scholarly journals Decreasing cloud cover drives the recent mass loss on the Greenland Ice Sheet

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. e1700584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Hofer ◽  
Andrew J. Tedstone ◽  
Xavier Fettweis ◽  
Jonathan L. Bamber
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Cloud Cover ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet

scholarly journals Decreasing cloud cover drives the recent mass loss on the Greenland Ice Sheet

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Hofer ◽  
Andrew Tedstone ◽  
Xavier Fettweis ◽  
Jonathan Bamber
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Cloud Cover ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet

scholarly journals Accelerated Greenland Ice Sheet Mass Loss under High Greenhouse Gas Forcing as Simulated by the Coupled CESM2.1-CISM2.1

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Muntjewerf ◽  
Raymond Sellevold ◽  
Miren Vizcaino ◽  
Carolina Ernani da Silva ◽  
Michele Petrini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet

Acceleration of the Greenland ice sheet mass loss as observed by GRACE: Confidence and sensitivity

2013 ◽  
Vol 364 ◽  
pp. 24-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.L. Svendsen ◽  
O.B. Andersen ◽  
A.A. Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet

scholarly journals Monitoring southwest Greenland’s ice sheet melt with ambient seismic noise

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. e1501538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurélien Mordret ◽  
T. Dylan Mikesell ◽  
Christopher Harig ◽  
Bradley P. Lipovsky ◽  
Germán A. Prieto
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Seismic Noise ◽  
Seismic Velocity ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Ice Sheet Mass Balance ◽  
Velocity Changes

The Greenland ice sheet presently accounts for ~70% of global ice sheet mass loss. Because this mass loss is associated with sea-level rise at a rate of 0.7 mm/year, the development of improved monitoring techniques to observe ongoing changes in ice sheet mass balance is of paramount concern. Spaceborne mass balance techniques are commonly used; however, they are inadequate for many purposes because of their low spatial and/or temporal resolution. We demonstrate that small variations in seismic wave speed in Earth’s crust, as measured with the correlation of seismic noise, may be used to infer seasonal ice sheet mass balance. Seasonal loading and unloading of glacial mass induces strain in the crust, and these strains then result in seismic velocity changes due to poroelastic processes. Our method provides a new and independent way of monitoring (in near real time) ice sheet mass balance, yielding new constraints on ice sheet evolution and its contribution to global sea-level changes. An increased number of seismic stations in the vicinity of ice sheets will enhance our ability to create detailed space-time records of ice mass variations.

scholarly journals On the recent contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to sea level change

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 1933-1946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michiel R. van den Broeke ◽  
Ellyn M. Enderlin ◽  
Ian M. Howat ◽  
Peter Kuipers Munneke ◽  
Brice P. Y. Noël ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Pore Space ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Sea Level Change ◽  
Recent Contribution ◽  
Surface Mass ◽  
Level Change

Abstract. We assess the recent contribution of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) to sea level change. We use the mass budget method, which quantifies ice sheet mass balance (MB) as the difference between surface mass balance (SMB) and solid ice discharge across the grounding line (D). A comparison with independent gravity change observations from GRACE shows good agreement for the overlapping period 2002–2015, giving confidence in the partitioning of recent GrIS mass changes. The estimated 1995 value of D and the 1958–1995 average value of SMB are similar at 411 and 418 Gt yr−1, respectively, suggesting that ice flow in the mid-1990s was well adjusted to the average annual mass input, reminiscent of an ice sheet in approximate balance. Starting in the early to mid-1990s, SMB decreased while D increased, leading to quasi-persistent negative MB. About 60 % of the associated mass loss since 1991 is caused by changes in SMB and the remainder by D. The decrease in SMB is fully driven by an increase in surface melt and subsequent meltwater runoff, which is slightly compensated by a small ( <  3 %) increase in snowfall. The excess runoff originates from low-lying ( <  2000 m a.s.l.) parts of the ice sheet; higher up, increased refreezing prevents runoff of meltwater from occurring, at the expense of increased firn temperatures and depleted pore space. With a 1991–2015 average annual mass loss of  ∼  0.47 ± 0.23 mm sea level equivalent (SLE) and a peak contribution of 1.2 mm SLE in 2012, the GrIS has recently become a major source of global mean sea level rise.

scholarly journals Constraining GRACE-derived cryosphere-attributed signal to irregularly shaped ice-covered areas

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 1901-1914 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Colgan ◽  
S. Luthcke ◽  
W. Abdalati ◽  
M. Citterio
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Mass Loss ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Spherical Harmonic ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Caps ◽  
Ice Coverage ◽  
Ice Sheet Mass Balance ◽  
Harmonic Representation

