The effect of latent heat transport by waves on Greenland Surface Mass Balance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuomas Ilkka Henrikki Heiskanen ◽  
Rune Grand Graversen
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
Latent Heat ◽  
Energy Transport ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Surface Mass Balance ◽  
Surface Mass ◽  
Circulation Patterns

<p>The Arctic region shows some of the world's most significant signs of climate change. The atmospheric energy transport plays an important role for the Arctic climate; the atmospheric transport contributes an amount of energy into the Arctic that is comparable to that provided directly by the sun. From recently developed Fourier and wavelet based methods it has been found that the planetary component of the latent heat transport affects that Arctic surface temperatures stronger than the decomposed dry-static energy transport and the synoptic scale component of the latent heat transport. </p><p>A large concern for humanity is that the climate change in polar regions will lead to significant melting of the ice sheets and glaciers. In fact the discharge water from the Greenland ice sheet has recently increased to the extent that this ice sheet is one of the major contributorsto sea-level rise. Here we test the hypothesis that the recent rapid increase in melt of the Greenland ice sheet is linked to a shift of planetary-scale waves transporting warm and humid air over the ice sheet.</p><p>The effect of the atmospheric energy transport is investigated by correlating the divergence of energy over the Greenland ice sheet with the surface mass balance of this ice sheet. The divergence of latent heat transport is found to correlate positively with the surface mass balance along the edges of the ice sheet, and negatively in the interior. This indicates that a convergence of latent at the edges of the ice sheet lead to a increased mass discharge from the ice sheet, whilst in the interior converging latent heat indicates an accumulation of mass to the ice sheet. </p><p>To investigate the effect of transport by planetary and synoptic scale waves on the Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance the mass flux component of the transport divergence is decomposed into wavenumbers through the application of a Fourier series. The divergences of transport contributions of each wavenumber are then correlated with the surface mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet. The correlations between the surface-mass balance and divergence of transport contributions by different wavenumbers reveals the relative impact of atmospheric circulation systems, such as Rossby waves and cyclones, on the Greenland ice sheet mass balance. Further, identifying shifts in the circulation patterns over Greenland by applying self organizing maps, or similar methods, and investigations of how these circulation patterns affect the energy transport over Greenland by atmospheric waves of different scales are also pursued.<br> <br>  </p>

The effect of a shift in the atmospheric energy transport scales on the Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuomas Ilkka Henrikki Heiskanen
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
Latent Heat ◽  
Energy Transport ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Surface Mass Balance ◽  
Synoptic Scale ◽  
The South ◽  
Surface Mass

<p> Climate change in the Arctic is likely to lead to a significant melting of ice sheets and glaciers. This will be an important driving<br>  mechanism for future sea-level rise. During the last decades the Greenland ice sheet has lost mass at an unprecedented rate. <br>  This has lead to the Greenland ice sheet to be an important contributor to sea-level rise. Here we test the hypothesis that a <br>  change in the atmospheric circulation over Greenland contributes to the exceptionally negative surface mass balance observed over the<br>  last decades. </p><p>  The atmospheric transport contributes an amount of energy into the Arctic that is <br>  comparable to that provided directly by the sun. From recently developed Fourier and wavelet based methods it has been found that <br>  the planetary component of the latent heat transport affects that Arctic surface temperatures stronger than the decomposed dry-static <br>  energy transport and the synoptic scale component of the latent heat transport. </p><p>  The south west ablation zone of the Greenland ice-sheet is one of the main contributors to mass loss of the ice-sheet. Comparing <br>  the ablation in this area with patterns of the divergence of latent heat transport shows that similar decadal-scale trends are found <br>  in the surface mass balance and divergence of latent heat transport data. <br>  During the last decades the divergence of latent heat has shifted from <br>  synoptic scale to planetary scale, implying an increased convergence of latent heat transport by synoptic scale waves to the south<br>  west coast of Greenland. </p><p>  Through linear regressions we find that the shift from planetary scale transport convergence to synoptic scale convergence describes<br>  approximately 25 % of the surface mass balance anomaly, since year 2000, in the south west region of Greenland. The total amount <br>  of energy transported into this region has not changed dramatically. Hence this indicates the importance of the systems transporting <br>  the energy or conditions under which the transport by the different wave types take place. <br>  Transport by synoptic scale waves seems to be an important contributor to the surface mass loss of the Greenland ice<br>  sheet. A possible explanation for this is that synoptic scale transport into the ablation zone is associated with warmer conditions<br>  than the planetary component over the same region. Hence providing favorable conditions for ice melting, and possibly a larger <br>  fraction of liquid precipitation. However, why this is so is still a subject we study. <br>  Further we try to identify how different melt driving mechanisms are <br>  associated with both planetary and synoptic scale divergence of energy transport, and which of these lead to the differing effects on<br>  the surface mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet.</p>

scholarly journals Annual Greenland accumulation rates (2009–2012) from airborne snow radar

