scholarly journals Interpretation of the anomalous growth of Austfonna, Svalbard, a large Arctic ice cap

2005 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 373-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivienne Raper ◽  
Jonathan Bamber ◽  
William Krabill

AbstractAs previously reported, repeat-pass airborne laser altimetry measurements made in May 1996 and May 2002 show a large positive ice-surface elevation change rate over parts of the accumulation area of Austfonna, eastern Svalbard. The maximum growth rate is estimated to be equivalent to a 35–40% increase in snowfall over the area of thickening. Thinning is observed at lower elevations. Here we discuss in detail the possible causes of these elevation changes, including ice-cap dynamics and/or firn density changes, and conclude that sea-ice loss producing a localized increase in precipitation over Austfonna remains the most convincing explanation. This study highlights the problems of interpreting relatively short-term altimetry measurements where auxiliary data are limited in both spatial and temporal extent.

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 2821-2865 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Gray ◽  
D. Burgess ◽  
L. Copland ◽  
M. N. Demuth ◽  
T. Dunse ◽  
...  

Abstract. We show that the CryoSat-2 radar altimeter can provide useful estimates of surface elevation change on a variety of Arctic ice caps, on both monthly and yearly time scales. Changing conditions, however, can lead to a varying bias between the elevation estimated from the radar altimeter and the physical surface due to changes in the contribution of subsurface to surface backscatter. Under melting conditions the radar returns are predominantly from the surface so that if surface melt is extensive across the ice cap estimates of summer elevation loss can be made with the frequent coverage provided by CryoSat-2. For example, the average summer elevation decreases on the Barnes Ice Cap, Baffin Island, Canada were 2.05 ± 0.36 m (2011), 2.55 ± 0.32 m (2012), 1.38 ± 0.40 m (2013) and 1.44 ± 0.37 m (2014), losses which were not balanced by the winter snow accumulation. As winter-to-winter conditions were similar, the net elevation losses were 1.0 ± 0.2 m (winter 2010/2011 to winter 2011/2012), 1.39 ± 0.2 m (2011/2012 to 2012/2013) and 0.36 ± 0.2 m (2012/2013 to 2013/2014); for a total surface elevation loss of 2.75 ± 0.2 m over this 3 year period. In contrast, the uncertainty in height change results from Devon Ice Cap, Canada, and Austfonna, Svalbard, can be up to twice as large because of the presence of firn and the possibility of a varying bias between the true surface and the detected elevation due to changing year-to-year conditions. Nevertheless, the surface elevation change estimates from CryoSat for both ice caps are consistent with field and meteorological measurements. For example, the average 3 year elevation difference for footprints within 100 m of a repeated surface GPS track on Austfonna differed from the GPS change by 0.18 m.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Nilsson ◽  
Alex Gardner ◽  
Louise Sandberg Sørensen ◽  
Rene Forsberg

Abstract. A new methodology for retrieval of glacier and ice sheet elevations and elevation changes from CryoSat-2 data is presented. Surface elevations and elevation changes determined using this approach show significant improvements over ESA's publically available Cryosat-2 elevation product (L2 Baseline-B). This when compared to near-coincident airborne laser altimetry from NASA's Operation IceBridge and seasonal height amplitudes from the Ice, Cloud, and Elevation Satellite (ICESat). Applying this methodology to CryoSat-2 data collected in Interferometric Synthetic Aperture mode over the high relief regions of the Greenland ice sheet we find an improvement in the root-mean-square-error (RMSE) of 27 % and 40 % compared to ESA's L2 product in the derived elevation and elevation changes, respectively. In the interior part of the ice sheet, where CryoSat-2 operates in Low Resolution Mode, we find an improvement in the RMSE of 68 % and 55 % in the derived elevation and elevation changes, respectively. There is also an 86 % improvement in the magnitude of the seasonal amplitudes when compared to amplitudes derived from ICESat data. These results indicate that the new methodology provides improved tracking of the snow/ice surface with lower sensitivity to changes in near-surface dielectric properties. To demonstrate the utility of the new processing methodology we produce elevations, elevation changes and total volume changes from Cryosat-2 data for Greenland Ice Sheet during the period Jan-2011 to Jan-2015. We find that the Greenland Ice Sheet decreased in volume at rate of 289 ± 16 km3 a−1, with high inter-annual variability and spatial heterogeneity in rates of loss. This rate is 65 km3 a−1 more negative than rates determined from ESA's L2 product, highlighting the importance of Cryosat-2 processing methodologies.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 2953-2969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Nilsson ◽  
Alex Gardner ◽  
Louise Sandberg Sørensen ◽  
Rene Forsberg

