What we learned about snow and ice in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year and in the following two decades
The article provides new information about the structure of the snow cover and the dynamics of glaciers in East Antarctica, obtained as a result of research during the International Geophysical Year and subsequent years. The role of katabatic and cyclonic winds and accompanying snow-drifts in the formation of the snow thickness and its surface is considered. The thickness of snow is composed of plate and columnar crystals, the shape of which depends on the prevailing air temperature. Of great importance are overall drifting and low-level snowstorms that carry snow down the slope and form a snow microrelief, in which snow dunes and sastrugi (wind ridges) play an important role. The movement of snow on the mainland almost does not affect the mass balance of the entire ice sheet: in Antarctica, 5% less snow is deposited than it falls over the continent. There are a lot of glaze, wind and radiation crusts in the snow column, as well as layers of infiltration ice. Currently, there are three different processes in the South Polar Region: mass accumulation in East Antarctica, sharp retreat and destruction of the edge in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula. The marginal parts of the Antarctic ice sheet are sensitive to global climate change, and the East Antarctic ice sheet appears to be relatively stable.