Brief communication: Reduction in the future Greenland ice sheet surface melt with the help of solar geoengineering
The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) will be losing mass at an accelerating pace throughout the 21st century, with a direct link between anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and the magnitude of Greenland mass loss. Currently, approximately 60 % of the mass loss contribution comes from surface melt and...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:77a37c5037ac4259a238aabdaa2db4c7 2023-05-15T16:26:21+02:00 Brief communication: Reduction in the future Greenland ice sheet surface melt with the help of solar geoengineering X. Fettweis S. Hofer R. Séférian C. Amory A. Delhasse S. Doutreloup C. Kittel C. Lang J. Van Bever F. Veillon P. Irvine 2021-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3013-2021 https://doaj.org/article/77a37c5037ac4259a238aabdaa2db4c7 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3013/2021/tc-15-3013-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-15-3013-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/77a37c5037ac4259a238aabdaa2db4c7 The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 3013-3019 (2021) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3013-2021 2022-12-31T08:17:16Z The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) will be losing mass at an accelerating pace throughout the 21st century, with a direct link between anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and the magnitude of Greenland mass loss. Currently, approximately 60 % of the mass loss contribution comes from surface melt and subsequent meltwater runoff, while 40 % are due to ice calving. In the ablation zone covered by bare ice in summer, most of the surface melt energy is provided by absorbed shortwave fluxes, which could be reduced by solar geoengineering measures. However, so far very little is known about the potential impacts of an artificial reduction in the incoming solar radiation on the GrIS surface energy budget and the subsequent change in meltwater production. By forcing the regional climate model MAR with the latest CMIP6 shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP) future emission scenarios (SSP245, SSP585) and associated G6solar experiment from the CNRM-ESM2-1 Earth system model, we estimate the local impact of a reduced solar constant on the projected GrIS surface mass balance (SMB) decrease. Overall, our results show that even in the case of a low-mitigation greenhouse gas emissions scenario (SSP585), the Greenland surface mass loss can be brought in line with the medium-mitigation emissions scenario (SSP245) by reducing the solar downward flux at the top of the atmosphere by ∼ 40 W/m 2 or ∼ 1.5 % (using the G6solar experiment). In addition to reducing global warming in line with SSP245, G6solar also decreases the efficiency of surface meltwater production over the Greenland ice sheet by damping the well-known positive melt–albedo feedback. With respect to a MAR simulation where the solar constant remains unchanged, decreasing the solar constant according to G6solar in the MAR radiative scheme mitigates the projected Greenland ice sheet surface melt increase by 6 %. However, only more constraining geoengineering experiments than G6solar would allow us to maintain a positive SMB until the end of this century without any reduction ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland The Cryosphere 15 6 3013 3019 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 X. Fettweis S. Hofer R. Séférian C. Amory A. Delhasse S. Doutreloup C. Kittel C. Lang J. Van Bever F. Veillon P. Irvine Brief communication: Reduction in the future Greenland ice sheet surface melt with the help of solar geoengineering |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) will be losing mass at an accelerating pace throughout the 21st century, with a direct link between anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and the magnitude of Greenland mass loss. Currently, approximately 60 % of the mass loss contribution comes from surface melt and subsequent meltwater runoff, while 40 % are due to ice calving. In the ablation zone covered by bare ice in summer, most of the surface melt energy is provided by absorbed shortwave fluxes, which could be reduced by solar geoengineering measures. However, so far very little is known about the potential impacts of an artificial reduction in the incoming solar radiation on the GrIS surface energy budget and the subsequent change in meltwater production. By forcing the regional climate model MAR with the latest CMIP6 shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP) future emission scenarios (SSP245, SSP585) and associated G6solar experiment from the CNRM-ESM2-1 Earth system model, we estimate the local impact of a reduced solar constant on the projected GrIS surface mass balance (SMB) decrease. Overall, our results show that even in the case of a low-mitigation greenhouse gas emissions scenario (SSP585), the Greenland surface mass loss can be brought in line with the medium-mitigation emissions scenario (SSP245) by reducing the solar downward flux at the top of the atmosphere by ∼ 40 W/m 2 or ∼ 1.5 % (using the G6solar experiment). In addition to reducing global warming in line with SSP245, G6solar also decreases the efficiency of surface meltwater production over the Greenland ice sheet by damping the well-known positive melt–albedo feedback. With respect to a MAR simulation where the solar constant remains unchanged, decreasing the solar constant according to G6solar in the MAR radiative scheme mitigates the projected Greenland ice sheet surface melt increase by 6 %. However, only more constraining geoengineering experiments than G6solar would allow us to maintain a positive SMB until the end of this century without any reduction ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
X. Fettweis S. Hofer R. Séférian C. Amory A. Delhasse S. Doutreloup C. Kittel C. Lang J. Van Bever F. Veillon P. Irvine |
author_facet |
X. Fettweis S. Hofer R. Séférian C. Amory A. Delhasse S. Doutreloup C. Kittel C. Lang J. Van Bever F. Veillon P. Irvine |
author_sort |
X. Fettweis |
title |
Brief communication: Reduction in the future Greenland ice sheet surface melt with the help of solar geoengineering |
title_short |
Brief communication: Reduction in the future Greenland ice sheet surface melt with the help of solar geoengineering |
title_full |
Brief communication: Reduction in the future Greenland ice sheet surface melt with the help of solar geoengineering |
title_fullStr |
Brief communication: Reduction in the future Greenland ice sheet surface melt with the help of solar geoengineering |
title_full_unstemmed |
Brief communication: Reduction in the future Greenland ice sheet surface melt with the help of solar geoengineering |
title_sort |
brief communication: reduction in the future greenland ice sheet surface melt with the help of solar geoengineering |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3013-2021 https://doaj.org/article/77a37c5037ac4259a238aabdaa2db4c7 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 3013-3019 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3013/2021/tc-15-3013-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-15-3013-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/77a37c5037ac4259a238aabdaa2db4c7 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3013-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
3013 |
op_container_end_page |
3019 |
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1766015263602376704 |