual, and multi-year) resolutions from multiple types of measurement and is available at https://doi.org/10.11888/Glacio.tpdc.271148 (Wang et al., 2021). The database has potentially wide applications such as the investigation of temporal and spatial variability in SMB, model validation, assessment of remote sensing retrievals, and data assimilation. As a case of model estimation, records of the AntSMB dataset are used to assess the performance of ERA5 for temporal and spatial variability in SMB over Antarctica.

To better understand the risk of disasters due to glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), we synthetically analyze the spatial distribution and evolution of moraine-dammed lakes and potentially dangerous glacial lakes (PDGLs) in the Chinese Himalaya. Our county-based assessment of GLOF disaster risk combines PDGL outburst hazard, regional exposure, vulnerability of exposed elements and adaptation capability (risk management) using the analytic hierarchy process. We synthetically analyze the disaster risk using the weighted comprehensive method. Remote-sensing data show there are 329 moraine-dammed lakes (>0.02 km2; total area 125.43 km2) in the Chinese Himalaya, of which 116 (total area 49.49 km2) are identified as PDGLs. The zones at highest risk of GLOF disaster are mainly located in Nyalam, Tingri, Dinggyê, Lhozhag, Kangmar and Zhongba, in the mid-eastern Himalaya. Lowest-risk zones are located in the eastern Himalaya. On the county scale, Lhozhag and Lhunze have the highest hazard degrees and exposure, while Zhongba and Zando have the highest degree of vulnerability and lowest adaptation capacity. Our regionalization results for GLOF disaster risk are consistent with the distribution of historical disaster sites across the Chinese Himalaya.

Stakes at 2 km intervals were installed in January 1997 and remeasured in February 1998, January 1999, January 2005 and during the 2007/08 austral summer along a 1248 km traverse route from Zhongshan station to Dome A, East Antarctica. Based on topographical parameters, meteorological features and the records of ∼650 stakes and six stake arrays, the route is divided into five zones. We find that the snow accumulation rate decreases with increasing altitude as one progresses inland, except in the zone 800–1128 km from the coast, where the average annual accumulation rate is higher than in the zone 524–800 km from the coast. The Dome A zone (1128–1248 km) has the lowest accumulation rate (35 kg m−2 a−1, 2005–08) due to having the highest elevation and being furthest from the coast. The surface mass balance in the region 202–1128 km from the coast exhibits no temporal change from 1999–2005 to 2005–08, but there is a change in the accumulation distribution. The zone from 202 to 524 km shows a decrease in surface mass balance from 84 kg m−2 a−1 in 1999–2005 to 67 kg m−2 a−1 in 2005–08, while the zone between 800 and 1128 km shows an increase from 67 kg m−2 a−1 in 1999–2005 to 75 kg m−2 a−1 in 2005–08.

An assessment of the glaciological and meteorological characteristics of Dome A, the summit of the East Antarctic ice sheet, is made based on field investigations during the austral summer of 2004/05. Knowledge of these characteristics is critical for future international studies such as deep ice-core drilling. The assessment shows that: (1) Dome A is characterized by a very low 10m depth firn temperature, –58.3˚C (nearly 3˚C lower than at EPICA Dome C and 1˚C lower than at Vostok). (2) Automatic weather station (AWS) measurements of snow surface height and reference layers in a snow pit indicate the present-day snow accumulation rate at Dome A is within the range 1–3cmw.e. a–1. Densification models suggest a range of 1–2cmw.e. a–1. This is lower than at other sites along the ice divide of East Antarctica (IDEA). Annual layers at Dome A are thus potentially thinner than at other sites, so that a longer record is preserved in a given ice thickness. (3) The average wind speed observed at Dome A (–1) is lower than at other sites along IDEA. Together, these parameters, combined with radio-echo sounding data and information on the subglacial drainage distribution beneath Dome A, suggest Dome A as a candidate site for obtaining the oldest ice core.

