A Synthesis of the Basal Thermal State of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Greenland's thick ice sheet insulates the bedrock below from the cold temperatures at the surface, so the bottom of the ice is often tens of degrees warmer than at the top, because the ice bottom is slowly warmed by heat coming from the Earth's depths. Knowing whether Greenland's ice...
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ftnasantrs:oai:casi.ntrs.nasa.gov:20160013723 2023-05-15T16:26:02+02:00 A Synthesis of the Basal Thermal State of the Greenland Ice Sheet Nowicki, S. M. J. Aschwanden, A. Morlighem, M. Catania, G. A. Gogineni, S. P. Paden, J. D. Seroussi, H. Macgregor, J. A. Clow, G. D. Colgan, W. T. Fahnestock, M. A. Price, S. F. Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available August 29, 2016 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20160013723 unknown Document ID: 20160013723 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20160013723 Copyright, Distribution as joint owner in the copyright CASI Geosciences (General) GSFC-E-DAA-TN35912 2016 ftnasantrs 2019-07-21T06:06:49Z Greenland's thick ice sheet insulates the bedrock below from the cold temperatures at the surface, so the bottom of the ice is often tens of degrees warmer than at the top, because the ice bottom is slowly warmed by heat coming from the Earth's depths. Knowing whether Greenland's ice lies on wet, slippery ground or is anchored to dry, frozen bedrock is essential for predicting how this ice will flow in the future. But scientists have very few direct observations of the thermal conditions beneath the ice sheet, obtained through fewer than two dozen boreholes that have reached the bottom. Our study synthesizes several independent methods to infer the Greenland Ice Sheet's basal thermal state -whether the bottom of the ice is melted or not-leading to the first map that identifies frozen and thawed areas across the whole ice sheet. This map will guide targets for future investigations of the Greenland Ice Sheet toward the most vulnerable and poorly understood regions, ultimately improving our understanding of its dynamics and contribution to future sea-level rise. It is of particular relevance to ongoing Operation IceBridge activities and future large-scale airborne missions over Greenland. Other/Unknown Material Greenland Ice Sheet NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
op_collection_id |
ftnasantrs |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Geosciences (General) |
spellingShingle |
Geosciences (General) Nowicki, S. M. J. Aschwanden, A. Morlighem, M. Catania, G. A. Gogineni, S. P. Paden, J. D. Seroussi, H. Macgregor, J. A. Clow, G. D. Colgan, W. T. Fahnestock, M. A. Price, S. F. A Synthesis of the Basal Thermal State of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
topic_facet |
Geosciences (General) |
description |
Greenland's thick ice sheet insulates the bedrock below from the cold temperatures at the surface, so the bottom of the ice is often tens of degrees warmer than at the top, because the ice bottom is slowly warmed by heat coming from the Earth's depths. Knowing whether Greenland's ice lies on wet, slippery ground or is anchored to dry, frozen bedrock is essential for predicting how this ice will flow in the future. But scientists have very few direct observations of the thermal conditions beneath the ice sheet, obtained through fewer than two dozen boreholes that have reached the bottom. Our study synthesizes several independent methods to infer the Greenland Ice Sheet's basal thermal state -whether the bottom of the ice is melted or not-leading to the first map that identifies frozen and thawed areas across the whole ice sheet. This map will guide targets for future investigations of the Greenland Ice Sheet toward the most vulnerable and poorly understood regions, ultimately improving our understanding of its dynamics and contribution to future sea-level rise. It is of particular relevance to ongoing Operation IceBridge activities and future large-scale airborne missions over Greenland. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Nowicki, S. M. J. Aschwanden, A. Morlighem, M. Catania, G. A. Gogineni, S. P. Paden, J. D. Seroussi, H. Macgregor, J. A. Clow, G. D. Colgan, W. T. Fahnestock, M. A. Price, S. F. |
author_facet |
Nowicki, S. M. J. Aschwanden, A. Morlighem, M. Catania, G. A. Gogineni, S. P. Paden, J. D. Seroussi, H. Macgregor, J. A. Clow, G. D. Colgan, W. T. Fahnestock, M. A. Price, S. F. |
author_sort |
Nowicki, S. M. J. |
title |
A Synthesis of the Basal Thermal State of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_short |
A Synthesis of the Basal Thermal State of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_full |
A Synthesis of the Basal Thermal State of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_fullStr |
A Synthesis of the Basal Thermal State of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Synthesis of the Basal Thermal State of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_sort |
synthesis of the basal thermal state of the greenland ice sheet |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20160013723 |
op_coverage |
Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
CASI |
op_relation |
Document ID: 20160013723 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20160013723 |
op_rights |
Copyright, Distribution as joint owner in the copyright |
_version_ |
1766014897846484992 |