Record Summer Melt in Greenland in 2010

peer reviewed As Arctic temperatures increase, there is growing concern about the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which reached a new record during the summer of 2010. Understanding the changing surface mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet requires appreciation of the close links among change...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union
Main Authors: Tedesco, Marco, Fettweis, Xavier, van den Broeke, Michiel, van de Wal, Roderik, Smeets, Paul, van de Berg, Willem Jan, Serreze, Mark, Box, Jason
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: AGU 2011
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
Online Access:https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/98964
https://doi.org/10.1029/2011EO150002
Description
Summary:peer reviewed As Arctic temperatures increase, there is growing concern about the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which reached a new record during the summer of 2010. Understanding the changing surface mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet requires appreciation of the close links among changes in surface air temperature, surface melting, albedo, and snow accumulation. Increased melting accelerates surface snow grain growth, leading to a decrease in surface albedo, which then fosters further melt. In turn, winter accumulation contributes to determining how much snow is required before a dark (e.g., lower albedo), bare ice surface is exposed in spring (Figure 1).

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