Consequences of the 2019 Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Episode on Albedo
In mid-June 2019, the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) experienced an extreme early-season melt event. This, coupled with an earlier-than-average melt onset and low prior winter snowfall over western Greenland, led to a rapid decrease in surface albedo and greater solar energy absorption over the melt sea...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2072-4292/13/2/227/ 2023-08-20T04:06:49+02:00 Consequences of the 2019 Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Episode on Albedo Arthur Elmes Charlotte Levy Angela Erb Dorothy K. Hall Ted A. Scambos Nicolo DiGirolamo Crystal Schaaf agris 2021-01-11 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13020227 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Environmental Remote Sensing https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs13020227 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Remote Sensing; Volume 13; Issue 2; Pages: 227 cryosphere Greenland ice sheet albedo radiative forcing Text 2021 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13020227 2023-08-01T00:50:35Z In mid-June 2019, the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) experienced an extreme early-season melt event. This, coupled with an earlier-than-average melt onset and low prior winter snowfall over western Greenland, led to a rapid decrease in surface albedo and greater solar energy absorption over the melt season. The 2019 melt season resulted in significantly more melt than other recent years, even compared to exceptional melt years previously identified in the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) record. The increased solar radiation absorbance in 2019 warmed the surface and increased the rate of meltwater production. We use two decades of satellite-derived albedo from the MODIS MCD43 record to show a significant and extended decrease in albedo in Greenland during 2019. This decrease, early in the melt season and continuing during peak summer insolation, caused increased radiative forcing of the ice sheet of 2.33 Wm−2 for 2019. Radiative forcing is strongly influenced by the dramatic seasonal differences in surface albedo experienced by any location experiencing persistent and seasonal snow-cover. We also illustrate the utility of the newly developed Landsat-8 albedo product for better capturing the detailed spatial heterogeneity of the landscape, leading to a more refined representation of the surface energy budget. While the MCD43 data accurately capture the albedo for a given 500 m pixel, the higher spatial resolution 30 m Landsat-8 albedos more fully represent the detailed landscape variations. Text Greenland Ice Sheet MDPI Open Access Publishing Greenland Remote Sensing 13 2 227 |
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Open Polar |
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MDPI Open Access Publishing |
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ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
cryosphere Greenland ice sheet albedo radiative forcing |
spellingShingle |
cryosphere Greenland ice sheet albedo radiative forcing Arthur Elmes Charlotte Levy Angela Erb Dorothy K. Hall Ted A. Scambos Nicolo DiGirolamo Crystal Schaaf Consequences of the 2019 Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Episode on Albedo |
topic_facet |
cryosphere Greenland ice sheet albedo radiative forcing |
description |
In mid-June 2019, the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) experienced an extreme early-season melt event. This, coupled with an earlier-than-average melt onset and low prior winter snowfall over western Greenland, led to a rapid decrease in surface albedo and greater solar energy absorption over the melt season. The 2019 melt season resulted in significantly more melt than other recent years, even compared to exceptional melt years previously identified in the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) record. The increased solar radiation absorbance in 2019 warmed the surface and increased the rate of meltwater production. We use two decades of satellite-derived albedo from the MODIS MCD43 record to show a significant and extended decrease in albedo in Greenland during 2019. This decrease, early in the melt season and continuing during peak summer insolation, caused increased radiative forcing of the ice sheet of 2.33 Wm−2 for 2019. Radiative forcing is strongly influenced by the dramatic seasonal differences in surface albedo experienced by any location experiencing persistent and seasonal snow-cover. We also illustrate the utility of the newly developed Landsat-8 albedo product for better capturing the detailed spatial heterogeneity of the landscape, leading to a more refined representation of the surface energy budget. While the MCD43 data accurately capture the albedo for a given 500 m pixel, the higher spatial resolution 30 m Landsat-8 albedos more fully represent the detailed landscape variations. |
format |
Text |
author |
Arthur Elmes Charlotte Levy Angela Erb Dorothy K. Hall Ted A. Scambos Nicolo DiGirolamo Crystal Schaaf |
author_facet |
Arthur Elmes Charlotte Levy Angela Erb Dorothy K. Hall Ted A. Scambos Nicolo DiGirolamo Crystal Schaaf |
author_sort |
Arthur Elmes |
title |
Consequences of the 2019 Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Episode on Albedo |
title_short |
Consequences of the 2019 Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Episode on Albedo |
title_full |
Consequences of the 2019 Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Episode on Albedo |
title_fullStr |
Consequences of the 2019 Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Episode on Albedo |
title_full_unstemmed |
Consequences of the 2019 Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Episode on Albedo |
title_sort |
consequences of the 2019 greenland ice sheet melt episode on albedo |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13020227 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Remote Sensing; Volume 13; Issue 2; Pages: 227 |
op_relation |
Environmental Remote Sensing https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs13020227 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13020227 |
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Remote Sensing |
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13 |
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2 |
container_start_page |
227 |
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