Small fluctuations in the density and thickness of a dry firn column
It is of practical importance to have a description on time-scales of 1-100 years of the relationship between the mass imbalance of an ice sheet and its rate of change of thickness. In this paper, a linearized treatment off the relationship is described. Closed-form expressions are derived that rela...
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2000
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ftucl:oai:eprints.ucl.ac.uk.OAI2:119708 2023-05-15T13:36:39+02:00 Small fluctuations in the density and thickness of a dry firn column Wingham, DJ 2000 http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/119708/ unknown INT GLACIOL SOC J GLACIOL , 46 (154) 399 - 411. (2000) GREENLAND ICE-SHEET SNOW ACCUMULATION SEA-LEVEL PRESSURE DENSIFICATION ANTARCTICA Article 2000 ftucl 2016-01-15T02:57:58Z It is of practical importance to have a description on time-scales of 1-100 years of the relationship between the mass imbalance of an ice sheet and its rate of change of thickness. In this paper, a linearized treatment off the relationship is described. Closed-form expressions are derived that relate the time-variant density in an isothermal firn layer to the fluctuations in accumulation rate and density that occur at the surface. These expressions are used to provide a spectral description of the contribution of surface accumulation and surface density fluctuations to the rate of change of thickness of an ice sheet. Using these, the contribution of firn densification to the variability of ice-sheet thickness is examined as a function of the time interval over which the ice sheet is observed. This contribution is illustrated for sites in Antarctica and Greenland. It is concluded that it is important to give greater attention than hitherto to the spatial scale of accumulation fluctuations if satellite observations of ice-sheet elevation change are to be used to estimate ice-sheet imbalance over short time intervals. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet University College London: UCL Discovery Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University College London: UCL Discovery |
op_collection_id |
ftucl |
language |
unknown |
topic |
GREENLAND ICE-SHEET SNOW ACCUMULATION SEA-LEVEL PRESSURE DENSIFICATION ANTARCTICA |
spellingShingle |
GREENLAND ICE-SHEET SNOW ACCUMULATION SEA-LEVEL PRESSURE DENSIFICATION ANTARCTICA Wingham, DJ Small fluctuations in the density and thickness of a dry firn column |
topic_facet |
GREENLAND ICE-SHEET SNOW ACCUMULATION SEA-LEVEL PRESSURE DENSIFICATION ANTARCTICA |
description |
It is of practical importance to have a description on time-scales of 1-100 years of the relationship between the mass imbalance of an ice sheet and its rate of change of thickness. In this paper, a linearized treatment off the relationship is described. Closed-form expressions are derived that relate the time-variant density in an isothermal firn layer to the fluctuations in accumulation rate and density that occur at the surface. These expressions are used to provide a spectral description of the contribution of surface accumulation and surface density fluctuations to the rate of change of thickness of an ice sheet. Using these, the contribution of firn densification to the variability of ice-sheet thickness is examined as a function of the time interval over which the ice sheet is observed. This contribution is illustrated for sites in Antarctica and Greenland. It is concluded that it is important to give greater attention than hitherto to the spatial scale of accumulation fluctuations if satellite observations of ice-sheet elevation change are to be used to estimate ice-sheet imbalance over short time intervals. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wingham, DJ |
author_facet |
Wingham, DJ |
author_sort |
Wingham, DJ |
title |
Small fluctuations in the density and thickness of a dry firn column |
title_short |
Small fluctuations in the density and thickness of a dry firn column |
title_full |
Small fluctuations in the density and thickness of a dry firn column |
title_fullStr |
Small fluctuations in the density and thickness of a dry firn column |
title_full_unstemmed |
Small fluctuations in the density and thickness of a dry firn column |
title_sort |
small fluctuations in the density and thickness of a dry firn column |
publisher |
INT GLACIOL SOC |
publishDate |
2000 |
url |
http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/119708/ |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
J GLACIOL , 46 (154) 399 - 411. (2000) |
_version_ |
1766081990668320768 |