Precipitation trends (1958–2021) on Ammassalik island, south-east Greenland
Along with Arctic warming, climate models project a strong increase in Arctic precipitation in the 21st century as well as an increase in the ratio of liquid to total precipitation. In the precipitation-rich region of south-east Greenland, precipitation changes could locally have significant impacts...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.1085499 https://doaj.org/article/f4c2e46095a34b74bbc00500b35103eb |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f4c2e46095a34b74bbc00500b35103eb 2023-05-15T13:22:17+02:00 Precipitation trends (1958–2021) on Ammassalik island, south-east Greenland Jorrit van der Schot Jakob Abermann Tiago Silva Caroline Drost Jensen Brice Noël Wolfgang Schöner 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.1085499 https://doaj.org/article/f4c2e46095a34b74bbc00500b35103eb EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.1085499/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2022.1085499 https://doaj.org/article/f4c2e46095a34b74bbc00500b35103eb Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 10 (2023) air temperature (AT) climate change Greenland Mittivakkat glacier precipitation RACMO2 Science Q article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.1085499 2023-02-05T01:26:22Z Along with Arctic warming, climate models project a strong increase in Arctic precipitation in the 21st century as well as an increase in the ratio of liquid to total precipitation. In the precipitation-rich region of south-east Greenland, precipitation changes could locally have significant impacts on runoff. However, climate data are sparse in this remote region. This study focuses on improving our understanding of the past precipitation changes on Ammassalik island in south-east Greenland between 1958 and 2021. To assess past changes in air temperature at 2-meter and precipitation, output from a regional polar climate model (RACMO2.3p2) is evaluated with measurements from automatic weather stations in Tasiilaq and on Mittivakkat glacier. In addition, RACMO2.3p2 is used to assess past seasonal changes in air temperature at 2-meter, precipitation amount, precipitation phase and the altitude of the rain/snow boundary. We find that the climate model accurately represents the monthly average observed air temperature at 2-meter. While total precipitation is overestimated, interannual variability of precipitation is properly captured. We report a significant increase of summer temperature at 2-meter of +0.3°C/decade (p<0.01) at Mittivakkat glacier and +0.2°C/decade (p<0.01) in Tasiilaq in 1958–2021. For the subperiod 1990–2019, the trend in annual averages of temperature at 2-meter in Tasiilaq (+0.8°C/decade, p=0.02) corresponds well to known temperature trends on the Greenland Ice Sheet within the same period. On Mittivakkat glacier a significant trend is not detected within this subperiod (+0.2°C/decade, p=0.25). The modelled liquid precipitation ratio on Ammassalik island increased in all summer months (1958–2015) by +2.0/+1.9/+1.8%/decade in June/July/August respectively. In July and August, these trends were stronger at higher elevations. No statistical evidence is found for trends in other seasons. We also identify monthly increases in the altitude of the rain-to-snow boundary (+25/+23/+20 m/decade in ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Ammassalik Arctic Climate change East Greenland glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Tasiilaq Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Greenland Tasiilaq ENVELOPE(-37.637,-37.637,65.615,65.615) Frontiers in Earth Science 10 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
air temperature (AT) climate change Greenland Mittivakkat glacier precipitation RACMO2 Science Q |
spellingShingle |
air temperature (AT) climate change Greenland Mittivakkat glacier precipitation RACMO2 Science Q Jorrit van der Schot Jakob Abermann Tiago Silva Caroline Drost Jensen Brice Noël Wolfgang Schöner Precipitation trends (1958–2021) on Ammassalik island, south-east Greenland |
topic_facet |
air temperature (AT) climate change Greenland Mittivakkat glacier precipitation RACMO2 Science Q |
description |
Along with Arctic warming, climate models project a strong increase in Arctic precipitation in the 21st century as well as an increase in the ratio of liquid to total precipitation. In the precipitation-rich region of south-east Greenland, precipitation changes could locally have significant impacts on runoff. However, climate data are sparse in this remote region. This study focuses on improving our understanding of the past precipitation changes on Ammassalik island in south-east Greenland between 1958 and 2021. To assess past changes in air temperature at 2-meter and precipitation, output from a regional polar climate model (RACMO2.3p2) is evaluated with measurements from automatic weather stations in Tasiilaq and on Mittivakkat glacier. In addition, RACMO2.3p2 is used to assess past seasonal changes in air temperature at 2-meter, precipitation amount, precipitation phase and the altitude of the rain/snow boundary. We find that the climate model accurately represents the monthly average observed air temperature at 2-meter. While total precipitation is overestimated, interannual variability of precipitation is properly captured. We report a significant increase of summer temperature at 2-meter of +0.3°C/decade (p<0.01) at Mittivakkat glacier and +0.2°C/decade (p<0.01) in Tasiilaq in 1958–2021. For the subperiod 1990–2019, the trend in annual averages of temperature at 2-meter in Tasiilaq (+0.8°C/decade, p=0.02) corresponds well to known temperature trends on the Greenland Ice Sheet within the same period. On Mittivakkat glacier a significant trend is not detected within this subperiod (+0.2°C/decade, p=0.25). The modelled liquid precipitation ratio on Ammassalik island increased in all summer months (1958–2015) by +2.0/+1.9/+1.8%/decade in June/July/August respectively. In July and August, these trends were stronger at higher elevations. No statistical evidence is found for trends in other seasons. We also identify monthly increases in the altitude of the rain-to-snow boundary (+25/+23/+20 m/decade in ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jorrit van der Schot Jakob Abermann Tiago Silva Caroline Drost Jensen Brice Noël Wolfgang Schöner |
author_facet |
Jorrit van der Schot Jakob Abermann Tiago Silva Caroline Drost Jensen Brice Noël Wolfgang Schöner |
author_sort |
Jorrit van der Schot |
title |
Precipitation trends (1958–2021) on Ammassalik island, south-east Greenland |
title_short |
Precipitation trends (1958–2021) on Ammassalik island, south-east Greenland |
title_full |
Precipitation trends (1958–2021) on Ammassalik island, south-east Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Precipitation trends (1958–2021) on Ammassalik island, south-east Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Precipitation trends (1958–2021) on Ammassalik island, south-east Greenland |
title_sort |
precipitation trends (1958–2021) on ammassalik island, south-east greenland |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.1085499 https://doaj.org/article/f4c2e46095a34b74bbc00500b35103eb |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-37.637,-37.637,65.615,65.615) |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Tasiilaq |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Tasiilaq |
genre |
Ammassalik Arctic Climate change East Greenland glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Tasiilaq |
genre_facet |
Ammassalik Arctic Climate change East Greenland glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Tasiilaq |
op_source |
Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 10 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.1085499/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2022.1085499 https://doaj.org/article/f4c2e46095a34b74bbc00500b35103eb |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.1085499 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Earth Science |
container_volume |
10 |
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1766364100577722368 |