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1739-1752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lora S. Koenig ◽  
Alvaro Ivanoff ◽  
Patrick M. Alexander ◽  
Joseph A. MacGregor ◽  
Xavier Fettweis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Ultra Wideband ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Surface Mass Balance ◽  
Accumulation Rates ◽  
Surface Mass

Abstract. Contemporary climate warming over the Arctic is accelerating mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet through increasing surface melt, emphasizing the need to closely monitor its surface mass balance in order to improve sea-level rise predictions. Snow accumulation is the largest component of the ice sheet's surface mass balance, but in situ observations thereof are inherently sparse and models are difficult to evaluate at large scales. Here, we quantify recent Greenland accumulation rates using ultra-wideband (2–6.5 GHz) airborne snow radar data collected as part of NASA's Operation IceBridge between 2009 and 2012. We use a semiautomated method to trace the observed radiostratigraphy and then derive annual net accumulation rates for 2009–2012. The uncertainty in these radar-derived accumulation rates is on average 14 %. A comparison of the radar-derived accumulation rates and contemporaneous ice cores shows that snow radar captures both the annual and long-term mean accumulation rate accurately. A comparison with outputs from a regional climate model (MAR) shows that this model matches radar-derived accumulation rates in the ice sheet interior but produces higher values over southeastern Greenland. Our results demonstrate that snow radar can efficiently and accurately map patterns of snow accumulation across an ice sheet and that it is valuable for evaluating the accuracy of surface mass balance models.

Contemporary (1960–2012) Evolution of the Climate and Surface Mass Balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 1155-1174 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. van Angelen ◽  
M. R. van den Broeke ◽  
B. Wouters ◽  
J. T. M. Lenaerts
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Surface Mass Balance ◽  
Surface Mass

scholarly journals Simulation of the future sea level contribution of Greenland with a new glacial system model

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 3097-3121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reinhard Calov ◽  
Sebastian Beyer ◽  
Ralf Greve ◽  
Johanna Beckmann ◽  
Matteo Willeit ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
System Model ◽  
Surface Mass Balance ◽  
Surface Mass

Abstract. We introduce the coupled model of the Greenland glacial system IGLOO 1.0, including the polythermal ice sheet model SICOPOLIS (version 3.3) with hybrid dynamics, the model of basal hydrology HYDRO and a parameterization of submarine melt for marine-terminated outlet glaciers. The aim of this glacial system model is to gain a better understanding of the processes important for the future contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to sea level rise under future climate change scenarios. The ice sheet is initialized via a relaxation towards observed surface elevation, imposing the palaeo-surface temperature over the last glacial cycle. As a present-day reference, we use the 1961–1990 standard climatology derived from simulations of the regional atmosphere model MAR with ERA reanalysis boundary conditions. For the palaeo-part of the spin-up, we add the temperature anomaly derived from the GRIP ice core to the years 1961–1990 average surface temperature field. For our projections, we apply surface temperature and surface mass balance anomalies derived from RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios created by MAR with boundary conditions from simulations with three CMIP5 models. The hybrid ice sheet model is fully coupled with the model of basal hydrology. With this model and the MAR scenarios, we perform simulations to estimate the contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to future sea level rise until the end of the 21st and 23rd centuries. Further on, the impact of elevation–surface mass balance feedback, introduced via the MAR data, on future sea level rise is inspected. In our projections, we found the Greenland ice sheet to contribute between 1.9 and 13.0 cm to global sea level rise until the year 2100 and between 3.5 and 76.4 cm until the year 2300, including our simulated additional sea level rise due to elevation–surface mass balance feedback. Translated into additional sea level rise, the strength of this feedback in the year 2100 varies from 0.4 to 1.7 cm, and in the year 2300 it ranges from 1.7 to 21.8 cm. Additionally, taking the Helheim and Store glaciers as examples, we investigate the role of ocean warming and surface runoff change for the melting of outlet glaciers. It shows that ocean temperature and subglacial discharge are about equally important for the melting of the examined outlet glaciers.

scholarly journals Seasonal mass variations show timing and magnitude of meltwater storage in the Greenland Ice Sheet

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2981-2999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiangjun Ran ◽  
Miren Vizcaino ◽  
Pavel Ditmar ◽  
Michiel R. van den Broeke ◽  
Twila Moon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Surface Mass Balance ◽  
High Accumulation ◽  
Outlet Glacier ◽  
Surface Mass ◽  
Meltwater Runoff

