Accelerated mass loss from Greenland ice sheet: Links to atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic
Understanding the mechanisms that drive the mass imbalance of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is critical to the accurate projection of its contribution to future sea level rise. Greenland's ice mass loss has been accelerating recently. Using satellite Earth-gravity and regional climate model da...
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ftunivutrecht:oai:dspace.library.uu.nl:1874/321804 2023-11-12T04:17:40+01:00 Accelerated mass loss from Greenland ice sheet: Links to atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic Seo, Ki-Weon Waliser, Duane E. Lee, Choon-Ki Tian, Baijun Scambos, Ted Kim, Baek-Min van Angelen, Jan H. van den Broeke, Michiel R. Sub Dynamics Meteorology Marine and Atmospheric Research 2015-05 application/pdf https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/321804 en eng 0921-8181 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/321804 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess Greenland ice mass loss acceleration Surface mass balance North Atlantic oscillation REGIONAL CLIMATE MODEL SEA-LEVEL RISE GRAVITY OBSERVATIONS BALANCE GRACE PRECIPITATION OSCILLATION GLACIERS TIME CAPS Taverne Article 2015 ftunivutrecht 2023-11-01T23:13:10Z Understanding the mechanisms that drive the mass imbalance of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is critical to the accurate projection of its contribution to future sea level rise. Greenland's ice mass loss has been accelerating recently. Using satellite Earth-gravity and regional climate model data, we show that the acceleration rate of Greenland ice mass loss from 2003 to 2012 is -13.9 +/- 2.0 Gt/yr(2), which results mainly from an increase of meltwater runoff (-6.3 +/- 1.1 Gt/yr(2)) and a decrease of precipitation (-4.8 +/- 1.1 Gt/yr(2)). Before the extreme surface melting in the summers of 2010 and 2012, the decrease of precipitation (-9.7 +/- 2.5 Gt/yr(2)) was a larger contributor to the ice mass loss acceleration than the increase of runoff (-2.1 +/- 2.2 Gt/yr(2)). Furthermore, we show that the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is linked to the precipitation decrease during summer, and its recent influence to Greenland is anomalously large possibly due to the change in atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic. These results indicate that inter-annual climate variability is playing a significant role in the recently observed Greenland ice mass loss acceleration, underscoring the difficulty of projecting future sea level rise based on the recent observations of GrIS mass loss. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Utrecht University Repository Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Utrecht University Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivutrecht |
language |
English |
topic |
Greenland ice mass loss acceleration Surface mass balance North Atlantic oscillation REGIONAL CLIMATE MODEL SEA-LEVEL RISE GRAVITY OBSERVATIONS BALANCE GRACE PRECIPITATION OSCILLATION GLACIERS TIME CAPS Taverne |
spellingShingle |
Greenland ice mass loss acceleration Surface mass balance North Atlantic oscillation REGIONAL CLIMATE MODEL SEA-LEVEL RISE GRAVITY OBSERVATIONS BALANCE GRACE PRECIPITATION OSCILLATION GLACIERS TIME CAPS Taverne Seo, Ki-Weon Waliser, Duane E. Lee, Choon-Ki Tian, Baijun Scambos, Ted Kim, Baek-Min van Angelen, Jan H. van den Broeke, Michiel R. Accelerated mass loss from Greenland ice sheet: Links to atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic |
topic_facet |
Greenland ice mass loss acceleration Surface mass balance North Atlantic oscillation REGIONAL CLIMATE MODEL SEA-LEVEL RISE GRAVITY OBSERVATIONS BALANCE GRACE PRECIPITATION OSCILLATION GLACIERS TIME CAPS Taverne |
description |
Understanding the mechanisms that drive the mass imbalance of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is critical to the accurate projection of its contribution to future sea level rise. Greenland's ice mass loss has been accelerating recently. Using satellite Earth-gravity and regional climate model data, we show that the acceleration rate of Greenland ice mass loss from 2003 to 2012 is -13.9 +/- 2.0 Gt/yr(2), which results mainly from an increase of meltwater runoff (-6.3 +/- 1.1 Gt/yr(2)) and a decrease of precipitation (-4.8 +/- 1.1 Gt/yr(2)). Before the extreme surface melting in the summers of 2010 and 2012, the decrease of precipitation (-9.7 +/- 2.5 Gt/yr(2)) was a larger contributor to the ice mass loss acceleration than the increase of runoff (-2.1 +/- 2.2 Gt/yr(2)). Furthermore, we show that the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is linked to the precipitation decrease during summer, and its recent influence to Greenland is anomalously large possibly due to the change in atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic. These results indicate that inter-annual climate variability is playing a significant role in the recently observed Greenland ice mass loss acceleration, underscoring the difficulty of projecting future sea level rise based on the recent observations of GrIS mass loss. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. |
author2 |
Sub Dynamics Meteorology Marine and Atmospheric Research |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Seo, Ki-Weon Waliser, Duane E. Lee, Choon-Ki Tian, Baijun Scambos, Ted Kim, Baek-Min van Angelen, Jan H. van den Broeke, Michiel R. |
author_facet |
Seo, Ki-Weon Waliser, Duane E. Lee, Choon-Ki Tian, Baijun Scambos, Ted Kim, Baek-Min van Angelen, Jan H. van den Broeke, Michiel R. |
author_sort |
Seo, Ki-Weon |
title |
Accelerated mass loss from Greenland ice sheet: Links to atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic |
title_short |
Accelerated mass loss from Greenland ice sheet: Links to atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic |
title_full |
Accelerated mass loss from Greenland ice sheet: Links to atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Accelerated mass loss from Greenland ice sheet: Links to atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Accelerated mass loss from Greenland ice sheet: Links to atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic |
title_sort |
accelerated mass loss from greenland ice sheet: links to atmospheric circulation in the north atlantic |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/321804 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_relation |
0921-8181 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/321804 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
_version_ |
1782334468595384320 |