Estimating water volume stored in the south-eastern Greenland firn aquifer using magnetic-resonance soundings
Recent observations of the Greenland ice sheet show an increase of the area affected by progressive melt of snow and ice, thus resulting in production of the additional meltwater. In 2011, an important storage of meltwater in the firn has been observed in the S-E Greenland. This water does not freez...
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ftunivutrecht:oai:dspace.library.uu.nl:1874/377547 2023-11-12T04:17:44+01:00 Estimating water volume stored in the south-eastern Greenland firn aquifer using magnetic-resonance soundings Legchenko, Anatoly Miège, Clément Koenig, Lora S. Forster, Richard R. Miller, Olivia Solomon, D. K. Schmerr, Nicholas Montgomery, Lynn Ligtenberg, Stefan Brucker, Ludovic Sub Dynamics Meteorology Marine and Atmospheric Research 2018-03-01 application/pdf https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/377547 en eng 0926-9851 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/377547 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess Firn aquifer Greenland ice sheet MRS SNMR Water volume estimate Geophysics Article 2018 ftunivutrecht 2023-11-01T23:20:12Z Recent observations of the Greenland ice sheet show an increase of the area affected by progressive melt of snow and ice, thus resulting in production of the additional meltwater. In 2011, an important storage of meltwater in the firn has been observed in the S-E Greenland. This water does not freeze during the wintertime and forms a perennial firn aquifer. The aquifer spatial extent has been initially monitored with combined ground and airborne radar observations, but these geophysical techniques are not able to inform us on the amount of meltwater stored at depth. In this study, we use the magnetic resonance soundings (MRS) method for estimating the volume of water stored in the Greenland ice sheet firn and mapping its spatial variability. Our study area covers a firn aquifer along a 16-km E-W transect, ranging between elevations of 1520 and 1760 m. In July 2015 and July 2016, we performed MRS measurements that allow estimating the water volume in the studied area as well as the one-year water volume evolution. Water storage is not homogeneous, fluctuating between 0.2 and 2 m3/m2, and contains discontinuities in the hydrodynamic properties. We estimate an average volume of water stored in the firn in 2016 to be 0.76 m3/m2, which corresponds to a 0.76-m-thick layer of bulk water. MRS monitoring reveals that from April 2015 to July 2016 the volume of water stored at the location of our transect increases by about 36%. We found MRS-estimated depth to water in a good agreement with that obtained with the ground penetrating radar (GPR). Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet Utrecht University Repository Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Utrecht University Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivutrecht |
language |
English |
topic |
Firn aquifer Greenland ice sheet MRS SNMR Water volume estimate Geophysics |
spellingShingle |
Firn aquifer Greenland ice sheet MRS SNMR Water volume estimate Geophysics Legchenko, Anatoly Miège, Clément Koenig, Lora S. Forster, Richard R. Miller, Olivia Solomon, D. K. Schmerr, Nicholas Montgomery, Lynn Ligtenberg, Stefan Brucker, Ludovic Estimating water volume stored in the south-eastern Greenland firn aquifer using magnetic-resonance soundings |
topic_facet |
Firn aquifer Greenland ice sheet MRS SNMR Water volume estimate Geophysics |
description |
Recent observations of the Greenland ice sheet show an increase of the area affected by progressive melt of snow and ice, thus resulting in production of the additional meltwater. In 2011, an important storage of meltwater in the firn has been observed in the S-E Greenland. This water does not freeze during the wintertime and forms a perennial firn aquifer. The aquifer spatial extent has been initially monitored with combined ground and airborne radar observations, but these geophysical techniques are not able to inform us on the amount of meltwater stored at depth. In this study, we use the magnetic resonance soundings (MRS) method for estimating the volume of water stored in the Greenland ice sheet firn and mapping its spatial variability. Our study area covers a firn aquifer along a 16-km E-W transect, ranging between elevations of 1520 and 1760 m. In July 2015 and July 2016, we performed MRS measurements that allow estimating the water volume in the studied area as well as the one-year water volume evolution. Water storage is not homogeneous, fluctuating between 0.2 and 2 m3/m2, and contains discontinuities in the hydrodynamic properties. We estimate an average volume of water stored in the firn in 2016 to be 0.76 m3/m2, which corresponds to a 0.76-m-thick layer of bulk water. MRS monitoring reveals that from April 2015 to July 2016 the volume of water stored at the location of our transect increases by about 36%. We found MRS-estimated depth to water in a good agreement with that obtained with the ground penetrating radar (GPR). |
author2 |
Sub Dynamics Meteorology Marine and Atmospheric Research |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Legchenko, Anatoly Miège, Clément Koenig, Lora S. Forster, Richard R. Miller, Olivia Solomon, D. K. Schmerr, Nicholas Montgomery, Lynn Ligtenberg, Stefan Brucker, Ludovic |
author_facet |
Legchenko, Anatoly Miège, Clément Koenig, Lora S. Forster, Richard R. Miller, Olivia Solomon, D. K. Schmerr, Nicholas Montgomery, Lynn Ligtenberg, Stefan Brucker, Ludovic |
author_sort |
Legchenko, Anatoly |
title |
Estimating water volume stored in the south-eastern Greenland firn aquifer using magnetic-resonance soundings |
title_short |
Estimating water volume stored in the south-eastern Greenland firn aquifer using magnetic-resonance soundings |
title_full |
Estimating water volume stored in the south-eastern Greenland firn aquifer using magnetic-resonance soundings |
title_fullStr |
Estimating water volume stored in the south-eastern Greenland firn aquifer using magnetic-resonance soundings |
title_full_unstemmed |
Estimating water volume stored in the south-eastern Greenland firn aquifer using magnetic-resonance soundings |
title_sort |
estimating water volume stored in the south-eastern greenland firn aquifer using magnetic-resonance soundings |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/377547 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
0926-9851 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/377547 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
_version_ |
1782334528457539584 |