Atmospheric drivers of melt on Larsen C Ice Shelf: Surface energy budget regimes and the impact of foehn
Recent ice shelf retreat on the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula has been principally attributed to atmospherically driven melt. However, previous studies on the largest of these ice shelves—Larsen C—have struggled to reconcile atmospheric forcing with observed melt. This study provides the fir...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
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ftuniveastangl:oai:ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk:75327 2023-08-27T04:04:27+02:00 Atmospheric drivers of melt on Larsen C Ice Shelf: Surface energy budget regimes and the impact of foehn Elvidge, Andrew D. Kuipers Munneke, Peter King, John C. Renfrew, Ian A. Gilbert, Ella 2020-09-16 application/pdf https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/75327/ https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/75327/1/Larsen_drivers_of_melt_Elvidge_et_al.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD032463 en eng https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/75327/1/Larsen_drivers_of_melt_Elvidge_et_al.pdf Elvidge, Andrew D., Kuipers Munneke, Peter, King, John C., Renfrew, Ian A. and Gilbert, Ella (2020) Atmospheric drivers of melt on Larsen C Ice Shelf: Surface energy budget regimes and the impact of foehn. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 125 (17). ISSN 2169-897X doi:10.1029/2020JD032463 cc_by Article PeerReviewed 2020 ftuniveastangl https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD032463 2023-08-03T22:32:25Z Recent ice shelf retreat on the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula has been principally attributed to atmospherically driven melt. However, previous studies on the largest of these ice shelves—Larsen C—have struggled to reconcile atmospheric forcing with observed melt. This study provides the first comprehensive quantification and explanation of the atmospheric drivers of melt across Larsen C, using 31-months' worth of observations from Cabinet Inlet, a 6-month, high-resolution atmospheric model simulation and a novel approach to ascertain the surface energy budget (SEB) regime. The dominant meteorological controls on melt are shown to be the occurrence, strength, and warmth of mountain winds called foehn. At Cabinet Inlet, foehn occurs 15% of the time and causes 45% of melt. The primary effect of foehn on the SEB is elevated turbulent heat fluxes. Under typical, warm foehn conditions, this means elevated surface heating and melting, the intensity of which increases as foehn wind speed increases. Less commonly—due to cooler-than-normal foehn winds and/or radiatively warmed ice—the relationship between wind speed and net surface heat flux reverses. This explains the seemingly contradictory results of previous studies. In the model, spatial variability in cumulative melt across Larsen C is largely explained by foehn, with melt maxima in inlets reflecting maxima in foehn wind strength. However, most accumulated melt (58%) occurs due to solar radiation in the absence of foehn. A broad north-south gradient in melt is explained by the combined influence of foehn and non-foehn conditions. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ice Shelf Ice Shelves University of East Anglia: UEA Digital Repository Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Cabinet Inlet ENVELOPE(-63.500,-63.500,-66.250,-66.250) Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 125 17 |
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Open Polar |
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University of East Anglia: UEA Digital Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftuniveastangl |
language |
English |
description |
Recent ice shelf retreat on the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula has been principally attributed to atmospherically driven melt. However, previous studies on the largest of these ice shelves—Larsen C—have struggled to reconcile atmospheric forcing with observed melt. This study provides the first comprehensive quantification and explanation of the atmospheric drivers of melt across Larsen C, using 31-months' worth of observations from Cabinet Inlet, a 6-month, high-resolution atmospheric model simulation and a novel approach to ascertain the surface energy budget (SEB) regime. The dominant meteorological controls on melt are shown to be the occurrence, strength, and warmth of mountain winds called foehn. At Cabinet Inlet, foehn occurs 15% of the time and causes 45% of melt. The primary effect of foehn on the SEB is elevated turbulent heat fluxes. Under typical, warm foehn conditions, this means elevated surface heating and melting, the intensity of which increases as foehn wind speed increases. Less commonly—due to cooler-than-normal foehn winds and/or radiatively warmed ice—the relationship between wind speed and net surface heat flux reverses. This explains the seemingly contradictory results of previous studies. In the model, spatial variability in cumulative melt across Larsen C is largely explained by foehn, with melt maxima in inlets reflecting maxima in foehn wind strength. However, most accumulated melt (58%) occurs due to solar radiation in the absence of foehn. A broad north-south gradient in melt is explained by the combined influence of foehn and non-foehn conditions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Elvidge, Andrew D. Kuipers Munneke, Peter King, John C. Renfrew, Ian A. Gilbert, Ella |
spellingShingle |
Elvidge, Andrew D. Kuipers Munneke, Peter King, John C. Renfrew, Ian A. Gilbert, Ella Atmospheric drivers of melt on Larsen C Ice Shelf: Surface energy budget regimes and the impact of foehn |
author_facet |
Elvidge, Andrew D. Kuipers Munneke, Peter King, John C. Renfrew, Ian A. Gilbert, Ella |
author_sort |
Elvidge, Andrew D. |
title |
Atmospheric drivers of melt on Larsen C Ice Shelf: Surface energy budget regimes and the impact of foehn |
title_short |
Atmospheric drivers of melt on Larsen C Ice Shelf: Surface energy budget regimes and the impact of foehn |
title_full |
Atmospheric drivers of melt on Larsen C Ice Shelf: Surface energy budget regimes and the impact of foehn |
title_fullStr |
Atmospheric drivers of melt on Larsen C Ice Shelf: Surface energy budget regimes and the impact of foehn |
title_full_unstemmed |
Atmospheric drivers of melt on Larsen C Ice Shelf: Surface energy budget regimes and the impact of foehn |
title_sort |
atmospheric drivers of melt on larsen c ice shelf: surface energy budget regimes and the impact of foehn |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/75327/ https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/75327/1/Larsen_drivers_of_melt_Elvidge_et_al.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD032463 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-63.500,-63.500,-66.250,-66.250) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Cabinet Inlet |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Cabinet Inlet |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ice Shelf Ice Shelves |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ice Shelf Ice Shelves |
op_relation |
https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/75327/1/Larsen_drivers_of_melt_Elvidge_et_al.pdf Elvidge, Andrew D., Kuipers Munneke, Peter, King, John C., Renfrew, Ian A. and Gilbert, Ella (2020) Atmospheric drivers of melt on Larsen C Ice Shelf: Surface energy budget regimes and the impact of foehn. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 125 (17). ISSN 2169-897X doi:10.1029/2020JD032463 |
op_rights |
cc_by |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD032463 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
container_volume |
125 |
container_issue |
17 |
_version_ |
1775351471487844352 |