Firn on ice sheets
Most of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are covered with firn — the transitional material between snow and glacial ice. Firn is vital for understanding ice-sheet mass balance and hydrology, and palaeoclimate. In this Review, we synthesize knowledge of firn, including its formation, observatio...
Published in: | Nature Reviews Earth & Environment |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Nature Research
2024
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167337/ https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00507-9 https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167337/1/NATREVEARTHENVIRON-23-248-Wever_final_edits.pdf |
id |
ftunivcardiff:oai:https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk:167337 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivcardiff:oai:https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk:167337 2024-04-21T07:51:56+00:00 Firn on ice sheets Amory, Charles Buizert, Christo Buzzard, Sammie Case, Elizabeth Clerx, Nicole Culberg, Riley Datta, Rajashree Tri Dey, Rahul Drews, Reinhard Dunmire, Devon Eayrs, Clare Hansen, Nicolaj Humbert, Angelika Kaitheri, Athul Keegan, Kaitlin Kuipers Munneke, Peter Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Lhermitte, Stef Mair, Doug McDowell, Ian Mejia, Jessica Meyer, Colin R. Morris, Elizabeth Moser, Dorothea Oraschewski, Falk M. Pearce, Emma de Roda Husman, Sophie Schlegel, Nicole-Jeanne Schultz, Timm Simonsen, Sebastian B. Stevens, C. Max Thomas, Elizabeth R. Thompson-Munson, Megan Wever, Nander Wouters, Bert 2024-02-29 application/pdf https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167337/ https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00507-9 https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167337/1/NATREVEARTHENVIRON-23-248-Wever_final_edits.pdf en eng Nature Research https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167337/1/NATREVEARTHENVIRON-23-248-Wever_final_edits.pdf Amory, Charles, Buizert, Christo, Buzzard, Sammie https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/view/cardiffauthors/A2610533W.html, Case, Elizabeth, Clerx, Nicole, Culberg, Riley, Datta, Rajashree Tri, Dey, Rahul, Drews, Reinhard, Dunmire, Devon, Eayrs, Clare, Hansen, Nicolaj, Humbert, Angelika, Kaitheri, Athul, Keegan, Kaitlin, Kuipers Munneke, Peter, Lenaerts, Jan T. M., Lhermitte, Stef, Mair, Doug, McDowell, Ian, Mejia, Jessica, Meyer, Colin R., Morris, Elizabeth, Moser, Dorothea, Oraschewski, Falk M., Pearce, Emma, de Roda Husman, Sophie, Schlegel, Nicole-Jeanne, Schultz, Timm, Simonsen, Sebastian B., Stevens, C. Max, Thomas, Elizabeth R., Thompson-Munson, Megan, Wever, Nander and Wouters, Bert 2024. Firn on ice sheets. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 5 (2) , pp. 79-99. 10.1038/s43017-023-00507-9 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00507-9 Item availability restricted. file <https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167337/1/NATREVEARTHENVIRON-23-248-Wever_final_edits.pdf> doi:10.1038/s43017-023-00507-9 Article PeerReviewed 2024 ftunivcardiff https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00507-9 2024-03-27T15:28:12Z Most of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are covered with firn — the transitional material between snow and glacial ice. Firn is vital for understanding ice-sheet mass balance and hydrology, and palaeoclimate. In this Review, we synthesize knowledge of firn, including its formation, observation, modelling and relevance to ice sheets. The refreezing of meltwater in the pore space of firn currently prevents 50% of meltwater in Greenland from running off into the ocean and protects Antarctic ice shelves from catastrophic collapse. Continued atmospheric warming could inhibit future protection against mass loss. For example, warming in Greenland has already contributed to a 5% reduction in firn pore space since 1980. All projections of future firn change suggest that surface meltwater will have an increasing impact on firn, with melt occurring tens to hundreds of kilometres further inland in Greenland, and more extensively on Antarctic ice shelves. Although progress in observation and modelling techniques has led to a well-established understanding of firn, the large uncertainties associated with meltwater percolation processes (refreezing, ice-layer formation and storage) must be reduced further. A tighter integration of modelling components (firn, atmosphere and ice-sheet models) will also be needed to better simulate ice-sheet responses to anthropogenic warming and to quantify future sea-level rise. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Greenland Ice Sheet Ice Shelves Cardiff University: ORCA (Online Research @ Cardiff) Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 5 2 79 99 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cardiff University: ORCA (Online Research @ Cardiff) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcardiff |
language |
English |
description |
