The southern polar expedition began on December 2, 2024. That day, at 11 a.m. (2 a.m. in Paris), not far from Cape Prud'homme, on the coast facing the Dumont island base -d'Urville, a snow groomer and three tractors pulling seven sleds loaded with 25 tonnes of equipment advanced on the icy track which, climbing up to 3,233 meters above sea level on the plateau, makes it possible to reach, at the end of a journey of 1,100 kilometers, the Franco-Italian station of Concordia.
On board, gathered for a forty-five day mission, the participants in the Awaca raid (Atmospheric Water Cycle over Antarctica). In all, four logisticians from the French Polar Institute Paul-Emile-Victor (IPEV) and five researchers from various laboratories. They set out to install, at three points along this long supply route, platforms equipped with scientific instruments capable of operating autonomously for three consecutive years and providing new information on a meteorological phenomenon that is curiously little known: snow precipitation in Antarctic.
The continent plays an extremely important role on a global scale. By trapping 70% of the planet's fresh water reserves in the form of ice, it maintains the oceans at their current level and could even contribute to limiting their increase in the future. Indeed, explains Christophe Genthon, research director at the CNRS Dynamic Meteorology Laboratory and co-responsible for Awaca, “IPCC models predict that global warming will be accompanied by an increase in the intensity of precipitation by the end of the century. Between 5.5% and 24.5% for this region, where it will mainly take the form of snowfall”.
Will the immense ice sheet (the layer of ice) with which this vast continent, one and a half times the size of Europe, is almost entirely covered, absorb this surplus? Will it help moderate the rise of the oceans? It is impossible for scientists to answer this question due to the lack of being able to assess the portion of this water, which, by being stored on the surface in the form of ice, will not subsequently be released into the atmosphere or the oceans below. the effect of winds, sublimation reactions or runoff. And in general, without having acquired a better knowledge of the processes of snow accumulation on the polar cap. “It was observed that climate simulations systematically overestimated the amount of precipitation that fell in Antarctica. This bias proves that corrections are necessary”, continues Christophe Genthon. They will not be easy to carry out.
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