A 51.85-m firn core collected from site DT001 (accumulation rate 127 kgm−2a−1, mean annual temperature −33.1 °C) on Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica, during the 1996–97 Chinese First Antarctic Inland Expedition has been analyzed for chemical composition and oxygen isotope ratio. A comparison between the seasonal variations of major ions was carried out in order to reduce the dating uncertainty, using the volcanic markers as time constrains. A deposition period of 251 years was determined. The calculated accumulation rates display an increasing trend before 1820, while after 1820, the trend of the accumulation is not obvious. Overall, temperature change in the region shows a slight increasing trend over the past 250 years. But, notably, a temperature decline of −2 °C is observed from 1860 to the present. This feature, at odds with the warming trend over the past century recorded in both hemispheres, likely reflects a regional characteristic related to the lack of a high latitude/low latitude link in the Southern Hemisphere circulation patterns. The results of the glaciochemical records of the firn core show that the mean concentrations of Cl−, Na+ and Mg2+ are similar to those reported from other sites in East Antarctica. However, the mean concentration of Ca2+ is much higher than that reported from other regions, suggesting the influence of the strong local terrestrial sources in Princess Elizabeth Land. There is no evidence of a positive correlation between NO3− concentrations and solar activity (11-year solar cycle and solar cycle length), although solar proton events may account for some of the NO3− peak values in the record.

The net surface snow accumulation on the Antarctic ice sheet is determined by a combination of precipitation, sublimation and wind redistribution. We present a one-year record of hourly snow-height measurements at LGB69 (70°50′S, 77°04′E, 1850 m a.s.l.), east side of Lambert Glacier basin (LGB), and 4 year record at G3 (70°53′S, 69°52′E, 84 m a.s.l.), Amery Ice Shelf (AIS). The measurements were made with ultrasonic sensors mounted on automatic weather stations installed at two sites. The snow accumulation at LGB69 is approximately 70 cm. Throughout the winter, between April and September, there was little change in surface snow height (SSH) at the two sites. The negative SSH change is due to densification at LGB69, and is due to both ablation and densification at G3. The strongest accumulation at two sites occurred during the period between October and March (accounting for 101.6% at LGB69), with four epi-sodic increasing events occurring during 2002 for LGB69, and eight events during 1999—2002 for G3 (2 to 3 events per year). At LGB69, these episodic events coincided with obvious humidity “pulses” and decreases of incoming solar radiation as recorded by the AWS. Observations of the total cloud amount at Davis station, 160 km NNE of LGB69, showed good correlation with major accumulation events recorded at LGB69. There was an obvious anti-correlation between the lowest cloud height at Davis and the daily accumulation rate at LGB69. Although there was no correlation over the total year between wind speed and accumulation at LGB69, large individual accumulation events are associated with episodes of strong wind (>7 m/s), we estimate drift snow may contribute to total SSH up to 35%. Strong accumulation events at LGB69 are associ-ated with major storms in the region and inland transport of moist air masses from the coast.

Glacier inventory compilation during the past 20 years and modifications of that for the Eastern Pamir and Banggong Lake indicate that there are 46,342 modern glaciers with a total area and volume of 59415 km2 and 5601 km3 respectively in China. These glaciers can be classified into maritime and continental (including sub-continental and extremely continental) types. Researches show that glaciers in China have been retreating since the Little Ice Age and the mass wastage was accelerated during the past 30 to 40 years. Being an important part of glaciological studies in China, ice core climatic and environmental studies on Tibetan Plateau and in the Antarctica have provided abundant, high resolution information about past climatic and environmental evolution over the Tibetan Plateau and Antarctica. Except for different parameters recorded in ice cores relating to climate and environment changes on Tibetan Plateau, records from ice cores extracted from different glaciers show that the discrepancies in climatic and environmental changes on the north and south parts of the plateau may be the consequence of different influencing effects from terrestrial and solar sources. Glaciological and meteorological phenomena imply that Lambert Glacier valley is an important boundary of climate in the east Antarctica, which is thought to be connected with cyclonic activities and Circum-polar Waves over the Antarctica

