Accumulation rates (2009–2017) in Southeast Greenland derived from airborne snow radar and comparison with regional climate models
Abstract Since the year 2000, Greenland ice sheet mass loss has been dominated by a decrease in surface mass balance rather than an increase in solid ice discharge. Southeast Greenland is an important region to understand how high accumulation rates can offset increasing Greenland ice sheet meltwate...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2020.8 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305520000087 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/aog.2020.8 2024-06-09T07:38:29+00:00 Accumulation rates (2009–2017) in Southeast Greenland derived from airborne snow radar and comparison with regional climate models Montgomery, Lynn Koenig, Lora Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Kuipers Munneke, Peter 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2020.8 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305520000087 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Annals of Glaciology volume 61, issue 81, page 225-233 ISSN 0260-3055 1727-5644 journal-article 2020 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2020.8 2024-05-15T13:01:47Z Abstract Since the year 2000, Greenland ice sheet mass loss has been dominated by a decrease in surface mass balance rather than an increase in solid ice discharge. Southeast Greenland is an important region to understand how high accumulation rates can offset increasing Greenland ice sheet meltwater runoff. To that end, we derive a new 9-year long dataset (2009–17) of accumulation rates in Southeast Greenland using NASA Operation IceBridge snow radar. Our accumulation dataset derived from internal layers focuses on high elevations (1500–3000 m) because at lower elevations meltwater percolation obscured internal layer structure. The uncertainty of the radar-derived accumulation rates is 11% [using Firn Densification Model (FDM) density profiles] and the average accumulation rate ranges from 0.5 to 1.2 m w.e. With our observations spanning almost a decade, we find large inter-annual variability, but no significant trend. Accumulation rates are compared with output from two regional climate models (RCMs), MAR and RACMO2. This comparison shows that the models are underestimating accumulation in Southeast Greenland and the models misrepresent spatial heterogeneity due to an orographically forced bias in snowfall near the coast. Our dataset is useful to fill in temporal and spatial data gaps, and to evaluate RCMs where few in situ measurements are available. Article in Journal/Newspaper Annals of Glaciology Greenland Ice Sheet Cambridge University Press Greenland Annals of Glaciology 61 81 225 233 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Since the year 2000, Greenland ice sheet mass loss has been dominated by a decrease in surface mass balance rather than an increase in solid ice discharge. Southeast Greenland is an important region to understand how high accumulation rates can offset increasing Greenland ice sheet meltwater runoff. To that end, we derive a new 9-year long dataset (2009–17) of accumulation rates in Southeast Greenland using NASA Operation IceBridge snow radar. Our accumulation dataset derived from internal layers focuses on high elevations (1500–3000 m) because at lower elevations meltwater percolation obscured internal layer structure. The uncertainty of the radar-derived accumulation rates is 11% [using Firn Densification Model (FDM) density profiles] and the average accumulation rate ranges from 0.5 to 1.2 m w.e. With our observations spanning almost a decade, we find large inter-annual variability, but no significant trend. Accumulation rates are compared with output from two regional climate models (RCMs), MAR and RACMO2. This comparison shows that the models are underestimating accumulation in Southeast Greenland and the models misrepresent spatial heterogeneity due to an orographically forced bias in snowfall near the coast. Our dataset is useful to fill in temporal and spatial data gaps, and to evaluate RCMs where few in situ measurements are available. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Montgomery, Lynn Koenig, Lora Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Kuipers Munneke, Peter |
spellingShingle |
Montgomery, Lynn Koenig, Lora Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Kuipers Munneke, Peter Accumulation rates (2009–2017) in Southeast Greenland derived from airborne snow radar and comparison with regional climate models |
author_facet |
Montgomery, Lynn Koenig, Lora Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Kuipers Munneke, Peter |
author_sort |
Montgomery, Lynn |
title |
Accumulation rates (2009–2017) in Southeast Greenland derived from airborne snow radar and comparison with regional climate models |
title_short |
Accumulation rates (2009–2017) in Southeast Greenland derived from airborne snow radar and comparison with regional climate models |
title_full |
Accumulation rates (2009–2017) in Southeast Greenland derived from airborne snow radar and comparison with regional climate models |
title_fullStr |
Accumulation rates (2009–2017) in Southeast Greenland derived from airborne snow radar and comparison with regional climate models |
title_full_unstemmed |
Accumulation rates (2009–2017) in Southeast Greenland derived from airborne snow radar and comparison with regional climate models |
title_sort |
accumulation rates (2009–2017) in southeast greenland derived from airborne snow radar and comparison with regional climate models |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2020.8 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305520000087 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Annals of Glaciology Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Annals of Glaciology Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Annals of Glaciology volume 61, issue 81, page 225-233 ISSN 0260-3055 1727-5644 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2020.8 |
container_title |
Annals of Glaciology |
container_volume |
61 |
container_issue |
81 |
container_start_page |
225 |
op_container_end_page |
233 |
_version_ |
1801373158416056320 |