Greenland Ice Sheet [in Arctic Report Card 2012]

• Main Authors: Box, J., Cappelen, J., Chen, C., Decker, D., Fettweis, Xavier, Mote, T., Tedesco, M., van de Wal, R., Wahr, J.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Physical; chemical; mathematical & earth Sciences; Earth sciences & physical geography; Physique; chimie; mathématiques & sciences de la terre; Sciences de la terre & géographie physique; albedo; Greenland; Ice Sheet; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/139857; https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/139857/1/ArcticReportCard_full_report.pdf

- The duration of melting at the surface of the ice sheet in summer 2012 was the longest since satellite observations began in 1979, and a rare, near-ice sheet-wide surface melt event was recorded by satellites for the first time. - The lowest surface albedo observed in 13 years of satellite observations (2000-2012) was a consequence of a persistent and compounding feedback of enhanced surface melting and below normal summer snowfall. - Field measurements along a transect (the K-Transect) on the western slope of the ice sheet revealed record-setting mass losses at high elevations. - A persistent and strong negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index caused southerly air flow into western Greenland, anomalously warm weather and the spatially and temporally extensive melting, low albedo and mass losses observed in summer 2012.