During the 1992–1993 joint Australian-Chinese over-snow traverse of the western Lambert Glacier Basin (LGB), two firn cores were drilled respectively at MGA and LGB16. During the 1996–1997 and 1997–1998 austral summers, two firn cores were drilled respectively at DT001 and DT085 on the eastern LGB. Based on the measurements made during the expeditions, the climatic and environmental features on both sides of the LGB have been studied. Results show that during the past 50 years, the trends of both air temperature and accumulation rate show a slight increase on the east side of the LGB, in contrast to the west side of the LGB. The spatial trends of the accumulation rate measured by accumulation canes at 2 km intervals along the nearly 500 km of the traverse lines on both sides of the LGB are different. Moreover, correlations of δ18O vsT10along the two sides of the LGB are also different. In addition, the variations of sea salt ion concentrations show different trends in the past 50 years. All the evidence shows that the Lambert Glacier is a dividing region for the different climatic regimes over the East Antarctic ice sheet, which may be due to different moisture resources resulting from special local circumfluence such as cyclone activities, local terrain influences.

The net surface snow accumulation on the Antarctic ice sheet is determined by a combination of precipitation, sublimation and wind redistribution. We present a 1 year record of hourly snow-height measurements that shows its seasonal variability. The measurements were made with an ultrasonic sensor mounted on an automatic weather station (AWS) installed at LGB69, Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarctica (70.835˚S, 77.075˚E; 1850 ma.s.l.). The average accumulation at this site is approximately 0.70 m snow a–1. Throughout the winter, between April and September, there was little change in surface snow height. The strongest accumulation occurred during the period October–March, with four episodic increases occurring during 2002. These episodic events coincided with obvious humidity ‘pulses’ and decreases of incoming solar radiation as recorded by the AWS. Observations of the total cloud amount at Davis station, 160 km north-northeast of LGB69, showed good correlation with major accumulation events recorded at LGB69. There was an obvious anticorrelation between the lowest cloud height at Davis and the daily accumulation rate at LGB69. Although there was no correlation over the total year between wind speed and accumulation at LGB69, large individual accumulation events are associated with episodes of strong wind. Strong accumulation events at LGB69 are associated with major storms in the region and inland transport of moist air masses from the coast.

Surface mass-balance studies and climatic records from firn cores show remarkable differences between the east and west sides of the Lambert Glacier basin (LGB). The spatial distribution of the surface accumulation is influenced by the atmospheric moisture flux, and by the surface wind field, which is largely determined by topography. Atmospheric water-vapor budget data for the ice-sheet sector covering the basin (45–90˚ E) show that on the east side of the LGB the moisture flux is poleward, averaging 18 kgm–1 s–1 in 1988, while for the west side it is Equatorward, averaging 5 kgm–1 s–1. A similar pattern, but with much lower transport of vapor flux, is seen across 70˚ S. Two firn cores from the east side of the basin and two from the west side were analyzed to determine accumulation-rate and temperature-proxy variations for the past 50 years. The trends were opposite on the different sides of the basin. Similar opposing trends are seen in meteorological records from Davis and Mawson coastal stations, situated on the east and west sides of the LGB respectively. There is a good correlation between the accumulation/18O record in ice cores from the eastern LGB and the sea-level pressure (obtained from the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction/US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) re-analyses) of a Southern Indian Ocean low (SIOL), but not between the SIOL and the records from the western LGB. This study reveals that variations in local circulation could alter at least the annual to decadal time-scale climate records, and may result in completely different climate histories between adjacent areas.

