Grain size and ice layer stratigraphy from the upper 10 meters of Cores 1-7 collected during the 2016 Greenland Traverse for Accumulation and Climate Studies (GreenTrACS), western Greenland
Firn structure influences the fate and transport of meltwater generated in the accumulation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Meltwater can be stored as refrozen ice layers within the firn column, but these features decrease future storage capacity as they act as impermeable barriers to deep infiltra...
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Arctic Data Center
2022
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dataone:doi:10.18739/A24B2X61Z 2024-06-03T18:46:51+00:00 Grain size and ice layer stratigraphy from the upper 10 meters of Cores 1-7 collected during the 2016 Greenland Traverse for Accumulation and Climate Studies (GreenTrACS), western Greenland Ian McDowell Kaitlin Keegan Erich Osterberg Robert Hawley Hans-Peter Marshall Firn cores were located along approximately the 2200 m above sea level contour in the western percolation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet. ENVELOPE(-45.7531,-44.5644,70.3025,66.9842) BEGINDATE: 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z ENDDATE: 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.18739/A24B2X61Z unknown Arctic Data Center Greenland Firn core Grain size Ice layers Firn stratigraphy GreenTrACS Dataset 2022 dataone:urn:node:ARCTIC https://doi.org/10.18739/A24B2X61Z 2024-06-03T18:18:27Z Firn structure influences the fate and transport of meltwater generated in the accumulation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Meltwater can be stored as refrozen ice layers within the firn column, but these features decrease future storage capacity as they act as impermeable barriers to deep infiltration. Observations of firn structure are necessary to validate firn model percolation schemes and predict future ice layer formation within the firn column for accurate ice sheet mass balance estimates. Here, we present grain size measurements and ice layer stratigraphy from seven firn cores collected in western Greenland during the 2016 Greenland Traverse for Accumulation and Climate Studies (GreenTrACS). We use the grain size data to count the number of grain size transitions within each firn core, and relate the number of grain size transitions, and particularly the number of fine-over-coarse grain size transitions to the total number of ice layers in each core. Unexpectedly, ice layers are strongly negatively correlated with all grain size transitions, and more specifically with fine-over-coarse grain transitions, which create capillary barriers that promote water ponding and ice layer formation. We suggest that these relationships are the final signature of capillary effects on vertical meltwater infiltration, as grain size transitions are overprinted during ice layer formation along stratigraphic horizons. Dataset Greenland Ice Sheet Arctic Data Center (via DataONE) Greenland ENVELOPE(-45.7531,-44.5644,70.3025,66.9842) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Arctic Data Center (via DataONE) |
op_collection_id |
dataone:urn:node:ARCTIC |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Greenland Firn core Grain size Ice layers Firn stratigraphy GreenTrACS |
spellingShingle |
Greenland Firn core Grain size Ice layers Firn stratigraphy GreenTrACS Ian McDowell Kaitlin Keegan Erich Osterberg Robert Hawley Hans-Peter Marshall Grain size and ice layer stratigraphy from the upper 10 meters of Cores 1-7 collected during the 2016 Greenland Traverse for Accumulation and Climate Studies (GreenTrACS), western Greenland |
topic_facet |
Greenland Firn core Grain size Ice layers Firn stratigraphy GreenTrACS |
description |
Firn structure influences the fate and transport of meltwater generated in the accumulation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Meltwater can be stored as refrozen ice layers within the firn column, but these features decrease future storage capacity as they act as impermeable barriers to deep infiltration. Observations of firn structure are necessary to validate firn model percolation schemes and predict future ice layer formation within the firn column for accurate ice sheet mass balance estimates. Here, we present grain size measurements and ice layer stratigraphy from seven firn cores collected in western Greenland during the 2016 Greenland Traverse for Accumulation and Climate Studies (GreenTrACS). We use the grain size data to count the number of grain size transitions within each firn core, and relate the number of grain size transitions, and particularly the number of fine-over-coarse grain size transitions to the total number of ice layers in each core. Unexpectedly, ice layers are strongly negatively correlated with all grain size transitions, and more specifically with fine-over-coarse grain transitions, which create capillary barriers that promote water ponding and ice layer formation. We suggest that these relationships are the final signature of capillary effects on vertical meltwater infiltration, as grain size transitions are overprinted during ice layer formation along stratigraphic horizons. |
format |
Dataset |
author |
Ian McDowell Kaitlin Keegan Erich Osterberg Robert Hawley Hans-Peter Marshall |
author_facet |
Ian McDowell Kaitlin Keegan Erich Osterberg Robert Hawley Hans-Peter Marshall |
author_sort |
Ian McDowell |
title |
Grain size and ice layer stratigraphy from the upper 10 meters of Cores 1-7 collected during the 2016 Greenland Traverse for Accumulation and Climate Studies (GreenTrACS), western Greenland |
title_short |
Grain size and ice layer stratigraphy from the upper 10 meters of Cores 1-7 collected during the 2016 Greenland Traverse for Accumulation and Climate Studies (GreenTrACS), western Greenland |
title_full |
Grain size and ice layer stratigraphy from the upper 10 meters of Cores 1-7 collected during the 2016 Greenland Traverse for Accumulation and Climate Studies (GreenTrACS), western Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Grain size and ice layer stratigraphy from the upper 10 meters of Cores 1-7 collected during the 2016 Greenland Traverse for Accumulation and Climate Studies (GreenTrACS), western Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Grain size and ice layer stratigraphy from the upper 10 meters of Cores 1-7 collected during the 2016 Greenland Traverse for Accumulation and Climate Studies (GreenTrACS), western Greenland |
title_sort |
grain size and ice layer stratigraphy from the upper 10 meters of cores 1-7 collected during the 2016 greenland traverse for accumulation and climate studies (greentracs), western greenland |
publisher |
Arctic Data Center |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.18739/A24B2X61Z |
op_coverage |
Firn cores were located along approximately the 2200 m above sea level contour in the western percolation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet. ENVELOPE(-45.7531,-44.5644,70.3025,66.9842) BEGINDATE: 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z ENDDATE: 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-45.7531,-44.5644,70.3025,66.9842) |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.18739/A24B2X61Z |
_version_ |
1800872113480925184 |