Most of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are covered with firn — the transitional material between snow and glacial ice. Firn is vital for understanding ice-sheet mass balance and hydrology, and palaeoclimate. In this Review, we synthesize knowledge of firn, including its formation, observation, modelling and relevance to ice sheets. The refreezing of meltwater in the pore space of firn currently prevents 50% of meltwater in Greenland from running off into the ocean and protects Antarctic ice shelves from catastrophic collapse. Continued atmospheric warming could inhibit future protection against mass loss. For example, warming in Greenland has already contributed to a 5% reduction in firn pore space since 1980. All projections of future firn change suggest that surface meltwater will have an increasing impact on firn, with melt occurring tens to hundreds of kilometres further inland in Greenland, and more extensively on Antarctic ice shelves. Although progress in observation and modelling techniques has led to a well-established understanding of firn, the large uncertainties associated with meltwater percolation processes (refreezing, ice-layer formation and storage) must be reduced further. A tighter integration of modelling components (firn, atmosphere and ice-sheet models) will also be needed to better simulate ice-sheet responses to anthropogenic warming and to quantify future sea-level rise. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Amory, Charles Buizert, Christo Buzzard, Sammie Case, Elizabeth Clerx, Nicole Culberg, Riley Datta, Rajashree Tri Dey, Rahul Drews, Reinhard Dunmire, Devon Eayrs, Clare Hansen, Nicolaj Humbert, Angelika Kaitheri, Athul Keegan, Kaitlin Kuipers Munneke, Peter Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Lhermitte, Stef Mair, Doug McDowell, Ian Mejia, Jessica Meyer, Colin R. Morris, Elizabeth Moser, Dorothea Oraschewski, Falk M. Pearce, Emma de Roda Husman, Sophie Schlegel, Nicole-Jeanne Schultz, Timm Simonsen, Sebastian B. Stevens, C. Max Thomas, Elizabeth R. Thompson-Munson, Megan Wever, Nander Wouters, Bert |
spellingShingle |
Amory, Charles Buizert, Christo Buzzard, Sammie Case, Elizabeth Clerx, Nicole Culberg, Riley Datta, Rajashree Tri Dey, Rahul Drews, Reinhard Dunmire, Devon Eayrs, Clare Hansen, Nicolaj Humbert, Angelika Kaitheri, Athul Keegan, Kaitlin Kuipers Munneke, Peter Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Lhermitte, Stef Mair, Doug McDowell, Ian Mejia, Jessica Meyer, Colin R. Morris, Elizabeth Moser, Dorothea Oraschewski, Falk M. Pearce, Emma de Roda Husman, Sophie Schlegel, Nicole-Jeanne Schultz, Timm Simonsen, Sebastian B. Stevens, C. Max Thomas, Elizabeth R. Thompson-Munson, Megan Wever, Nander Wouters, Bert Firn on ice sheets |
author_facet |
Amory, Charles Buizert, Christo Buzzard, Sammie Case, Elizabeth Clerx, Nicole Culberg, Riley Datta, Rajashree Tri Dey, Rahul Drews, Reinhard Dunmire, Devon Eayrs, Clare Hansen, Nicolaj Humbert, Angelika Kaitheri, Athul Keegan, Kaitlin Kuipers Munneke, Peter Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Lhermitte, Stef Mair, Doug McDowell, Ian Mejia, Jessica Meyer, Colin R. Morris, Elizabeth Moser, Dorothea Oraschewski, Falk M. Pearce, Emma de Roda Husman, Sophie Schlegel, Nicole-Jeanne Schultz, Timm Simonsen, Sebastian B. Stevens, C. Max Thomas, Elizabeth R. Thompson-Munson, Megan Wever, Nander Wouters, Bert |
author_sort |
Amory, Charles |
title |
Firn on ice sheets |
title_short |
Firn on ice sheets |
title_full |
Firn on ice sheets |
title_fullStr |
Firn on ice sheets |
title_full_unstemmed |
Firn on ice sheets |
title_sort |
firn on ice sheets |
publisher |
Nature Research |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167337/ https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00507-9 https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167337/1/NATREVEARTHENVIRON-23-248-Wever_final_edits.pdf |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Greenland Ice Sheet Ice Shelves |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Greenland Ice Sheet Ice Shelves |
op_relation |
https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167337/1/NATREVEARTHENVIRON-23-248-Wever_final_edits.pdf Amory, Charles, Buizert, Christo, Buzzard, Sammie https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/view/cardiffauthors/A2610533W.html, Case, Elizabeth, Clerx, Nicole, Culberg, Riley, Datta, Rajashree Tri, Dey, Rahul, Drews, Reinhard, Dunmire, Devon, Eayrs, Clare, Hansen, Nicolaj, Humbert, Angelika, Kaitheri, Athul, Keegan, Kaitlin, Kuipers Munneke, Peter, Lenaerts, Jan T. M., Lhermitte, Stef, Mair, Doug, McDowell, Ian, Mejia, Jessica, Meyer, Colin R., Morris, Elizabeth, Moser, Dorothea, Oraschewski, Falk M., Pearce, Emma, de Roda Husman, Sophie, Schlegel, Nicole-Jeanne, Schultz, Timm, Simonsen, Sebastian B., Stevens, C. Max, Thomas, Elizabeth R., Thompson-Munson, Megan, Wever, Nander and Wouters, Bert 2024. Firn on ice sheets. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 5 (2) , pp. 79-99. 10.1038/s43017-023-00507-9 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00507-9 Item availability restricted. file <https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167337/1/NATREVEARTHENVIRON-23-248-Wever_final_edits.pdf> doi:10.1038/s43017-023-00507-9 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00507-9 |
container_title |
Nature Reviews Earth & Environment |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
79 |
op_container_end_page |
99 |
_version_ |
1796935223464689664 |