Improved representation of the contemporary Greenland ice sheet firn layer by IMAU-FDM v1.2G

The firn layer that covers 90 % of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) plays an important role in determining the response of the ice sheet to climate change. Meltwater can percolate into the firn layer and refreeze at greater depths, thereby temporarily preventing mass loss. However, as global warming l...

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Main Authors: Brils, Max, Kuipers Munneke, Peter, van de Berg, Willem Jan, van den Broeke, Michiel
Other Authors: Sub Dynamics Meteorology, Marine and Atmospheric Research
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/423141
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spelling ftunivutrecht:oai:dspace.library.uu.nl:1874/423141 2023-07-23T04:19:31+02:00 Improved representation of the contemporary Greenland ice sheet firn layer by IMAU-FDM v1.2G Brils, Max Kuipers Munneke, Peter van de Berg, Willem Jan van den Broeke, Michiel Sub Dynamics Meteorology Marine and Atmospheric Research 2022-09-21 application/pdf https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/423141 en eng 1991-959X https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/423141 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess Article 2022 ftunivutrecht 2023-07-02T03:46:08Z The firn layer that covers 90 % of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) plays an important role in determining the response of the ice sheet to climate change. Meltwater can percolate into the firn layer and refreeze at greater depths, thereby temporarily preventing mass loss. However, as global warming leads to increasing surface melt, more surface melt may refreeze in the firn layer, thereby reducing the capacity to buffer subsequent episodes of melt. This can lead to a tipping point in meltwater runoff. It is therefore important to study the evolution of the Greenland firn layer in the past, present and future. In this study, we present the latest version of our firn model, IMAU-FDM (Firn Densification Model) v1.2G, with an application to the GrIS. We improved the density of freshly fallen snow, the dry-snow densification rate and the firn's thermal conductivity using recently published parametrizations and by calibration to an extended set of observations of firn density, temperature and liquid water content at the GrIS. Overall, the updated model settings lead to higher firn air content and higher 10 m firn temperatures, owing to a lower density near the surface. The effect of the new model settings on the surface elevation change is investigated through three case studies located at Summit, KAN-U and FA-13. Most notably, the updated model shows greater inter- and intra-annual variability in elevation and an increased sensitivity to climate forcing. 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 The firn layer that covers 90 % of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) plays an important role in determining the response of the ice sheet to climate change. Meltwater can percolate into the firn layer and refreeze at greater depths, thereby temporarily preventing mass loss. However, as global warming leads to increasing surface melt, more surface melt may refreeze in the firn layer, thereby reducing the capacity to buffer subsequent episodes of melt. This can lead to a tipping point in meltwater runoff. It is therefore important to study the evolution of the Greenland firn layer in the past, present and future. In this study, we present the latest version of our firn model, IMAU-FDM (Firn Densification Model) v1.2G, with an application to the GrIS. We improved the density of freshly fallen snow, the dry-snow densification rate and the firn's thermal conductivity using recently published parametrizations and by calibration to an extended set of observations of firn density, temperature and liquid water content at the GrIS. Overall, the updated model settings lead to higher firn air content and higher 10 m firn temperatures, owing to a lower density near the surface. The effect of the new model settings on the surface elevation change is investigated through three case studies located at Summit, KAN-U and FA-13. Most notably, the updated model shows greater inter- and intra-annual variability in elevation and an increased sensitivity to climate forcing.
author2 Sub Dynamics Meteorology
Marine and Atmospheric Research
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Brils, Max
Kuipers Munneke, Peter
van de Berg, Willem Jan
van den Broeke, Michiel
spellingShingle Brils, Max
Kuipers Munneke, Peter
van de Berg, Willem Jan
van den Broeke, Michiel
Improved representation of the contemporary Greenland ice sheet firn layer by IMAU-FDM v1.2G
author_facet Brils, Max
Kuipers Munneke, Peter
van de Berg, Willem Jan
van den Broeke, Michiel
author_sort Brils, Max
title Improved representation of the contemporary Greenland ice sheet firn layer by IMAU-FDM v1.2G
title_short Improved representation of the contemporary Greenland ice sheet firn layer by IMAU-FDM v1.2G
title_full Improved representation of the contemporary Greenland ice sheet firn layer by IMAU-FDM v1.2G
title_fullStr Improved representation of the contemporary Greenland ice sheet firn layer by IMAU-FDM v1.2G
title_full_unstemmed Improved representation of the contemporary Greenland ice sheet firn layer by IMAU-FDM v1.2G
title_sort improved representation of the contemporary greenland ice sheet firn layer by imau-fdm v1.2g
publishDate 2022
url https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/423141
geographic Greenland
geographic_facet Greenland
genre Greenland
Ice Sheet
genre_facet Greenland
Ice Sheet
op_relation 1991-959X
https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/423141
op_rights info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
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