By comparing the oxygen isotopic temperatures recorded by many shallow ice cores from the coastal regions of Antarctica, this paper presents the special characteristics of the temperature variations over the Antarctic coastal regions in the past 50 years, 150 years and 250 years. In the past 50 years, the isotopic temperatures recorded in the ice cores over different sites on the Antarctic coastal regions differ greatly. For instance, although increasing isotopic temperatures have been reported for many sites studied, many sites show decreasing trends, the regional regularity in temperature variations is still insignificant. In the past 150 years, the isotopic temperature trends in the coastal regions of Antarctica show an alternate-distributing pattern. In the past 250 years, all the ice cores from the coastal regions of Antarctica have recorded the so-called Little Ice Age (LIA). The above-mentioned spatial characteristics of the temperature variations over the Antarctic coastal regions are likely to reflect the impacts of the unique Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation, the Antarctic Circumpolar Wave (ACW) and the special terrain (such as the large drainage basins) on the coastal regions of Antarctica. Furthermore, the impacting intensity of the unique Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation, the Antarctic Circumpolar Wave and the special terrain differs in terms of the temporal scale of the temperature change.

For ten firn cores, from both the eastern and the western side of Lambert Glacier basin (LGB), snow accumulation rate and isotopic temperature were measured far the recent 50 years. Results show that snow accumulation for five cores over the eastern side of LGB (GC30, GD03, GD15, DT001, and DT085) at Wilks Land and Princess Elizabeth Land increases, whereas it decreases at the western side (Core E, DML05, W200, LGB 16, and MGA) at Dronning Maud Land, Mizuho Plateau and Kamp Land. For the past decades, the increasing rate was at the eastern side and the decreasing rate was at the western side. Temperatures at the eastern LGB were also increased with the rate of . At the western LGB it was difficult to see clear trends, which were confirmed by Instrumental temperature records at coastal stations. Although statistic analysis and modeling results display that both surface temperature and accumulation rate has increased trends in Antarctic ice sheet during 1950-2000, the regional distributions were much more different for different geographic areas. We believe that ice-core records at Wilks Land and Princess Elizabeth Land reflect the real variations of SST and moisture change in the southern India Ocean. For the Kamp Land and Dronning Maud Land, however circulation pattern was different, by which the climate was more complicated. The International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition (ITASE) aimed to reveal an overall spatial pattern of climate change over Antarctic ice sheet for the past 200 years. This study points the importance of continental to regional circulation to annual-decadal scale climate change in Antarctica.

The Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition (GHINARE) carried out three traverses from Zhongshan station to Dome A, Princess Elizabeth Land and Inaccessible Area, East Antarctic ice sheet, during the 1996/97 to 1998/99 Antarctic field seasons. The expeditions are part of the Chinese International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition program. In this project, glaciological investigations of mass balance, ice temperature, ice flow, stratigraphy in snow pits and snow/firn ice cores, as well as the glaciochemical study of surface snow and shallow ice cores, have been carried out. In the 1998/99 field season, CHINARE extended the traverse route to 1128 km inland from Zhongshan station. The density profiles show that firnification over Princess Elizabeth Land and Inaccessible Area (290–1100 km along the route) is fairly slow, and the accumulation rate recovered from snow pits along the initial 460 km of the route is 4.6–21 cm (46–210 kg m–2a–1 ) water equivalent. The initial 460 km of the route can be divided into four sections based on the differences of accumulation rate. This pattern approximately coincides with the study on the Lambert Glacier basin (LGB) by Australian scientists. During the past 50 years, the trends of both air temperature and accumulation rate show a slight increase in this area, in contrast to the west side of the LGB. Data on surface accumulation rates and their spatial and temporal variability over ice-drainage areas such as the LGB are essential for precise mass-balance calculation of the whole ice sheet, and are important for driving ice-sheet models and testing atmospheric models.

