The Effects of Light-Absorbing Aerosols, Blocking, and Clouds on Greenland's Surface
The Greenland Ice Sheet covers over 80% of Greenland’s land area and is the largest reservoir of frozen water in the Northern Hemisphere. Over the past few decades, the Greenland Ice Sheet has experienced significant summertime ice and surface snow loss. Much of this mass loss can be attributed to s...
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ftumdeepblue:oai:deepblue.lib.umich.edu:2027.42/163203 2024-01-07T09:41:58+01:00 The Effects of Light-Absorbing Aerosols, Blocking, and Clouds on Greenland's Surface Ward, Jamie Flanner, Mark G Pratt, Kerri Jablonowski, Christiane Steiner, Allison L 2020 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/163203 en_US eng https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/163203 orcid:0000-0002-8751-8894 Ward, Jamie; 0000-0002-8751-8894 Greenland climate Light-absorbing Aerosols Atmospheric Blocking Atmosphere-surface interactions Atmospheric Oceanic and Space Sciences Science Thesis 2020 ftumdeepblue 2023-12-10T17:53:47Z The Greenland Ice Sheet covers over 80% of Greenland’s land area and is the largest reservoir of frozen water in the Northern Hemisphere. Over the past few decades, the Greenland Ice Sheet has experienced significant summertime ice and surface snow loss. Much of this mass loss can be attributed to short-term processes that initiate surface energy changes. In this dissertation, we examine the effects of 1) light-absorbing aerosols on the Greenland Ice Sheet and in the overlying atmosphere, 2) the impacts of atmospheric block location over the Greenland Ice Sheet on cloud formation and atmosphere-surface energy exchanges, and 3) how these block-induced surface energy responses will change in the future. Aerosols are microscopic solid or liquid particles that can be transported long distances through the atmosphere. Light-absorbing aerosols like black carbon and certain types of dust are unique in that they absorb sunlight and warm the local environment. In the Arctic, black carbon reduces surface reflectivity and increases surface energy to induce or enhance melt. Light- absorbing aerosols suspended in the atmosphere warm the local air and change vertical circulation patterns. We use an idealized version of the Community Earth System Model (CESM) to understand how Greenland-specific local atmospheric and in-snow light-absorbing aerosols can affect Greenland Ice Sheet surface energy input and snowmelt processes. Overall, we find that the largest snowmelt and net surface energy responses occur in simulations containing only in-snow light-absorbing aerosols while atmospheric absorbing aerosols decrease incident sunlight on the surface and produce insignificant melt and energy changes. Atmospheric and in-snow aerosols have offsetting effects on the surface energy budget. Atmospheric blocks are mostly stationary high pressure systems that last for days to weeks at a time. Blocking over Greenland has been shown to enhance net surface energy by reducing cloud cover and transporting warm, moist air over the surface. The ... Thesis Arctic black carbon Greenland Ice Sheet University of Michigan: Deep Blue Arctic Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Michigan: Deep Blue |
op_collection_id |
ftumdeepblue |
language |
English |
topic |
Greenland climate Light-absorbing Aerosols Atmospheric Blocking Atmosphere-surface interactions Atmospheric Oceanic and Space Sciences Science |
spellingShingle |
Greenland climate Light-absorbing Aerosols Atmospheric Blocking Atmosphere-surface interactions Atmospheric Oceanic and Space Sciences Science Ward, Jamie The Effects of Light-Absorbing Aerosols, Blocking, and Clouds on Greenland's Surface |
topic_facet |
Greenland climate Light-absorbing Aerosols Atmospheric Blocking Atmosphere-surface interactions Atmospheric Oceanic and Space Sciences Science |
description |
The Greenland Ice Sheet covers over 80% of Greenland’s land area and is the largest reservoir of frozen water in the Northern Hemisphere. Over the past few decades, the Greenland Ice Sheet has experienced significant summertime ice and surface snow loss. Much of this mass loss can be attributed to short-term processes that initiate surface energy changes. In this dissertation, we examine the effects of 1) light-absorbing aerosols on the Greenland Ice Sheet and in the overlying atmosphere, 2) the impacts of atmospheric block location over the Greenland Ice Sheet on cloud formation and atmosphere-surface energy exchanges, and 3) how these block-induced surface energy responses will change in the future. Aerosols are microscopic solid or liquid particles that can be transported long distances through the atmosphere. Light-absorbing aerosols like black carbon and certain types of dust are unique in that they absorb sunlight and warm the local environment. In the Arctic, black carbon reduces surface reflectivity and increases surface energy to induce or enhance melt. Light- absorbing aerosols suspended in the atmosphere warm the local air and change vertical circulation patterns. We use an idealized version of the Community Earth System Model (CESM) to understand how Greenland-specific local atmospheric and in-snow light-absorbing aerosols can affect Greenland Ice Sheet surface energy input and snowmelt processes. Overall, we find that the largest snowmelt and net surface energy responses occur in simulations containing only in-snow light-absorbing aerosols while atmospheric absorbing aerosols decrease incident sunlight on the surface and produce insignificant melt and energy changes. Atmospheric and in-snow aerosols have offsetting effects on the surface energy budget. Atmospheric blocks are mostly stationary high pressure systems that last for days to weeks at a time. Blocking over Greenland has been shown to enhance net surface energy by reducing cloud cover and transporting warm, moist air over the surface. The ... |
author2 |
Flanner, Mark G Pratt, Kerri Jablonowski, Christiane Steiner, Allison L |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Ward, Jamie |
author_facet |
Ward, Jamie |
author_sort |
Ward, Jamie |
title |
The Effects of Light-Absorbing Aerosols, Blocking, and Clouds on Greenland's Surface |
title_short |
The Effects of Light-Absorbing Aerosols, Blocking, and Clouds on Greenland's Surface |
title_full |
The Effects of Light-Absorbing Aerosols, Blocking, and Clouds on Greenland's Surface |
title_fullStr |
The Effects of Light-Absorbing Aerosols, Blocking, and Clouds on Greenland's Surface |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Effects of Light-Absorbing Aerosols, Blocking, and Clouds on Greenland's Surface |
title_sort |
effects of light-absorbing aerosols, blocking, and clouds on greenland's surface |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/163203 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic black carbon Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Arctic black carbon Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/163203 orcid:0000-0002-8751-8894 Ward, Jamie; 0000-0002-8751-8894 |
_version_ |
1787422786085453824 |