Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt and Its Relation to Daily Atmospheric Conditions
Melt area is one of the most reliably monitored variables associated with surface conditions over the full Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). Surface melt is also an important indicator of surface mass balance and has potential relevance to the ice sheet's global sea level contribution. Melt events ar...
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ftnasantrs:oai:casi.ntrs.nasa.gov:20180007113 2023-05-15T15:10:34+02:00 Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt and Its Relation to Daily Atmospheric Conditions Nowicki, Sophie M. J. Cullather, Richard I. Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available February 12, 2018 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20180007113 unknown Document ID: 20180007113 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20180007113 Copyright, Public use permitted CASI Geophysics GSFC-E-DAA-TN50172 Journal of Climate (ISSN 0894-8755) (e-ISSN 1520-0442); 31; 5; 1897-1919 2018 ftnasantrs 2019-07-20T23:10:01Z Melt area is one of the most reliably monitored variables associated with surface conditions over the full Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). Surface melt is also an important indicator of surface mass balance and has potential relevance to the ice sheet's global sea level contribution. Melt events are known to be spatially heterogeneous and have varying time scales. To understand the forcing mechanisms, it is necessary to examine the relation between the existing conditions and melt area on the time scales that melt is observed. Here, we conduct a regression analysis of atmospheric reanalysis variables including sea level pressure, near-surface winds, and components of the surface energy budget with surface melt. The regression analysis finds spatial heterogeneity in the associated atmospheric circulation conditions. For basins in the southern GrIS, there is an association between melt area and high pressure located south of the Denmark Strait, which allows for southerly flow over the western half of the GrIS. Instantaneous surface melt over northern basins is also associated with low pressure over the central Arctic. Basins associated with persistent summer melt in the southern and western GrIS are associated with the presence of an enhanced cloud cover, a resulting decreased downwelling solar radiative flux, and an enhanced downwelling longwave radiative flux. This contrasts with basins to the north and east, where an increased downwelling solar radiative flux plays a more important role in the onset of a melt event. The analysis emphasizes the importance of daily variability in synoptic conditions and their preferred association with melt events. Other/Unknown Material Arctic Denmark Strait Greenland Ice Sheet NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Arctic Greenland |
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Open Polar |
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NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
op_collection_id |
ftnasantrs |
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unknown |
topic |
Geophysics |
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Geophysics Nowicki, Sophie M. J. Cullather, Richard I. Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt and Its Relation to Daily Atmospheric Conditions |
topic_facet |
Geophysics |
description |
Melt area is one of the most reliably monitored variables associated with surface conditions over the full Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). Surface melt is also an important indicator of surface mass balance and has potential relevance to the ice sheet's global sea level contribution. Melt events are known to be spatially heterogeneous and have varying time scales. To understand the forcing mechanisms, it is necessary to examine the relation between the existing conditions and melt area on the time scales that melt is observed. Here, we conduct a regression analysis of atmospheric reanalysis variables including sea level pressure, near-surface winds, and components of the surface energy budget with surface melt. The regression analysis finds spatial heterogeneity in the associated atmospheric circulation conditions. For basins in the southern GrIS, there is an association between melt area and high pressure located south of the Denmark Strait, which allows for southerly flow over the western half of the GrIS. Instantaneous surface melt over northern basins is also associated with low pressure over the central Arctic. Basins associated with persistent summer melt in the southern and western GrIS are associated with the presence of an enhanced cloud cover, a resulting decreased downwelling solar radiative flux, and an enhanced downwelling longwave radiative flux. This contrasts with basins to the north and east, where an increased downwelling solar radiative flux plays a more important role in the onset of a melt event. The analysis emphasizes the importance of daily variability in synoptic conditions and their preferred association with melt events. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Nowicki, Sophie M. J. Cullather, Richard I. |
author_facet |
Nowicki, Sophie M. J. Cullather, Richard I. |
author_sort |
Nowicki, Sophie M. J. |
title |
Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt and Its Relation to Daily Atmospheric Conditions |
title_short |
Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt and Its Relation to Daily Atmospheric Conditions |
title_full |
Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt and Its Relation to Daily Atmospheric Conditions |
title_fullStr |
Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt and Its Relation to Daily Atmospheric Conditions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt and Its Relation to Daily Atmospheric Conditions |
title_sort |
greenland ice sheet surface melt and its relation to daily atmospheric conditions |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20180007113 |
op_coverage |
Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Denmark Strait Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Arctic Denmark Strait Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
CASI |
op_relation |
Document ID: 20180007113 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20180007113 |
op_rights |
Copyright, Public use permitted |
_version_ |
1766341574246006784 |