Seasonal monitoring of melt and accumulation within the deep percolation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet and comparison with simulations of regional climate modeling
Increasing melt over the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) recorded over the past several years has resulted in significant changes of the percolation regime of the ice sheet. It remains unclear whether Greenland's percolation zone will act as a meltwater buffer in the near future through gradually fi...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Copernicus Publications
2018
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1851-2018 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/1851/2018/tc-12-1851-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c7d48dc1452442caaaf87a537e8d5f7 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:3c7d48dc1452442caaaf87a537e8d5f7 2023-05-15T16:28:59+02:00 Seasonal monitoring of melt and accumulation within the deep percolation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet and comparison with simulations of regional climate modeling A. Heilig O. Eisen M. MacFerrin M. Tedesco X. Fettweis 2018-06-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1851-2018 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/1851/2018/tc-12-1851-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c7d48dc1452442caaaf87a537e8d5f7 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-12-1851-2018 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/1851/2018/tc-12-1851-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c7d48dc1452442caaaf87a537e8d5f7 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 12, Pp 1851-1866 (2018) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2018 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1851-2018 2023-01-22T19:28:13Z Increasing melt over the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) recorded over the past several years has resulted in significant changes of the percolation regime of the ice sheet. It remains unclear whether Greenland's percolation zone will act as a meltwater buffer in the near future through gradually filling all pore space or if near-surface refreezing causes the formation of impermeable layers, which provoke lateral runoff. Homogeneous ice layers within perennial firn, as well as near-surface ice layers of several meter thickness have been observed in firn cores. Because firn coring is a destructive method, deriving stratigraphic changes in firn and allocation of summer melt events is challenging. To overcome this deficit and provide continuous data for model evaluations on snow and firn density, temporal changes in liquid water content and depths of water infiltration, we installed an upward-looking radar system (upGPR) 3.4 m below the snow surface in May 2016 close to Camp Raven (66.4779° N, 46.2856° W) at 2120 m a.s.l. The radar is capable of quasi-continuously monitoring changes in snow and firn stratigraphy, which occur above the antennas. For summer 2016, we observed four major melt events, which routed liquid water into various depths beneath the surface. The last event in mid-August resulted in the deepest percolation down to about 2.3 m beneath the surface. Comparisons with simulations from the regional climate model MAR are in very good agreement in terms of seasonal changes in accumulation and timing of onset of melt. However, neither bulk density of near-surface layers nor the amounts of liquid water and percolation depths predicted by MAR correspond with upGPR data. Radar data and records of a nearby thermistor string, in contrast, matched very well for both timing and depth of temperature changes and observed water percolations. All four melt events transferred a cumulative mass of 56 kg m−2 into firn beneath the summer surface of 2015. We find that continuous observations of liquid water content, ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Unknown Greenland The Cryosphere 12 6 1851 1866 |
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language |
English |
topic |
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spellingShingle |
geo envir A. Heilig O. Eisen M. MacFerrin M. Tedesco X. Fettweis Seasonal monitoring of melt and accumulation within the deep percolation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet and comparison with simulations of regional climate modeling |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
Increasing melt over the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) recorded over the past several years has resulted in significant changes of the percolation regime of the ice sheet. It remains unclear whether Greenland's percolation zone will act as a meltwater buffer in the near future through gradually filling all pore space or if near-surface refreezing causes the formation of impermeable layers, which provoke lateral runoff. Homogeneous ice layers within perennial firn, as well as near-surface ice layers of several meter thickness have been observed in firn cores. Because firn coring is a destructive method, deriving stratigraphic changes in firn and allocation of summer melt events is challenging. To overcome this deficit and provide continuous data for model evaluations on snow and firn density, temporal changes in liquid water content and depths of water infiltration, we installed an upward-looking radar system (upGPR) 3.4 m below the snow surface in May 2016 close to Camp Raven (66.4779° N, 46.2856° W) at 2120 m a.s.l. The radar is capable of quasi-continuously monitoring changes in snow and firn stratigraphy, which occur above the antennas. For summer 2016, we observed four major melt events, which routed liquid water into various depths beneath the surface. The last event in mid-August resulted in the deepest percolation down to about 2.3 m beneath the surface. Comparisons with simulations from the regional climate model MAR are in very good agreement in terms of seasonal changes in accumulation and timing of onset of melt. However, neither bulk density of near-surface layers nor the amounts of liquid water and percolation depths predicted by MAR correspond with upGPR data. Radar data and records of a nearby thermistor string, in contrast, matched very well for both timing and depth of temperature changes and observed water percolations. All four melt events transferred a cumulative mass of 56 kg m−2 into firn beneath the summer surface of 2015. We find that continuous observations of liquid water content, ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. Heilig O. Eisen M. MacFerrin M. Tedesco X. Fettweis |
author_facet |
A. Heilig O. Eisen M. MacFerrin M. Tedesco X. Fettweis |
author_sort |
A. Heilig |
title |
Seasonal monitoring of melt and accumulation within the deep percolation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet and comparison with simulations of regional climate modeling |
title_short |
Seasonal monitoring of melt and accumulation within the deep percolation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet and comparison with simulations of regional climate modeling |
title_full |
Seasonal monitoring of melt and accumulation within the deep percolation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet and comparison with simulations of regional climate modeling |
title_fullStr |
Seasonal monitoring of melt and accumulation within the deep percolation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet and comparison with simulations of regional climate modeling |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonal monitoring of melt and accumulation within the deep percolation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet and comparison with simulations of regional climate modeling |
title_sort |
seasonal monitoring of melt and accumulation within the deep percolation zone of the greenland ice sheet and comparison with simulations of regional climate modeling |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1851-2018 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/1851/2018/tc-12-1851-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c7d48dc1452442caaaf87a537e8d5f7 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 12, Pp 1851-1866 (2018) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-12-1851-2018 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/1851/2018/tc-12-1851-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/article/3c7d48dc1452442caaaf87a537e8d5f7 |
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undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1851-2018 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1851 |
op_container_end_page |
1866 |
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