Abstract. We use a Monte Carlo approach to invert a spherical harmonic representation of cryosphere-attributed mass change in order to infer the most likely underlying mass changes within irregularly shaped ice-covered areas at nominal 26 km resolution. By inverting a spherical harmonic representation through the incorporation of additional fractional ice coverage information, this approach seeks to eliminate signal leakage between non-ice-covered and ice-covered areas. The spherical harmonic representation suggests a Greenland mass loss of 251 ± 25 Gt a−1 over the December 2003 to December 2010 period. The inversion suggests 218 ± 20 Gt a−1 was due to the ice sheet proper, and 34 ± 5 Gt a−1 (or ~14%) was due to Greenland peripheral glaciers and ice caps (GrPGICs). This mass loss from GrPGICs exceeds that inferred from all ice masses on both Ellesmere and Devon islands combined. This partition therefore highlights that GRACE-derived "Greenland" mass loss cannot be taken as synonymous with "Greenland ice sheet" mass loss when making comparisons with estimates of ice sheet mass balance derived from techniques that sample only the ice sheet proper.

scholarly journals Ice sheet mass loss caused by dust and black carbon accumulation

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 2563-2596
Author(s):  
T. Goelles ◽  
C. E. Bøggild ◽  
R. Greve
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Carbon Accumulation ◽  
Model Framework ◽  
Ice Dynamics ◽  
Ablation Area ◽  
Ice Surface ◽  
Surface Melt

Abstract. Albedo is the dominating factor governing surface melt variability in the ablation area of ice sheets and glaciers. Aerosols such as mineral dust and black carbon (soot) accumulate on the ice surface and cause a darker surface and therefore a lower albedo. The dominant source of these aerosols in the ablation area is melt-out of englacial material which has been transported via ice flow. The darkening effect on the ice surface is currently not included in sea level projections, and the effect is unknown. We present a model framework which includes ice dynamics, aerosol transport, aerosol accumulation and the darkening effect on ice albedo and its consequences for surface melt. The model is applied to a simplified geometry resembling the conditions of the Greenland ice sheet, and it is forced by several temperature scenarios to quantify the darkening effect of aerosols on future mass loss. The effect of aerosols depends non-linearly on the temperature rise due to the feedback between aerosol accumulation and surface melt. The effect of aerosols in the year 3000 is up to 12% of additional ice sheet volume loss in the warmest scenario.

Increase of ice discharge from Greenland's peripheral tidewater glaciers over recent decades

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Möller ◽  
Beatriz Recinos ◽  
Ben Marzeion
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Regression Tree ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Tidewater Glaciers ◽  
Glacier Ice ◽  
Extrapolation Scheme ◽  
Flux Gate ◽  
Surface Ice

&lt;p&gt;The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing mass at increasing rates. Substantial amounts of this mass loss occur by ice discharge. The ice sheet is surrounded by thousands of peripheral glaciers, which are dynamically decoupled from the ice sheet, and which account for ~10 % of the global glacier ice volume outside the two main ice sheets. Rather low-lying along the coasts, these peripheral glaciers are also losing mass at increasing, but disputed, rates. The total absence of knowledge about the role and share of solid ice discharge in this mass loss adds to the controversy. Since the quantification of ice discharge is still pending, a full understanding of ice mass loss processes in this globally important glacier region is substantially hampered.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here, we present the first estimation of ice discharge from Greenland's peripheral tidewater glaciers. For each of these 760 glaciers, we combine an idealized rectangular flux gate cross sections derived from modelling with the Open Global Glacier Model with surface ice flow velocities derived from the ITS_LIVE and MEaSUREs remote sensing datasets to calculate glacier specific ice discharge on both annual and multi-annual time scales over the period 1985 to 2018. For the few glaciers not covered by either of the employed original datasets or modelling methods we use a regression tree-based extrapolation scheme to estimate the necessary input data for our calculation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our findings indicate a significant overall increase of ice discharge over the study period although several individual glaciers show contrasting developments. This increase became especially apparent across the southern parts of Greenland. Our results also show that the total of the ice discharge from Greenland's peripheral tidewater glaciers is dominated by few major contributors and that this dominance is completely time-independent.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Accelerated Greenland Ice Sheet Mass Loss Under High Greenhouse Gas Forcing as Simulated by the Coupled CESM2.1‐CISM2.1

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Muntjewerf ◽  
Raymond Sellevold ◽  
Miren Vizcaino ◽  
Carolina Ernani da Silva ◽  
Michele Petrini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet

Accelerated mass loss from Greenland ice sheet: Links to atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic

2015 ◽  
Vol 128 ◽  
pp. 61-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ki-Weon Seo ◽  
Duane E. Waliser ◽  
Choon-Ki Lee ◽  
Baijun Tian ◽  
Ted Scambos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic
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