Spatial response of Greenland's firn layer to NAO variability

Firn on the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) buffers meltwater, and has a variable thickness, complicating observations of volume change to mass change. In this study, we use a firn model (IMAU-FDM v1.2G) forced by a regional climate model (RACMO2.3p2) to investigate how the GrIS firn layer thickness and...

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Main Authors: Brils, Max, Munneke, Peter Kuipers, Broeke, Michiel R. van den
Format: Other/Unknown Material
Language:unknown
Published: Authorea, Inc. 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.22541/essoar.167591091.18600674/v1
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spelling crwinnower:10.22541/essoar.167591091.18600674/v1 2024-06-02T08:07:34+00:00 Spatial response of Greenland's firn layer to NAO variability Brils, Max Munneke, Peter Kuipers Broeke, Michiel R. van den 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.22541/essoar.167591091.18600674/v1 unknown Authorea, Inc. posted-content 2023 crwinnower https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.167591091.18600674/v1 2024-05-07T14:19:27Z Firn on the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) buffers meltwater, and has a variable thickness, complicating observations of volume change to mass change. In this study, we use a firn model (IMAU-FDM v1.2G) forced by a regional climate model (RACMO2.3p2) to investigate how the GrIS firn layer thickness and pore space have evolved since 1958 in response to variability in the large-scale atmospheric circulation. On interannual timescales, the firn layer thickness and pore space show a spatially heterogeneous response to variability in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Notably, a stronger NAO following the record warm summer of 2012 led the firn layer in the south and east of the ice sheet to regain thickness and pore space after a period of thinning and reduced pore space. In the southwest, a decrease in melt dominates, whereas in the east the main driver is an increase in snow accumulation. At the same time, the firn in the northwestern ice sheet continued to lose pore space. The NAO also varies on intra-annual timescales, being typically stronger in winter than in summer. This impacts the amplitude of the seasonal cycle in GrIS firn thickness and pore space. In the wet southeastern GrIS, most of the snow accumulates during the winter, when melting and densification are relatively weak, leading to a large seasonal cycle in thickness and pore space. The opposite occurs in other regions, where snowfall peaks in summer or autumn. This dampens the seasonal amplitude of firn thickness and pore space. Other/Unknown Material Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation The Winnower Greenland
institution Open Polar
collection The Winnower
op_collection_id crwinnower
language unknown
description Firn on the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) buffers meltwater, and has a variable thickness, complicating observations of volume change to mass change. In this study, we use a firn model (IMAU-FDM v1.2G) forced by a regional climate model (RACMO2.3p2) to investigate how the GrIS firn layer thickness and pore space have evolved since 1958 in response to variability in the large-scale atmospheric circulation. On interannual timescales, the firn layer thickness and pore space show a spatially heterogeneous response to variability in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Notably, a stronger NAO following the record warm summer of 2012 led the firn layer in the south and east of the ice sheet to regain thickness and pore space after a period of thinning and reduced pore space. In the southwest, a decrease in melt dominates, whereas in the east the main driver is an increase in snow accumulation. At the same time, the firn in the northwestern ice sheet continued to lose pore space. The NAO also varies on intra-annual timescales, being typically stronger in winter than in summer. This impacts the amplitude of the seasonal cycle in GrIS firn thickness and pore space. In the wet southeastern GrIS, most of the snow accumulates during the winter, when melting and densification are relatively weak, leading to a large seasonal cycle in thickness and pore space. The opposite occurs in other regions, where snowfall peaks in summer or autumn. This dampens the seasonal amplitude of firn thickness and pore space.
format Other/Unknown Material
author Brils, Max
Munneke, Peter Kuipers
Broeke, Michiel R. van den
spellingShingle Brils, Max
Munneke, Peter Kuipers
Broeke, Michiel R. van den
Spatial response of Greenland's firn layer to NAO variability
author_facet Brils, Max
Munneke, Peter Kuipers
Broeke, Michiel R. van den
author_sort Brils, Max
title Spatial response of Greenland's firn layer to NAO variability
title_short Spatial response of Greenland's firn layer to NAO variability
title_full Spatial response of Greenland's firn layer to NAO variability
title_fullStr Spatial response of Greenland's firn layer to NAO variability
title_full_unstemmed Spatial response of Greenland's firn layer to NAO variability
title_sort spatial response of greenland's firn layer to nao variability
publisher Authorea, Inc.
publishDate 2023
url http://dx.doi.org/10.22541/essoar.167591091.18600674/v1
geographic Greenland
geographic_facet Greenland
genre Greenland
Ice Sheet
North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
genre_facet Greenland
Ice Sheet
North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
op_doi https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.167591091.18600674/v1
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