West Antarctic coastal snow accumulation rose 30 percent during 20th century, study finds

Also, the amount of moisture in the air is increasing, because of global warming. Up to the point of freezing, the warmer it is, the heavier the snowfall is likely to be.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/agu-wac110415.php

Public Release: 4-Nov-2015
West Antarctic coastal snow accumulation rose 30 percent during 20th century, study finds
American Geophysical Union

Annual snow accumulation on West Antarctica's coastal ice sheet increased dramatically during the 20th century, according to a new study published in the American Geophysical Union journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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Thomas attributes the higher annual snow accumulation over the last 30 years in part to an intensification of a regional low pressure system and more storms in the region. The study's authors said these storms could increase with climate change, possibly leading to further increases in snow accumulation.

Snow accumulation builds up the ice sheet, but the extra flakes have not acted as a life raft for West Antarctica's ice sheet, which previous research has found is rapidly thinning as the climate warms, Thomas said.

The size of the ice sheet depends on how much new snow accumulates and how much of the existing ice melts, she said. Knowledge about how much new snow is laid down in West Antarctica each year could help scientists more accurately predict how the region's coastal ice sheet could be affected by climate change and its contribution to sea level rise, Thomas said.

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The study's authors attribute the rise in snow accumulation in part to increased regional storm activity. The Amundsen Sea, which bounds Ellsworth Land to the west, is prone to storms and low pressure systems that often sit over the region, Thomas said.

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Antarctic climate results from a complex mix of oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns, so there could also be other components affecting the amount of snow accumulation in the region, Bromwich said. As the paper suggests, one could be the evaporation of surface waters that have become exposed because of sea ice loss in the region, he added.