High resolved snow height measurements at Neumayer Station, Antarctica (2010 et seq)

At Neumayer-Station in Antarctica snow height is permanently monitored with a laser distance meter. From 2010-01-27 until 2011-10-11 the instrument was installed for test purposes on the meteorological mast some 300m south-east of the main station building. From 2011-10-11 until 2012-12-30 the instrument was installed on a tentative mast in the vicinity of the Air Chemical Observatory Neumayer. Since 2013-01-01 the instrument measures continuously at its permanent location in the vicinity of the Air Chemical Observatory Neumayer. By design, the sample area of the surface is on the order of a few millimetre in diameter. Long-term trends of the measured snow height are strongly correlated with accumulation on the ice shelf at a horizontal scale of several kilometres. Short-term trends reflect dynamic changes of the surface and can be used to deduce information on surface roughness.