Dispersion in deep polar firn driven by synoptic-scale surface pressure variability

Buizert, Christo; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2099-2016

Articles | Volume 10, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2099-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS) Second...

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2099-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 10, issue 5

Research article

| Highlight paper

|

15 Sep 2016

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 15 Sep 2016

Dispersion in deep polar firn driven by synoptic-scale surface pressure variability

Christo Buizert and Jeffrey P. Severinghaus

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Final revised paper (published on 15 Sep 2016)
Preprint (discussion started on 15 Jun 2016)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC1: 'Review Buizert+Severinghaus', Anonymous Referee #1, 13 Jul 2016
- AC1: 'Author response to Reviewer 1 comments', Christo Buizert, 13 Aug 2016
RC2: 'Review of "Dispersion in deep polar firn driven by synoptic-scale surface pressure variability" by Christo Buizert and Jeffrey P. Severinghaus', Cathy Trudinger, 19 Jul 2016
- AC2: 'Author response to Reviewer 2 (Dr. Cathy Trudinger) comments', Christo Buizert, 13 Aug 2016
EC1: 'Editor comment', Eric Wolff, 11 Aug 2016

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Christo Buizert on behalf of the Authors (13 Aug 2016) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (15 Aug 2016) by Eric Wolff

Short summary

The upper 50–100 m of the world's ice sheets consists of the firn layer, a porous layer of snow that is slowly compacted by overlying snow. Understanding air movement inside the firn is critical for ice core climate reconstructions. Buizert and Severinghaus identify and describe a new mechanism of firn air movement. High- and low-pressure systems force air movement in the firn that drives strong mixing, called dispersion. Dispersion is the main mechanism for air mixing in the deep firn.