The Greenland ice sheet runoff limit; simulated by RCMs and detected by MODIS ...

• Main Authors: Machguth, Horst, Andrew, Tedstone, Nicole, Clerx, Peter, Kuipers Munneke, Xavier, Fettweis, Max, Brils, Michiel, van den Broeke, Brice, Noël
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences 2023
• Subjects: Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.57757/iugg23-3788; https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5020757

<!--!introduction!--> Streams and lakes develop each summer over the marginal regions of the Greenland ice sheet. These hydrological features reach into the accumulation area and confirm that surface runoff of meltwater is an important component of the mass balance of the ice sheet. Here we map daily visible runoff limits using MODIS data (500 m resolution). Our automated algorithm relies, among other parameters, on spatial variability of surface albedo. The algorithm is applied to all of Greenland for the years 2000 to 2021. Retrievals are adjusted based on hydrological in situ measurements and modelling of the runoff limit. Albeit MODIS' spatial resolution is too coarse to resolve streams or lakes, the results highly agree to surface runoff mapping from Landsat imagery. The data document significant increasing trends in runoff limits until the year 2012, but not thereafter. The visible runoff limit typically rises quickly early in the melt season, but upward migration halts before melting ceases. We ... : The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023) ...