Abstract. A new methodology for retrieval of glacier and ice sheet elevations and elevation changes from CryoSat-2 data is presented. Surface elevations and elevation changes determined using this approach show significant improvements over ESA's publicly available CryoSat-2 elevation product (L2 Baseline-B). The results are compared to near-coincident airborne laser altimetry from NASA's Operation IceBridge and seasonal height amplitudes from the Ice, Cloud, and Elevation Satellite (ICESat). Applying this methodology to CryoSat-2 data collected in interferometric synthetic aperture mode (SIN) over the high-relief regions of the Greenland Ice Sheet we find an improvement in the root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 27 and 40 % compared to ESA's L2 product in the derived elevation and elevation changes, respectively. In the interior part of the ice sheet, where CryoSat-2 operates in low-resolution mode (LRM), we find an improvement in the RMSE of 68 and 55 % in the derived elevation and elevation changes, respectively. There is also an 86 % improvement in the magnitude of the seasonal amplitudes when compared to amplitudes derived from ICESat data. These results indicate that the new methodology provides improved tracking of the snow/ice surface with lower sensitivity to changes in near-surface dielectric properties. To demonstrate the utility of the new processing methodology we produce elevations, elevation changes, and total volume changes from CryoSat-2 data for the Greenland Ice Sheet during the period January 2011 to January 2015. We find that the Greenland Ice Sheet decreased in volume at a rate of 289 ± 20 km3a−1, with high interannual variability and spatial heterogeneity in rates of loss. This rate is 65 km3a−1 more negative than rates determined from ESA's L2 product, highlighting the importance of CryoSat-2 processing methodologies.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1895-1913 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Gray ◽  
D. Burgess ◽  
L. Copland ◽  
M. N. Demuth ◽  
T. Dunse ◽  
...  

Abstract. We show that the CryoSat-2 radar altimeter can provide useful estimates of surface elevation change on a variety of Arctic ice caps, on both monthly and yearly timescales. Changing conditions, however, can lead to a varying bias between the elevation estimated from the radar altimeter and the physical surface due to changes in the ratio of subsurface to surface backscatter. Under melting conditions the radar returns are predominantly from the surface so that if surface melt is extensive across the ice cap estimates of summer elevation loss can be made with the frequent coverage provided by CryoSat-2. For example, the average summer elevation decreases on the Barnes Ice Cap, Baffin Island, Canada were 2.05 ± 0.36 m (2011), 2.55 ± 0.32 m (2012), 1.38 ± 0.40 m (2013) and 1.44 ± 0.37 m (2014), losses which were not balanced by the winter snow accumulation. As winter-to-winter conditions were similar, the net elevation losses were 1.0 ± 0.20 m (winter 2010/11 to winter 2011/12), 1.39 ± 0.20 m (2011/12 to 2012/13) and 0.36 ± 0.20 m (2012/13 to 2013/14); for a total surface elevation loss of 2.75 ± 0.20 m over this 3-year period. In contrast, the uncertainty in height change from Devon Ice Cap, Canada, and Austfonna, Svalbard, can be up to twice as large because of the presence of firn and the possibility of a varying bias between the true surface and the detected elevation due to changing year-to-year conditions. Nevertheless, the surface elevation change estimates from CryoSat for both ice caps are consistent with field and meteorological measurements.


