Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements
The potential of capillary forces to retain water in pores is an important property of snow and firn at glaciers. Meltwater suspended in pores does not contribute to runoff and may refreeze during winter, which can affect the climatic mass balance and the subsurface density and temperature. However,...
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Cambridge University Press
2021
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 https://doaj.org/article/cb6da5b6f14e4d8ab51ad7d0b4c868a1 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:cb6da5b6f14e4d8ab51ad7d0b4c868a1 2023-05-15T16:22:11+02:00 Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements Sergey A. Marchenko Ward J. J. van Pelt Rickard Pettersson Veijo A. Pohjola Carleen H. Reijmer 2021-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 https://doaj.org/article/cb6da5b6f14e4d8ab51ad7d0b4c868a1 EN eng Cambridge University Press https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143021000435/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2021.43 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/cb6da5b6f14e4d8ab51ad7d0b4c868a1 Journal of Glaciology, Vol 67, Pp 921-932 (2021) glacier hydrology glacier mass balance glacier modelling glaciological instruments and methods polar firn Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 2023-03-12T01:30:57Z The potential of capillary forces to retain water in pores is an important property of snow and firn at glaciers. Meltwater suspended in pores does not contribute to runoff and may refreeze during winter, which can affect the climatic mass balance and the subsurface density and temperature. However, measurement of firn water content is challenging and few values have been reported in the literature. Here, we use subsurface temperature and density measured at the accumulation zone of Lomonosovfonna (1200 m a.s.l.), Svalbard, to derive water content of the firn profiles after the 2014 and 2015 melt seasons. We do this by comparing measured and simulated rates of freezing front propagation. The calculated volumetric water content of firn is ~1.0–2.5 vol.% above the depth of 5 m and <0.5 vol.% below. Results derived using different thermistor strings suggest a prominent lateral variability in firn water content. Reported values are considerably lower than those commonly used in snow/firn models. This is interpreted as a result of preferential water flow in firn leaving dry volumes within wetted firn. This suggests that the implementation of irreducible water content values below 0.5 vol.% within snow/firn models should be considered at the initial phase of water infiltration. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Journal of Glaciology Svalbard Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Svalbard Lomonosovfonna ENVELOPE(17.663,17.663,78.774,78.774) Journal of Glaciology 67 265 921 932 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
glacier hydrology glacier mass balance glacier modelling glaciological instruments and methods polar firn Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
spellingShingle |
glacier hydrology glacier mass balance glacier modelling glaciological instruments and methods polar firn Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 Sergey A. Marchenko Ward J. J. van Pelt Rickard Pettersson Veijo A. Pohjola Carleen H. Reijmer Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
topic_facet |
glacier hydrology glacier mass balance glacier modelling glaciological instruments and methods polar firn Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
description |
The potential of capillary forces to retain water in pores is an important property of snow and firn at glaciers. Meltwater suspended in pores does not contribute to runoff and may refreeze during winter, which can affect the climatic mass balance and the subsurface density and temperature. However, measurement of firn water content is challenging and few values have been reported in the literature. Here, we use subsurface temperature and density measured at the accumulation zone of Lomonosovfonna (1200 m a.s.l.), Svalbard, to derive water content of the firn profiles after the 2014 and 2015 melt seasons. We do this by comparing measured and simulated rates of freezing front propagation. The calculated volumetric water content of firn is ~1.0–2.5 vol.% above the depth of 5 m and <0.5 vol.% below. Results derived using different thermistor strings suggest a prominent lateral variability in firn water content. Reported values are considerably lower than those commonly used in snow/firn models. This is interpreted as a result of preferential water flow in firn leaving dry volumes within wetted firn. This suggests that the implementation of irreducible water content values below 0.5 vol.% within snow/firn models should be considered at the initial phase of water infiltration. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sergey A. Marchenko Ward J. J. van Pelt Rickard Pettersson Veijo A. Pohjola Carleen H. Reijmer |
author_facet |
Sergey A. Marchenko Ward J. J. van Pelt Rickard Pettersson Veijo A. Pohjola Carleen H. Reijmer |
author_sort |
Sergey A. Marchenko |
title |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_short |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_full |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_fullStr |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_full_unstemmed |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_sort |
water content of firn at lomonosovfonna, svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 https://doaj.org/article/cb6da5b6f14e4d8ab51ad7d0b4c868a1 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(17.663,17.663,78.774,78.774) |
geographic |
Svalbard Lomonosovfonna |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard Lomonosovfonna |
genre |
glacier Journal of Glaciology Svalbard |
genre_facet |
glacier Journal of Glaciology Svalbard |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology, Vol 67, Pp 921-932 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143021000435/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2021.43 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/cb6da5b6f14e4d8ab51ad7d0b4c868a1 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
67 |
container_issue |
265 |
container_start_page |
921 |
op_container_end_page |
932 |
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1766010162841124864 |