Abstract. The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is currently losing ice mass. In order to accurately predict future sea level rise, the mechanisms driving the observed mass loss must be better understood. Here, we combine data from the satellite gravimetry mission Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), surface mass balance (SMB) output of the Regional Atmospheric Climate Model v. 2 (RACMO2), and ice discharge estimates to analyze the mass budget of Greenland at various temporal and spatial scales. We find that the mean rate of mass variations in Greenland observed by GRACE was between −277 and −269 Gt yr−1 in 2003–2012. This estimate is consistent with the sum (i.e., -304±126 Gt yr−1) of individual contributions – surface mass balance (SMB, 216±122 Gt yr−1) and ice discharge (520±31 Gt yr−1) – and with previous studies. We further identify a seasonal mass anomaly throughout the GRACE record that peaks in July at 80–120 Gt and which we interpret to be due to a combination of englacial and subglacial water storage generated by summer surface melting. The robustness of this estimate is demonstrated by using both different GRACE-based solutions and different meltwater runoff estimates (namely, RACMO2.3, SNOWPACK, and MAR3.9). Meltwater storage in the ice sheet occurs primarily due to storage in the high-accumulation regions of the southeast and northwest parts of Greenland. Analysis of seasonal variations in outlet glacier discharge shows that the contribution of ice discharge to the observed signal is minor (at the level of only a few gigatonnes) and does not explain the seasonal differences between the total mass and SMB signals. With the improved quantification of meltwater storage at the seasonal scale, we highlight its importance for understanding glacio-hydrological processes and their contributions to the ice sheet mass variability.

scholarly journals Estimation of the Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance for the 20th and 21st centuries

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Fettweis ◽  
E. Hanna ◽  
H. Gallée ◽  
P. Huybrechts ◽  
M. Erpicum
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Multiple Regression ◽  
21St Century ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
General Circulation Models ◽  
Climate Simulation ◽  
Surface Mass Balance ◽  
Surface Mass

Abstract. Results from a regional climate simulation (1970–2006) over the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) reveals that more than 97% of the interannual variability of the modelled Surface Mass Balance (SMB) can be explained by the GrIS summer temperature anomaly and the GrIS annual precipitation anomaly. This multiple regression is then used to empirically estimate the GrIS SMB since 1900 from climatological time series. The projected SMB changes in the 21st century are investigated with the set of simulations performed with atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR4). These estimates show that the high surface mass loss rates of recent years are not unprecedented in the GrIS history of the last hundred years. The minimum SMB rate seems to have occurred earlier in the 1930s and corresponds to a zero SMB rate. The AOGCMs project that the SMB rate of the 1930s would be common at the end of 2100. The temperature would be higher than in the 1930s but the increase of accumulation in the 21st century would partly offset the acceleration of surface melt due to the temperature increase. However, these assumptions are based on an empirical multiple regression only validated for recent/current climatic conditions, and the accuracy and time homogeneity of the data sets and AOGCM results used in these estimations constitute a large uncertainty.

scholarly journals A daily, 1 km resolution data set of downscaled Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance (1958–2015)

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 2361-2377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brice Noël ◽  
Willem Jan van de Berg ◽  
Horst Machguth ◽  
Stef Lhermitte ◽  
Ian Howat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Surface Mass Balance ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Surface Mass ◽  
Ice Caps ◽  
Elevation Model

Abstract. This study presents a data set of daily, 1 km resolution Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) surface mass balance (SMB) covering the period 1958–2015. Applying corrections for elevation, bare ice albedo and accumulation bias, the high-resolution product is statistically downscaled from the native daily output of the polar regional climate model RACMO2.3 at 11 km. The data set includes all individual SMB components projected to a down-sampled version of the Greenland Ice Mapping Project (GIMP) digital elevation model and ice mask. The 1 km mask better resolves narrow ablation zones, valley glaciers, fjords and disconnected ice caps. Relative to the 11 km product, the more detailed representation of isolated glaciated areas leads to increased precipitation over the southeastern GrIS. In addition, the downscaled product shows a significant increase in runoff owing to better resolved low-lying marginal glaciated regions. The combined corrections for elevation and bare ice albedo markedly improve model agreement with a newly compiled data set of ablation measurements.

scholarly journals Mass Balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet from GRACE and Surface Mass Balance Modelling

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Zou ◽  
Robert Tenzer ◽  
Hok Fok ◽  
Janet Nichol
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Surface Mass Balance ◽  
Discharge Data ◽  
Surface Mass ◽  
Term Trend ◽  
Long Term Trend

The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is losing mass at a rate that represents a major contribution to global sea-level rise in recent decades. In this study, we use the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data to retrieve the time series variations of the GrIS from April 2002 to June 2017. We also estimate the mass balance from the RACMO2.3 and ice discharge data in order to obtain a comparative analysis and cross-validation. A detailed analysis of long-term trend and seasonal and inter-annual changes in the GrIS is implemented by GRACE and surface mass balance (SMB) modeling. The results indicate a decrease of −267.77 ± 8.68 Gt/yr of the GrIS over the 16-year period. There is a rapid decline from 2002 to 2008, which accelerated from 2009 to 2012 before declining relatively slowly from 2013 to 2017. The mass change inland is significantly smaller than that detected along coastal regions, especially in the southeastern, southwestern, and northwestern regions. The mass balance estimates from GRACE and SMB minus ice discharge (SMB-D) are very consistent. The ice discharge manifests itself mostly as a long-term trend, whereas seasonal mass variations are largely attributed to surface mass processes. The GrIS mass changes are mostly attributed to mass loss during summer. Summer mass changes are highly correlated with climate changes.

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