Annual and inter-annual variability and trends of albedo of Icelandic glaciers
During the melt season, absorbed solar energy, modulated at the surface predominantly by albedo, is one of the main governing factors controlling surface-melt variability for glaciers in Iceland. Using MODIS satellite-derived daily surface albedo, a gap-filled temporally continuous albedo product is...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2021
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-547-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/547/2021/tc-15-547-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/9c576a0398e14718802d3daebe31e904 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:9c576a0398e14718802d3daebe31e904 2023-05-15T16:21:47+02:00 Annual and inter-annual variability and trends of albedo of Icelandic glaciers A. Gunnarsson S. M. Gardarsson F. Pálsson T. Jóhannesson Ó. G. B. Sveinsson 2021-02-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-547-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/547/2021/tc-15-547-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/9c576a0398e14718802d3daebe31e904 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-15-547-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/547/2021/tc-15-547-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/9c576a0398e14718802d3daebe31e904 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 547-570 (2021) envir geo Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2021 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-547-2021 2023-01-22T18:27:49Z During the melt season, absorbed solar energy, modulated at the surface predominantly by albedo, is one of the main governing factors controlling surface-melt variability for glaciers in Iceland. Using MODIS satellite-derived daily surface albedo, a gap-filled temporally continuous albedo product is derived for the melt season (May to August (MJJA)) for the period 2000–2019. The albedo data are thoroughly validated against available in situ observations from 20 glacier automatic weather stations for the period 2000–2018. The results show that spatio-temporal patterns for the melt season have generally high annual and inter-annual variability for Icelandic glaciers, ranging from high fresh-snow albedo of about 85 %–90 % in spring to 5 %–10 % in the impurity-rich bare-ice area during the peak melt season. The analysis shows that the volcanic eruptions in 2010 and 2011 had significant impact on albedo and also had a residual effect in the following years. Furthermore, airborne dust, from unstable sandy surfaces close to the glaciers, is shown to enhance radiative forcing and decrease albedo. A significant positive albedo trend is observed for northern Vatnajökull while other glaciers have non-significant trends for the study period. The results indicate that the high variability in albedo for Icelandic glaciers is driven by climatology, i.e. snow metamorphosis, tephra fallout during volcanic eruptions and their residual effects in the post-eruption years, and dust loading from widespread unstable sandy surfaces outside the glaciers. This illustrates the challenges in albedo parameterization for glacier surface-melt modelling for Icelandic glaciers as albedo development is driven by various complex phenomena, which may not be correctly captured in conventional energy-balance models. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Iceland The Cryosphere Vatnajökull Unknown Vatnajökull ENVELOPE(-16.823,-16.823,64.420,64.420) The Cryosphere 15 2 547 570 |
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Open Polar |
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Unknown |
op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
envir geo |
spellingShingle |
envir geo A. Gunnarsson S. M. Gardarsson F. Pálsson T. Jóhannesson Ó. G. B. Sveinsson Annual and inter-annual variability and trends of albedo of Icelandic glaciers |
topic_facet |
envir geo |
description |
During the melt season, absorbed solar energy, modulated at the surface predominantly by albedo, is one of the main governing factors controlling surface-melt variability for glaciers in Iceland. Using MODIS satellite-derived daily surface albedo, a gap-filled temporally continuous albedo product is derived for the melt season (May to August (MJJA)) for the period 2000–2019. The albedo data are thoroughly validated against available in situ observations from 20 glacier automatic weather stations for the period 2000–2018. The results show that spatio-temporal patterns for the melt season have generally high annual and inter-annual variability for Icelandic glaciers, ranging from high fresh-snow albedo of about 85 %–90 % in spring to 5 %–10 % in the impurity-rich bare-ice area during the peak melt season. The analysis shows that the volcanic eruptions in 2010 and 2011 had significant impact on albedo and also had a residual effect in the following years. Furthermore, airborne dust, from unstable sandy surfaces close to the glaciers, is shown to enhance radiative forcing and decrease albedo. A significant positive albedo trend is observed for northern Vatnajökull while other glaciers have non-significant trends for the study period. The results indicate that the high variability in albedo for Icelandic glaciers is driven by climatology, i.e. snow metamorphosis, tephra fallout during volcanic eruptions and their residual effects in the post-eruption years, and dust loading from widespread unstable sandy surfaces outside the glaciers. This illustrates the challenges in albedo parameterization for glacier surface-melt modelling for Icelandic glaciers as albedo development is driven by various complex phenomena, which may not be correctly captured in conventional energy-balance models. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. Gunnarsson S. M. Gardarsson F. Pálsson T. Jóhannesson Ó. G. B. Sveinsson |
author_facet |
A. Gunnarsson S. M. Gardarsson F. Pálsson T. Jóhannesson Ó. G. B. Sveinsson |
author_sort |
A. Gunnarsson |
title |
Annual and inter-annual variability and trends of albedo of Icelandic glaciers |
title_short |
Annual and inter-annual variability and trends of albedo of Icelandic glaciers |
title_full |
Annual and inter-annual variability and trends of albedo of Icelandic glaciers |
title_fullStr |
Annual and inter-annual variability and trends of albedo of Icelandic glaciers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Annual and inter-annual variability and trends of albedo of Icelandic glaciers |
title_sort |
annual and inter-annual variability and trends of albedo of icelandic glaciers |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-547-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/547/2021/tc-15-547-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/9c576a0398e14718802d3daebe31e904 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-16.823,-16.823,64.420,64.420) |
geographic |
Vatnajökull |
geographic_facet |
Vatnajökull |
genre |
glacier Iceland The Cryosphere Vatnajökull |
genre_facet |
glacier Iceland The Cryosphere Vatnajökull |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 547-570 (2021) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-15-547-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/547/2021/tc-15-547-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/9c576a0398e14718802d3daebe31e904 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-547-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
547 |
op_container_end_page |
570 |
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1766009761015267328 |