Surface-atmosphere decoupling limits accumulation at Summit, Greenland
International audience Despite rapid melting in the coastal regions of the Greenland Ice Sheet, a significant area (~40%) of the ice sheet rarely experiences surface melting. In these regions, the controls on annual accumulation are poorly constrained owing to surface conditions (for example, surfac...
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Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-03214441 https://hal.science/hal-03214441/document https://hal.science/hal-03214441/file/e1501704.full.pdf https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501704 |
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ftuniparissaclay:oai:HAL:hal-03214441v1 2024-06-16T07:40:19+00:00 Surface-atmosphere decoupling limits accumulation at Summit, Greenland Berkelhammer, Max Noone, David Steen-Larsen, Hans Christian Bailey, Adriana Cox, Christopher O’neill, Michael Schneider, David Steffen, Konrad White, James Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE) Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)) Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables (GLACCIOS) Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)) 2016-04-22 https://hal.science/hal-03214441 https://hal.science/hal-03214441/document https://hal.science/hal-03214441/file/e1501704.full.pdf https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501704 en eng HAL CCSD American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1501704 hal-03214441 https://hal.science/hal-03214441 https://hal.science/hal-03214441/document https://hal.science/hal-03214441/file/e1501704.full.pdf doi:10.1126/sciadv.1501704 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess ISSN: 2375-2548 Science Advances https://hal.science/hal-03214441 Science Advances , 2016, 2 (4), pp.e1501704. ⟨10.1126/sciadv.1501704⟩ [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2016 ftuniparissaclay https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501704 2024-05-17T00:05:47Z International audience Despite rapid melting in the coastal regions of the Greenland Ice Sheet, a significant area (~40%) of the ice sheet rarely experiences surface melting. In these regions, the controls on annual accumulation are poorly constrained owing to surface conditions (for example, surface clouds, blowing snow, and surface inversions), which render moisture flux estimates from myriad approaches (that is, eddy covariance, remote sensing, and direct observations) highly uncertain. Accumulation is partially determined by the temperature dependence of saturation vapor pressure, which influences the maximum humidity of air parcels reaching the ice sheet interior. However, independent proxies for surface temperature and accumulation from ice cores show that the response of accumulation to temperature is variable and not generally consistent with a purely thermodynamic control. Using three years of stable water vapor isotope profiles from a high altitude site on the Greenland Ice Sheet, we show that as the boundary layer becomes increasingly stable, a decoupling between the ice sheet and atmosphere occurs. The limited interaction between the ice sheet surface and free tropospheric air reduces the capacity for surface condensation to achieve the rate set by the humidity of the air parcels reaching interior Greenland. The isolation of the surface also acts to recycle sublimated moisture by recondensing it onto fog particles, which returns the moisture back to the surface through gravitational settling. The observations highlight a unique mechanism by which ice sheet mass is conserved, which has implications for understanding both past and future changes in accumulation rate and the isotopic signal in ice cores from Greenland. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet Archives ouvertes de Paris-Saclay Greenland Science Advances 2 4 e1501704 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Archives ouvertes de Paris-Saclay |
op_collection_id |
ftuniparissaclay |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment |
spellingShingle |
[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment Berkelhammer, Max Noone, David Steen-Larsen, Hans Christian Bailey, Adriana Cox, Christopher O’neill, Michael Schneider, David Steffen, Konrad White, James Surface-atmosphere decoupling limits accumulation at Summit, Greenland |
topic_facet |
[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment |
description |
International audience Despite rapid melting in the coastal regions of the Greenland Ice Sheet, a significant area (~40%) of the ice sheet rarely experiences surface melting. In these regions, the controls on annual accumulation are poorly constrained owing to surface conditions (for example, surface clouds, blowing snow, and surface inversions), which render moisture flux estimates from myriad approaches (that is, eddy covariance, remote sensing, and direct observations) highly uncertain. Accumulation is partially determined by the temperature dependence of saturation vapor pressure, which influences the maximum humidity of air parcels reaching the ice sheet interior. However, independent proxies for surface temperature and accumulation from ice cores show that the response of accumulation to temperature is variable and not generally consistent with a purely thermodynamic control. Using three years of stable water vapor isotope profiles from a high altitude site on the Greenland Ice Sheet, we show that as the boundary layer becomes increasingly stable, a decoupling between the ice sheet and atmosphere occurs. The limited interaction between the ice sheet surface and free tropospheric air reduces the capacity for surface condensation to achieve the rate set by the humidity of the air parcels reaching interior Greenland. The isolation of the surface also acts to recycle sublimated moisture by recondensing it onto fog particles, which returns the moisture back to the surface through gravitational settling. The observations highlight a unique mechanism by which ice sheet mass is conserved, which has implications for understanding both past and future changes in accumulation rate and the isotopic signal in ice cores from Greenland. |
author2 |
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE) Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)) Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables (GLACCIOS) Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Berkelhammer, Max Noone, David Steen-Larsen, Hans Christian Bailey, Adriana Cox, Christopher O’neill, Michael Schneider, David Steffen, Konrad White, James |
author_facet |
Berkelhammer, Max Noone, David Steen-Larsen, Hans Christian Bailey, Adriana Cox, Christopher O’neill, Michael Schneider, David Steffen, Konrad White, James |
author_sort |
Berkelhammer, Max |
title |
Surface-atmosphere decoupling limits accumulation at Summit, Greenland |
title_short |
Surface-atmosphere decoupling limits accumulation at Summit, Greenland |
title_full |
Surface-atmosphere decoupling limits accumulation at Summit, Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Surface-atmosphere decoupling limits accumulation at Summit, Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Surface-atmosphere decoupling limits accumulation at Summit, Greenland |
title_sort |
surface-atmosphere decoupling limits accumulation at summit, greenland |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-03214441 https://hal.science/hal-03214441/document https://hal.science/hal-03214441/file/e1501704.full.pdf https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501704 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
ISSN: 2375-2548 Science Advances https://hal.science/hal-03214441 Science Advances , 2016, 2 (4), pp.e1501704. ⟨10.1126/sciadv.1501704⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1501704 hal-03214441 https://hal.science/hal-03214441 https://hal.science/hal-03214441/document https://hal.science/hal-03214441/file/e1501704.full.pdf doi:10.1126/sciadv.1501704 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501704 |
container_title |
Science Advances |
container_volume |
2 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
e1501704 |
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