2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (78) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Hao Ke ◽  
Yuande Yang ◽  
Fei Li ◽  
Zemin Wang ◽  
Bo Sun ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTIn January 2016, static GPS measurements were carried out in a 30 × 30 km2 area centered around Kunlun station at Dome Argus (Dome A), East Antarctica, to acquire high-precision 3-D geodetic coordinates at 49 sites. By comparing the coordinates with previous GPS measurements in 2008 and 2013 at the same sites, we constructed a detailed and long-term record of the ice-surface velocity field, 2008–2016, around Dome A. During this time span, the estimated ice-surface velocity ranges from 0.8 ± 0.3 to 28.7 ± 1.6 cm a−1, with a mean of 10.4 ± 0.3 cm a−1. From 2013 to 2016, the surface elevation of most Dome A areas exhibits a rising trend, and the maximum increase of snow surface elevation is 84.8 cm. The mean snow surface elevation change rate at Dome A is estimated to be 6.6 ± 0.7 cm a−1. The difference of 1.0 cm a−1 between the snow surface change rate derived from GPS and pole-height change rate from surface mass balance is suspected to be a result of a combination of firn densification and basal melt under Dome A.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon L. Pendleton ◽  
◽  
Gifford H. Miller ◽  
Robert S. Anderson ◽  
Sarah E. Crump

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2216
Author(s):  
Najeeha Mohd Apandi ◽  
Mimi Suliza Muhamad ◽  
Radin Maya Saphira Radin Mohamed ◽  
Norshuhaila Mohamed Sunar ◽  
Adel Al-Gheethi ◽  
...  

The present study aimed to optimize the production of Scenedesmus sp. biomass during the phycoremediation process. The biomass productivity was optimized using face centred central composite design (FCCCD) in response surface methodology (RSM) as a function of two independent variables that included wet market wastewater concentrations (A) with a range of 10% to 75% and aeration rate (B) with a range of 0.02 to 4.0 L/min. The results revealed that the highest biomass productivity (73 mg/L/d) and maximum growth rate (1.19 day−1) was achieved with the 64.26% of (A) and 3.08 L/min of (B). The GC-MS composition analysis of the biomass yield extract revealed that the major compounds are hexadecane (25%), glaucine (16.2%), and phytol (8.33%). The presence of these compounds suggests that WMW has the potential to be used as a production medium for Scenedesmus sp. Biomass, which has several applications in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry.


1993 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Blasco ◽  
E. Gómez

Two synthetic lines of rabbits were used in the experiment. Line V, selected on litter size, and line R, selected on growth rate. Ninety-six animals were randomly collected from 48 litters, taking a male and a female each time. Richards and Gompertz growth curves were fitted. Sexual dimorphism appeared in the line V but not in the R. Values for b and k were similar in all curves. Maximum growth rate took place in weeks 7 to 8. A break due to weaning could be observed in weeks 4 to 5. Although there is a remarkable similarity of the values of all the parameters using data from the first 20 weeks only, the higher standard errors on adult weight would make 30 weeks the preferable time to take data for live-weight growth curves.


1978 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Monteith

SUMMARYFigures for maximum crop growth rates, reviewed by Gifford (1974), suggest that the productivity of C3 and C4 species is almost indistinguishable. However, close inspection of these figures at source and correspondence with several authors revealed a number of errors. When all unreliable figures were discarded, the maximum growth rate for C3 stands fell in the range 34–39 g m−2 d−1 compared with 50–54 g m−2 d−1 for C4 stands. Maximum growth rates averaged over the whole growing season showed a similar difference: 13 g m−2 d−1 for C3 and 22 g m−2 d−1 for C4. These figures correspond to photosynthetic efficiencies of approximately 1·4 and 2·0%.


1968 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. A. Becker ◽  
T. A. Massaro

A study has been made of the varicose instability of an axisymmetrical jet with a velocity distribution radially uniform at the nozzle mouth except for a laminar boundary layer at the wall. The evolutionary phenomena of instability, such as the rolling up of the cylindrical vortex layer into ring vortices, the coalescence of ring vortex pairs, and the eventual disintegration into turbulent eddies, have been investigated as a function of the Reynolds number using smoke photography, stroboscopic observation, and the light-scatter technique.Emphasis has been placed on the wavelength with maximum growth rate. The jet is highly sensitive to sound and the effects of several types of acoustic excitation, including pure tones, have been determined.


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