Thermodynamics and dynamics of polar ice sheets, glaciers and ice shelves under changing climate

• Main Author: Välisuo, Ilona
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Climate warming; Greenland; Antarcrtic Peninsula; Land ice; Melting; Polar; Ice sheet; Ice shelf; Glacier; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Arctic; The Antarctic; Wilkins; Antarc*; Antarctica; glacier; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/264600

Polar ice sheets, glaciers, and ice shelves, referred to as land ice in this document, are under transition in the changing climate. Observations show that glaciers have retreated and melt water discharge from land ice has increased together with the warming climate. Decreasing volume of land ice is reflected to the whole Earth system via changes in surface radiation balance, sea level rise, and water balance in inland watersheds. Warming and melting land ice creates positive feedback loops that further increase melting. The study of polar land ice in changing climate is challenging due to lack of observations from the remote areas. Large interannual variability of climate, rapid changes in temperature and ice conditions, and short observational timeseries further complicate the research. This Ph.D. thesis concentrates on the aspects of melting land ice in the polar regions. The focus is on the interannual variability of surface melt and weather conditions on two of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Shelves (Larsen C and Wilkins) and the Greenland Ice Sheet. Surface melt is addressed through the surface energy balance and other direct measures of melt. Furthermore, the changes in surface accumulation and ablation patterns have been modelled on a small Arctic valley glacier, Midtre Lovénbreen. This modelling study presents for the first time a method that allows to produce high resolution maps of accumulation and ablation, using only a glacier flow model and the digital elevation models of the glacier surface. Surface energy balance controls the melt of snow and ice. The effect of atmospheric moisture or clouds on the surface energy balance was important in the Antarctica Peninsula region and on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Cloud cover fraction was related to the wintertime surface net heat flux on Larsen C Ice Shelf. A multi-regression model, including the cloud cover fraction as one of the explanatory variables, explained up to 80% of the interannual variation of the surface net heat flux in June-August. On the Greenland ...