A tipping point in refreezing accelerates mass loss of Greenland’s glaciers and ice caps
Melting of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) and its peripheral glaciers and ice caps (GICs) contributes about 43% to contemporary sea level rise. While patterns of GrIS mass loss are well studied, the spatial and temporal evolution of GICs mass loss and the acting processes have remained unclear. Here...
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ftunivutrecht:oai:dspace.library.uu.nl:1874/349357 2023-07-23T04:19:31+02:00 A tipping point in refreezing accelerates mass loss of Greenland’s glaciers and ice caps Noël, B.P.Y. van de Berg, W.J. Lhermitte, S. Wouters, B. Machguth, Horst Howat, I.M. Citterio, M. Moholdt, G. Lenaerts, J.T.M. van den Broeke, M.R. Sub Dynamics Meteorology Marine and Atmospheric Research 2017 image/pdf https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/349357 en eng 2041-1723 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/349357 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess Article 2017 ftunivutrecht 2023-07-02T02:05:58Z Melting of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) and its peripheral glaciers and ice caps (GICs) contributes about 43% to contemporary sea level rise. While patterns of GrIS mass loss are well studied, the spatial and temporal evolution of GICs mass loss and the acting processes have remained unclear. Here we use a novel, 1 km surface mass balance product, evaluated against in situ and remote sensing data, to identify 1997 (±5 years) as a tipping point for GICs mass balance. That year marks the onset of a rapid deterioration in the capacity of the GICs firn to refreeze meltwater. Consequently, GICs runoff increases 65% faster than meltwater production, tripling the post-1997 mass loss to 36±16 Gt−1, or ∼14% of the Greenland total. In sharp contrast, the extensive inland firn of the GrIS retains most of its refreezing capacity for now, buffering 22% of the increased meltwater production. This underlines the very different response of the GICs and GrIS to atmospheric warming. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet Utrecht University Repository Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Utrecht University Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivutrecht |
language |
English |
description |
Melting of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) and its peripheral glaciers and ice caps (GICs) contributes about 43% to contemporary sea level rise. While patterns of GrIS mass loss are well studied, the spatial and temporal evolution of GICs mass loss and the acting processes have remained unclear. Here we use a novel, 1 km surface mass balance product, evaluated against in situ and remote sensing data, to identify 1997 (±5 years) as a tipping point for GICs mass balance. That year marks the onset of a rapid deterioration in the capacity of the GICs firn to refreeze meltwater. Consequently, GICs runoff increases 65% faster than meltwater production, tripling the post-1997 mass loss to 36±16 Gt−1, or ∼14% of the Greenland total. In sharp contrast, the extensive inland firn of the GrIS retains most of its refreezing capacity for now, buffering 22% of the increased meltwater production. This underlines the very different response of the GICs and GrIS to atmospheric warming. |
author2 |
Sub Dynamics Meteorology Marine and Atmospheric Research |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Noël, B.P.Y. van de Berg, W.J. Lhermitte, S. Wouters, B. Machguth, Horst Howat, I.M. Citterio, M. Moholdt, G. Lenaerts, J.T.M. van den Broeke, M.R. |
spellingShingle |
Noël, B.P.Y. van de Berg, W.J. Lhermitte, S. Wouters, B. Machguth, Horst Howat, I.M. Citterio, M. Moholdt, G. Lenaerts, J.T.M. van den Broeke, M.R. A tipping point in refreezing accelerates mass loss of Greenland’s glaciers and ice caps |
author_facet |
Noël, B.P.Y. van de Berg, W.J. Lhermitte, S. Wouters, B. Machguth, Horst Howat, I.M. Citterio, M. Moholdt, G. Lenaerts, J.T.M. van den Broeke, M.R. |
author_sort |
Noël, B.P.Y. |
title |
A tipping point in refreezing accelerates mass loss of Greenland’s glaciers and ice caps |
title_short |
A tipping point in refreezing accelerates mass loss of Greenland’s glaciers and ice caps |
title_full |
A tipping point in refreezing accelerates mass loss of Greenland’s glaciers and ice caps |
title_fullStr |
A tipping point in refreezing accelerates mass loss of Greenland’s glaciers and ice caps |
title_full_unstemmed |
A tipping point in refreezing accelerates mass loss of Greenland’s glaciers and ice caps |
title_sort |
tipping point in refreezing accelerates mass loss of greenland’s glaciers and ice caps |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/349357 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
2041-1723 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/349357 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
_version_ |
1772182694617153536 |