Surface energy balance and modelled firn density at four sites of the accumulation area of the Greenland ice sheet

• Main Author: Baptiste Vandecrux
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Arctic Data Center 2018
• Subjects: Greenland; Climate; Firn; Modelling; Surface mass balance; Accumulation zone; Snow energy balance; Snow melt; Arctic; Crawford; Crawford Point; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://search.dataone.org/view/urn:uuid:86330fd5-9c46-48c6-bb92-247d43eb36b8

Recent Arctic atmospheric warming induces more frequent surface melt in the accumulation area of the Greenland ice sheet. This increased melting modifies the near-surface firn structure and density and may reduce the firn’s capacity to retain meltwater. Yet, few long-term observational records are available to determine the evolution and drivers of firn density. In Vandecrux et al. (2018, DOI: 10.1029/2017JF004597), we compiled and gap-filled Greenland Climate Network (GC-Net) automatic weather station data from Crawford Point, Dye-2, NASA-SE and Summit between 1998 and 2015. These records then forced a coupled surface energy balance and firn evolution model. In this data package we firstly provide, for each site, our calculations of surface conditions: hourly 2 m air temperature and humidity, 10 m wind speed as well as energy and mass fluxes at the surface. Secondly we give the simulated firn density along with the contributions of its climatic drivers.