In-situ snow accumulation, melt, and firn density records using ground penetrating radar and firn cores, western Greenland, 1955-2017 ...

The stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) is of critical interest to scientists and society at large in the context of future sea-level rise. The magnitude of GIS volumetric shrinkage in the coming decades depends on its glacial discharge and surface mass balance (SMB), with the later represent...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lewis, Gabriel
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: NSF Arctic Data Center 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a25m62781
https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A25M62781
Description
Summary:The stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) is of critical interest to scientists and society at large in the context of future sea-level rise. The magnitude of GIS volumetric shrinkage in the coming decades depends on its glacial discharge and surface mass balance (SMB), with the later representing the balance between accumulation and surface melt. Estimates of Greenland SMB increasingly utilize climate reanalyses and high-resolution regional climate models (RCMs) to determine snow accumulation, surface melt and runoff/refreeze. These models show significant and model-dependent biases along the high-gradient edges of the GIS where the highest and most variable (in space and time) rates of accumulation and surface melt are observed. Thus, the edges of the GIS are in critical need of updated validation with in-situ accumulation and melt data, as model biases lead to significant deviations in mass balance estimates. Here we propose a traverse in the Western Greenland percolation zone over two field seasons ...