Present-day and future Greenland Ice Sheet precipitation frequency from CloudSat observations and the Community Earth System Model
The dominant mass input component of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is precipitation, whose amounts and phase are poorly constrained by observations. Here we use spaceborne radar observations from CloudSat to map the precipitation frequency and phase on the GrIS, and we use those observations, in co...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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2020
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2253-2020 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/2253/2020/tc-14-2253-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/6422b7a1a01d4108b46e0d4d9c4806e9 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:6422b7a1a01d4108b46e0d4d9c4806e9 2023-05-15T16:28:00+02:00 Present-day and future Greenland Ice Sheet precipitation frequency from CloudSat observations and the Community Earth System Model J. T. M. Lenaerts M. D. Camron C. R. Wyburn-Powell J. E. Kay 2020-07-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2253-2020 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/2253/2020/tc-14-2253-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/6422b7a1a01d4108b46e0d4d9c4806e9 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-14-2253-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/2253/2020/tc-14-2253-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/6422b7a1a01d4108b46e0d4d9c4806e9 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 2253-2265 (2020) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2020 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2253-2020 2023-01-22T19:24:37Z The dominant mass input component of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is precipitation, whose amounts and phase are poorly constrained by observations. Here we use spaceborne radar observations from CloudSat to map the precipitation frequency and phase on the GrIS, and we use those observations, in combination with a satellite simulator to enable direct comparison between observations and model, to evaluate present-day precipitation frequency in the Community Earth System Model (CESM). The observations show that substantial variability of snowfall frequency over the GrIS exists, that snowfall occurs throughout the year, and that snowfall frequency peaks in spring and fall. Rainfall is rare over the GrIS and only occurs in regions under 2000 m elevation and in the peak summer season. Although CESM overestimates the rainfall frequency, it reproduces the spatial and seasonal variability of precipitation frequency reasonably well. Driven by the high-emission, worst-case Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenario, CESM indicates that rainfall frequency will increase considerably across the GrIS, and will occur at higher elevations, potentially exposing a much larger GrIS area to rain and associated meltwater refreezing, firn warming, and reduced storage capacity. This technique can be applied to evaluate precipitation frequency in other climate models and can aid in planning future satellite campaigns. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Unknown Greenland The Cryosphere 14 7 2253 2265 |
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English |
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geo envir J. T. M. Lenaerts M. D. Camron C. R. Wyburn-Powell J. E. Kay Present-day and future Greenland Ice Sheet precipitation frequency from CloudSat observations and the Community Earth System Model |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
The dominant mass input component of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is precipitation, whose amounts and phase are poorly constrained by observations. Here we use spaceborne radar observations from CloudSat to map the precipitation frequency and phase on the GrIS, and we use those observations, in combination with a satellite simulator to enable direct comparison between observations and model, to evaluate present-day precipitation frequency in the Community Earth System Model (CESM). The observations show that substantial variability of snowfall frequency over the GrIS exists, that snowfall occurs throughout the year, and that snowfall frequency peaks in spring and fall. Rainfall is rare over the GrIS and only occurs in regions under 2000 m elevation and in the peak summer season. Although CESM overestimates the rainfall frequency, it reproduces the spatial and seasonal variability of precipitation frequency reasonably well. Driven by the high-emission, worst-case Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenario, CESM indicates that rainfall frequency will increase considerably across the GrIS, and will occur at higher elevations, potentially exposing a much larger GrIS area to rain and associated meltwater refreezing, firn warming, and reduced storage capacity. This technique can be applied to evaluate precipitation frequency in other climate models and can aid in planning future satellite campaigns. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
J. T. M. Lenaerts M. D. Camron C. R. Wyburn-Powell J. E. Kay |
author_facet |
J. T. M. Lenaerts M. D. Camron C. R. Wyburn-Powell J. E. Kay |
author_sort |
J. T. M. Lenaerts |
title |
Present-day and future Greenland Ice Sheet precipitation frequency from CloudSat observations and the Community Earth System Model |
title_short |
Present-day and future Greenland Ice Sheet precipitation frequency from CloudSat observations and the Community Earth System Model |
title_full |
Present-day and future Greenland Ice Sheet precipitation frequency from CloudSat observations and the Community Earth System Model |
title_fullStr |
Present-day and future Greenland Ice Sheet precipitation frequency from CloudSat observations and the Community Earth System Model |
title_full_unstemmed |
Present-day and future Greenland Ice Sheet precipitation frequency from CloudSat observations and the Community Earth System Model |
title_sort |
present-day and future greenland ice sheet precipitation frequency from cloudsat observations and the community earth system model |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2253-2020 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/2253/2020/tc-14-2253-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/6422b7a1a01d4108b46e0d4d9c4806e9 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 2253-2265 (2020) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-14-2253-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/2253/2020/tc-14-2253-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/6422b7a1a01d4108b46e0d4d9c4806e9 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2253-2020 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
2253 |
op_container_end_page |
2265 |
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