Spatial and temporal variability of snowfall over Greenland from CloudSat observations
We use the CloudSat 2006–2016 data record to estimate snowfall over the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). We first evaluate CloudSat snowfall retrievals with respect to remaining ground-clutter issues. Comparing CloudSat observations to the GrIS topography (obtained from airborne altimetry measurements du...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:e6e44ad3b4354d5da59291da0dd92611 2023-05-15T16:27:46+02:00 Spatial and temporal variability of snowfall over Greenland from CloudSat observations R. Bennartz F. Fell C. Pettersen M. D. Shupe D. Schuettemeyer 2019-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8101-2019 https://doaj.org/article/e6e44ad3b4354d5da59291da0dd92611 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/19/8101/2019/acp-19-8101-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-19-8101-2019 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/e6e44ad3b4354d5da59291da0dd92611 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 19, Pp 8101-8121 (2019) Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8101-2019 2022-12-31T05:30:13Z We use the CloudSat 2006–2016 data record to estimate snowfall over the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). We first evaluate CloudSat snowfall retrievals with respect to remaining ground-clutter issues. Comparing CloudSat observations to the GrIS topography (obtained from airborne altimetry measurements during IceBridge) we find that at the edges of the GrIS spurious high-snowfall retrievals caused by ground clutter occasionally affect the operational snowfall product. After correcting for this effect, the height of the lowest valid CloudSat observation is about 1200 m above the local topography as defined by IceBridge. We then use ground-based millimeter wavelength cloud radar (MMCR) observations obtained from the Integrated Characterization of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric state, and Precipitation at Summit, Greenland (ICECAPS) experiment to devise a simple, empirical correction to account for precipitation processes occurring between the height of the observed CloudSat reflectivities and the snowfall near the surface. Using the height-corrected, clutter-cleared CloudSat reflectivities we next evaluate various Z – S relationships in terms of snowfall accumulation at Summit through comparison with weekly stake field observations of snow accumulation available since 2007. Using a set of three Z – S relationships that best agree with the observed accumulation at Summit, we then calculate the annual cycle snowfall over the entire GrIS as well as over different drainage areas and compare the derived mean values and annual cycles of snowfall to ERA-Interim reanalysis. We find the annual mean snowfall over the GrIS inferred from CloudSat to be 34±7.5 cm yr −1 liquid equivalent (where the uncertainty is determined by the range in values between the three different Z – S relationships used). In comparison, the ERA-Interim reanalysis product only yields 30 cm yr −1 liquid equivalent snowfall, where the majority of the underestimation in the reanalysis appears to occur in the summer months over the higher GrIS and appears to be ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 19 12 8101 8121 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
spellingShingle |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 R. Bennartz F. Fell C. Pettersen M. D. Shupe D. Schuettemeyer Spatial and temporal variability of snowfall over Greenland from CloudSat observations |
topic_facet |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
description |
We use the CloudSat 2006–2016 data record to estimate snowfall over the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). We first evaluate CloudSat snowfall retrievals with respect to remaining ground-clutter issues. Comparing CloudSat observations to the GrIS topography (obtained from airborne altimetry measurements during IceBridge) we find that at the edges of the GrIS spurious high-snowfall retrievals caused by ground clutter occasionally affect the operational snowfall product. After correcting for this effect, the height of the lowest valid CloudSat observation is about 1200 m above the local topography as defined by IceBridge. We then use ground-based millimeter wavelength cloud radar (MMCR) observations obtained from the Integrated Characterization of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric state, and Precipitation at Summit, Greenland (ICECAPS) experiment to devise a simple, empirical correction to account for precipitation processes occurring between the height of the observed CloudSat reflectivities and the snowfall near the surface. Using the height-corrected, clutter-cleared CloudSat reflectivities we next evaluate various Z – S relationships in terms of snowfall accumulation at Summit through comparison with weekly stake field observations of snow accumulation available since 2007. Using a set of three Z – S relationships that best agree with the observed accumulation at Summit, we then calculate the annual cycle snowfall over the entire GrIS as well as over different drainage areas and compare the derived mean values and annual cycles of snowfall to ERA-Interim reanalysis. We find the annual mean snowfall over the GrIS inferred from CloudSat to be 34±7.5 cm yr −1 liquid equivalent (where the uncertainty is determined by the range in values between the three different Z – S relationships used). In comparison, the ERA-Interim reanalysis product only yields 30 cm yr −1 liquid equivalent snowfall, where the majority of the underestimation in the reanalysis appears to occur in the summer months over the higher GrIS and appears to be ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
R. Bennartz F. Fell C. Pettersen M. D. Shupe D. Schuettemeyer |
author_facet |
R. Bennartz F. Fell C. Pettersen M. D. Shupe D. Schuettemeyer |
author_sort |
R. Bennartz |
title |
Spatial and temporal variability of snowfall over Greenland from CloudSat observations |
title_short |
Spatial and temporal variability of snowfall over Greenland from CloudSat observations |
title_full |
Spatial and temporal variability of snowfall over Greenland from CloudSat observations |
title_fullStr |
Spatial and temporal variability of snowfall over Greenland from CloudSat observations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spatial and temporal variability of snowfall over Greenland from CloudSat observations |
title_sort |
spatial and temporal variability of snowfall over greenland from cloudsat observations |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8101-2019 https://doaj.org/article/e6e44ad3b4354d5da59291da0dd92611 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 19, Pp 8101-8121 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/19/8101/2019/acp-19-8101-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-19-8101-2019 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/e6e44ad3b4354d5da59291da0dd92611 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8101-2019 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
8101 |
op_container_end_page |
8121 |
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1766017289354739712 |