Stable-oxygen-isotope ratios(δ18O)of precipitation and ice-core samples collected from the headwaters of the Urümqi river, Tien Shan, China, were used to test the relationship betweenδ18Oand contemporaneous surface air temperature (Ta). A strong temporal relationship is found betweenδ18Oin precipitation andTa,particularly for the monthly averages which remove synoptic-scale influences such as changes in condensation level, condensation temperature and moisture sources ( Yao and others, 1996). Linear fits as high as 0.95‰° C-1for precipitation events and 1.23‰° C-1for monthly averages are found. Although theδ18O amplitude in ice cores drilled at the nearby Ürümqi glacier No.1(~2 km from the precipitation sampling site) decreased dramatically compared to the precipitation samples, the ice-core records of annually averagedδ18are still positively correlated with contemporaneous air temperature, especially summer air temperature, at the nearby Daxigou meteorological station. Nevertheless, the relationship between the ice-coreδ18Orecords and contemporaneous air temperature is less significant than that for the precipitation samples due to depositional and post-depositional modification processes, which are highlighted by the successive snow-pitδ18Oprofiles from the Ürümqi glacier No.1. Our results might extend the application of high-altitude and subtropical ice-coreδ18O—Tarecords for paleoclimate reconstruction.

Glaciochemical analysis of surface snow samples, collected along a profile crossing the Antarctic ice sheet from the Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, via the Antarctic Plateau through South Pole, Vostok and Komsomolskaya to Mirny station (at the east margin of East Antarctica), shows that the Weddell Sea region is an important channel for air masses to the high plateau of the Antarctic ice sheet (>2000 m a.s.l.). This opinion is supported by the following. (1) The fluxes of sea-salt ions such as Na+, Mg2 + and CF display a decreasing trend from the west to the east of interior Antarctica. In |eneral, as sea-salt aerosols are injected into the atmosphere over the Antarctic ice sheet from the Weddell Sea, large aerosols tend to decrease. For the inland plateau, few large particles of sea-salt aerosol reach the area, and the sea-salt concentration levels are low (2) The high altitude of the East Antarctic plateau, as well as the polar cold high-pressure system, obstruct the intrusive air masses mainly from the South Indian Ocean sector. (3) For the coastal regions of the East Antarctic ice sheet, the elevation rises to 2000 m over a distance from several to several tens of km. High concentrations of sea salt exist in snow in East Antarctica but are limited to a narrow coastal zone. (4) Fluxes of calcium and non-sea-salt sulfate in snow from the interior plateau do not display an eastward-decreasing trend. Since calcium is mainly derived from crustal sources, and nssSO42- is a secondary aerosol, this again confirms that the eastward-declining tendency of sea-salt ions indicates the transfer direction of precipitation vapor.

Chemical records were recovered from samples collected from snow pits over two transects (S–N and SE–NW) across the Qinghai–Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau. The records show that the flux of major ions in the regions to the north of Mt Tanggula is, on the average, 6–30 times higher than that of the regions to the south, and 0.6–5 times higher than regions to the southeast. It appears that Mt Tanggula provides a barrier to continental dust transported across the plateau from the north and to marine aerosols transported from the southeast. The spatial patterns of snow chemistry as well as the total suspended particle (TSP) distribution along the northern Qinghai–Xizang Highway demonstrate that continental dust originates mainly from the deserts to the north, while monsoon sources of moisture exert greater influence on snow chemistry on the southern part of the plateau. Seasonal variations of the major ions were also examined in a firn core drilled at a height of 7000 m on the Dasuopu Glacier and in a snow pit from the Meikuang Glacier (eastern Kunlun). The choice of a high altitude site at Dasuopu, and the sampling season (before snowmelt) at Meikuang, avoided post-depositional modification processes (mainly the elution effect of meltwater), thus guaranteeing the reliable recovery of the distribution of impurities in different seasons. The peak of the impurities appear at Dasuopu during the spring and at Meikuang in the winter/spring, coinciding with the Asian dust season. However, the amplitude of the seasonal variations at Meikuang is much higher than at Dasuopu. pH values at the Dongkemadi Glacier are greater than 6, but at the Dasuopu Glacier (Himalayas) they range between 4 and 7.5. The liquid conductivity (LC) from Dongkemadi is positively correlated with the pH, while at Dasuopu, LC is positively correlated with pH when pH is below 6 and negatively correlated with pH when it is greater than 6. This implies that during August to September the Himalayan range is a transition zone between the transportation of continental dust and marine aerosols.