Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements
Abstract The potential of capillary forces to retain water in pores is an important property of snow and firn at glaciers. Meltwater suspended in pores does not contribute to runoff and may refreeze during winter, which can affect the climatic mass balance and the subsurface density and temperature....
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143021000435 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/jog.2021.43 2024-09-30T14:37:51+00:00 Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements Marchenko, Sergey A. van Pelt, Ward J. J. Pettersson, Rickard Pohjola, Veijo A. Reijmer, Carleen H. 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143021000435 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Journal of Glaciology volume 67, issue 265, page 921-932 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 journal-article 2021 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 2024-09-04T04:03:18Z Abstract The potential of capillary forces to retain water in pores is an important property of snow and firn at glaciers. Meltwater suspended in pores does not contribute to runoff and may refreeze during winter, which can affect the climatic mass balance and the subsurface density and temperature. However, measurement of firn water content is challenging and few values have been reported in the literature. Here, we use subsurface temperature and density measured at the accumulation zone of Lomonosovfonna (1200 m a.s.l.), Svalbard, to derive water content of the firn profiles after the 2014 and 2015 melt seasons. We do this by comparing measured and simulated rates of freezing front propagation. The calculated volumetric water content of firn is ~1.0–2.5 vol.% above the depth of 5 m and <0.5 vol.% below. Results derived using different thermistor strings suggest a prominent lateral variability in firn water content. Reported values are considerably lower than those commonly used in snow/firn models. This is interpreted as a result of preferential water flow in firn leaving dry volumes within wetted firn. This suggests that the implementation of irreducible water content values below 0.5 vol.% within snow/firn models should be considered at the initial phase of water infiltration. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Svalbard Cambridge University Press Svalbard Lomonosovfonna ENVELOPE(17.663,17.663,78.774,78.774) Journal of Glaciology 1 12 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract The potential of capillary forces to retain water in pores is an important property of snow and firn at glaciers. Meltwater suspended in pores does not contribute to runoff and may refreeze during winter, which can affect the climatic mass balance and the subsurface density and temperature. However, measurement of firn water content is challenging and few values have been reported in the literature. Here, we use subsurface temperature and density measured at the accumulation zone of Lomonosovfonna (1200 m a.s.l.), Svalbard, to derive water content of the firn profiles after the 2014 and 2015 melt seasons. We do this by comparing measured and simulated rates of freezing front propagation. The calculated volumetric water content of firn is ~1.0–2.5 vol.% above the depth of 5 m and <0.5 vol.% below. Results derived using different thermistor strings suggest a prominent lateral variability in firn water content. Reported values are considerably lower than those commonly used in snow/firn models. This is interpreted as a result of preferential water flow in firn leaving dry volumes within wetted firn. This suggests that the implementation of irreducible water content values below 0.5 vol.% within snow/firn models should be considered at the initial phase of water infiltration. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Marchenko, Sergey A. van Pelt, Ward J. J. Pettersson, Rickard Pohjola, Veijo A. Reijmer, Carleen H. |
spellingShingle |
Marchenko, Sergey A. van Pelt, Ward J. J. Pettersson, Rickard Pohjola, Veijo A. Reijmer, Carleen H. Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
author_facet |
Marchenko, Sergey A. van Pelt, Ward J. J. Pettersson, Rickard Pohjola, Veijo A. Reijmer, Carleen H. |
author_sort |
Marchenko, Sergey A. |
title |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_short |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_full |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_fullStr |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_full_unstemmed |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_sort |
water content of firn at lomonosovfonna, svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143021000435 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(17.663,17.663,78.774,78.774) |
geographic |
Svalbard Lomonosovfonna |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard Lomonosovfonna |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology Svalbard |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology volume 67, issue 265, page 921-932 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
12 |
_version_ |
1811640628536147968 |