Firn air content and firn area delineation on the Greenland ice sheet

• Main Author: Baptiste Vandecrux
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Arctic Data Center 2019
• Subjects: Firn Air Content; Firn Density; Firn retention capacity; Firn area; Firn line; Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://search.dataone.org/view/urn:uuid:cb48c995-3397-4e6b-ae1f-455a0dfde695

The firn covering the Greenland ice sheet interior can retain part of the surface melt each summer, buffering the ice sheet contribution to sea-level rise. In Vandecrux et al. (2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2018-172), we present 360 observations of the Firn Air Content in the top 10 m (FAC10). We also estimated from the FAC10 the air content of the entire firn column (FACtot). Both are used to quantify the firn meltwater retention capacity. We then mapped the FAC over the entire firn area using empirical functions of long-term mean air temperature (Ta) and net snow accumulation (c) fitted to FAC observations. In this data package we present: - The 360 FAC10 observations along with our estimated FACtot at these sites. - A map of FAC10 in the dry snow area (Ta ≤ -19 degC) built on observations from 1953 to 2017 - A map of FAC10 in the percolation area (Ta > -19 degC) built on observations from 2010 to 2017 - A map of FAC10 in the low accumulation percolation area (Ta > -19 degC, b < 600 mm w.eq. yr-1) built on observations from 1998 to 2008 - A delineation of the firn area calculated from the snowlines presented by Fausto et al. (2018, www.eng.geus.dk/media/19199/nr41_p71-74.pdf).