Fig. 1: Relative contributions of the large-scale and synoptic-scale transports to Antarctic snow accumulation.

The bar plots show the contributions of the large-scale transport (red) and synoptic-scale transport (blue) to the mean and interannual variability of snow accumulation for the seven Antarctic regions based on ERA-Interim over the 1985–2014 CE period. The residuals (black; i.e., the error related to the moisture budget calculation) are defined as the difference between the mean snow accumulation from model outputs and the one from the moisture budget (see Methods for more details). In the center, the Antarctic snow accumulation climatology over the 1985–2014 CE period (in mm w.e. year⁻¹) with the regional boundaries defined. The error bars are calculated as the standard deviation of the annual contribution to the snow accumulation mean. Antarctic regions are defined as in ref. ¹⁷: the Plateau where the altitude is higher than 2000 m, Wilkes Land Coast (70–150^∘E), Weddell Sea Coast (60–15^∘W), Victoria Land and Ross Sea (150–170^∘E), and Dronning Maud Land (DML) Coast (15^∘W–70^∘E). All these regions together is considered as East Antarctica. West Antarctica is divided into two regions with a division at 88^∘W: the Antarctic Peninsula and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS).