Climate Change and Forest Fires Synergistically Drive Widespread Melt Events of the Greenland Ice Sheet
In July 2012, over 97% of the Greenland Ice Sheet experienced surface melt, the first widespread melt during the era of satellite remote sensing. Analysis of six Greenland shallow firn cores from the dry snow region confirms that the most recent prior widespread melt occurred in 1889. A firn core fr...
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ftdartmouthcoll:oai:digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu:facoa-2620 2023-07-16T03:51:24+02:00 Climate Change and Forest Fires Synergistically Drive Widespread Melt Events of the Greenland Ice Sheet Keegan, Kaitlin M Albert, Mary R McConnell, Joseph R Baker, Ian 2014-06-03T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/1617 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1405397111 https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/context/facoa/article/2620/viewcontent/ptpmcrender.fcgi unknown Dartmouth Digital Commons https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/1617 doi:10.1073/pnas.1405397111 https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/context/facoa/article/2620/viewcontent/ptpmcrender.fcgi Dartmouth Scholarship arctic regions carbon climate change fires freezing global warming greenland ice cover snow trees Earth Sciences Environmental Monitoring Environmental Sciences Glaciology Physical Sciences and Mathematics text 2014 ftdartmouthcoll https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1405397111 2023-06-28T10:43:30Z In July 2012, over 97% of the Greenland Ice Sheet experienced surface melt, the first widespread melt during the era of satellite remote sensing. Analysis of six Greenland shallow firn cores from the dry snow region confirms that the most recent prior widespread melt occurred in 1889. A firn core from the center of the ice sheet demonstrated that exceptionally warm temperatures combined with black carbon sediments from Northern Hemisphere forest fires reduced albedo below a critical threshold in the dry snow region, and caused the melting events in both 1889 and 2012. We use these data to project the frequency of widespread melt into the year 2100. Since Arctic temperatures and the frequency of forest fires are both expected to rise with climate change, our results suggest that widespread melt events on the Greenland Ice Sheet may begin to occur almost annually by the end of century. These events are likely to alter the surface mass balance of the ice sheet, leaving the surface susceptible to further melting. Text albedo Arctic black carbon Climate change Global warming Greenland Ice Sheet Dartmouth Digital Commons (Dartmouth College) Arctic Greenland Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111 22 7964 7967 |
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Open Polar |
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Dartmouth Digital Commons (Dartmouth College) |
op_collection_id |
ftdartmouthcoll |
language |
unknown |
topic |
arctic regions carbon climate change fires freezing global warming greenland ice cover snow trees Earth Sciences Environmental Monitoring Environmental Sciences Glaciology Physical Sciences and Mathematics |
spellingShingle |
arctic regions carbon climate change fires freezing global warming greenland ice cover snow trees Earth Sciences Environmental Monitoring Environmental Sciences Glaciology Physical Sciences and Mathematics Keegan, Kaitlin M Albert, Mary R McConnell, Joseph R Baker, Ian Climate Change and Forest Fires Synergistically Drive Widespread Melt Events of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
topic_facet |
arctic regions carbon climate change fires freezing global warming greenland ice cover snow trees Earth Sciences Environmental Monitoring Environmental Sciences Glaciology Physical Sciences and Mathematics |
description |
In July 2012, over 97% of the Greenland Ice Sheet experienced surface melt, the first widespread melt during the era of satellite remote sensing. Analysis of six Greenland shallow firn cores from the dry snow region confirms that the most recent prior widespread melt occurred in 1889. A firn core from the center of the ice sheet demonstrated that exceptionally warm temperatures combined with black carbon sediments from Northern Hemisphere forest fires reduced albedo below a critical threshold in the dry snow region, and caused the melting events in both 1889 and 2012. We use these data to project the frequency of widespread melt into the year 2100. Since Arctic temperatures and the frequency of forest fires are both expected to rise with climate change, our results suggest that widespread melt events on the Greenland Ice Sheet may begin to occur almost annually by the end of century. These events are likely to alter the surface mass balance of the ice sheet, leaving the surface susceptible to further melting. |
format |
Text |
author |
Keegan, Kaitlin M Albert, Mary R McConnell, Joseph R Baker, Ian |
author_facet |
Keegan, Kaitlin M Albert, Mary R McConnell, Joseph R Baker, Ian |
author_sort |
Keegan, Kaitlin M |
title |
Climate Change and Forest Fires Synergistically Drive Widespread Melt Events of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_short |
Climate Change and Forest Fires Synergistically Drive Widespread Melt Events of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_full |
Climate Change and Forest Fires Synergistically Drive Widespread Melt Events of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_fullStr |
Climate Change and Forest Fires Synergistically Drive Widespread Melt Events of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate Change and Forest Fires Synergistically Drive Widespread Melt Events of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_sort |
climate change and forest fires synergistically drive widespread melt events of the greenland ice sheet |
publisher |
Dartmouth Digital Commons |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/1617 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1405397111 https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/context/facoa/article/2620/viewcontent/ptpmcrender.fcgi |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
albedo Arctic black carbon Climate change Global warming Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic black carbon Climate change Global warming Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Dartmouth Scholarship |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/1617 doi:10.1073/pnas.1405397111 https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/context/facoa/article/2620/viewcontent/ptpmcrender.fcgi |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1405397111 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
111 |
container_issue |
22 |
container_start_page |
7964 |
op_container_end_page |
7967 |
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1771551435186503680 |