Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements
The potential of capillary forces to retain water in pores is an important property of snow and firn at glaciers. Meltwater suspended in pores does not contribute to runoff and may refreeze during winter, which can affect the climatic mass balance and the subsurface density and temperature. However,...
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Uppsala universitet, Luft-, vatten- och landskapslära
2021
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Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-334153 https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 |
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ftuppsalauniv:oai:DiVA.org:uu-334153 2024-02-11T10:04:03+01:00 Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements Marchenko, Sergey A. Van Pelt, Ward J. J. Pettersson, Rickard Pohjola, Veijo A. Reijmer, Carleen H. 2021 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-334153 https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 eng eng Uppsala universitet, Luft-, vatten- och landskapslära Journal of Glaciology, 0022-1430, 2021, 67:265, s. 921-932 orcid:0000-0003-4785-4532 orcid:0000-0003-4839-7900 orcid:0000-0002-6961-0128 orcid:0000-0001-6851-1673 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-334153 doi:10.1017/jog.2021.43 ISI:000695957300015 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess glacier hydrology glacier mass balance glacier modelling glaciological instruments and methods polar firn Physical Geography Naturgeografi Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2021 ftuppsalauniv https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 2024-01-17T23:32:06Z The potential of capillary forces to retain water in pores is an important property of snow and firn at glaciers. Meltwater suspended in pores does not contribute to runoff and may refreeze during winter, which can affect the climatic mass balance and the subsurface density and temperature. However, measurement of firn water content is challenging and few values have been reported in the literature. Here, we use subsurface temperature and density measured at the accumulation zone of Lomonosovfonna (1200 m a.s.l.), Svalbard, to derive water content of the firn profiles after the 2014 and 2015 melt seasons. We do this by comparing measured and simulated rates of freezing front propagation. The calculated volumetric water content of firn is ~1.0–2.5 vol.% above the depth of 5 m and <0.5 vol.% below. Results derived using different thermistor strings suggest a prominent lateral variability in firn water content. Reported values are considerably lower than those commonly used in snow/firn models. This is interpreted as a result of preferential water flow in firn leaving dry volumes within wetted firn. This suggests that the implementation of irreducible water content values below 0.5 vol.% within snow/firn models should be considered at the initial phase of water infiltration. Authors in thesis list of papers: Marchenko S., van Pelt W, Pohjola V., Pettersson R., Lötstedt, P. and Reijmer C. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Journal of Glaciology Svalbard Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) Svalbard Lomonosovfonna ENVELOPE(17.663,17.663,78.774,78.774) Van Pelt ENVELOPE(35.717,35.717,-71.250,-71.250) Journal of Glaciology 67 265 921 932 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftuppsalauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
glacier hydrology glacier mass balance glacier modelling glaciological instruments and methods polar firn Physical Geography Naturgeografi |
spellingShingle |
glacier hydrology glacier mass balance glacier modelling glaciological instruments and methods polar firn Physical Geography Naturgeografi Marchenko, Sergey A. Van Pelt, Ward J. J. Pettersson, Rickard Pohjola, Veijo A. Reijmer, Carleen H. Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
topic_facet |
glacier hydrology glacier mass balance glacier modelling glaciological instruments and methods polar firn Physical Geography Naturgeografi |
description |
The potential of capillary forces to retain water in pores is an important property of snow and firn at glaciers. Meltwater suspended in pores does not contribute to runoff and may refreeze during winter, which can affect the climatic mass balance and the subsurface density and temperature. However, measurement of firn water content is challenging and few values have been reported in the literature. Here, we use subsurface temperature and density measured at the accumulation zone of Lomonosovfonna (1200 m a.s.l.), Svalbard, to derive water content of the firn profiles after the 2014 and 2015 melt seasons. We do this by comparing measured and simulated rates of freezing front propagation. The calculated volumetric water content of firn is ~1.0–2.5 vol.% above the depth of 5 m and <0.5 vol.% below. Results derived using different thermistor strings suggest a prominent lateral variability in firn water content. Reported values are considerably lower than those commonly used in snow/firn models. This is interpreted as a result of preferential water flow in firn leaving dry volumes within wetted firn. This suggests that the implementation of irreducible water content values below 0.5 vol.% within snow/firn models should be considered at the initial phase of water infiltration. Authors in thesis list of papers: Marchenko S., van Pelt W, Pohjola V., Pettersson R., Lötstedt, P. and Reijmer C. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Marchenko, Sergey A. Van Pelt, Ward J. J. Pettersson, Rickard Pohjola, Veijo A. Reijmer, Carleen H. |
author_facet |
Marchenko, Sergey A. Van Pelt, Ward J. J. Pettersson, Rickard Pohjola, Veijo A. Reijmer, Carleen H. |
author_sort |
Marchenko, Sergey A. |
title |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_short |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_full |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_fullStr |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_full_unstemmed |
Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
title_sort |
water content of firn at lomonosovfonna, svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements |
publisher |
Uppsala universitet, Luft-, vatten- och landskapslära |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-334153 https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(17.663,17.663,78.774,78.774) ENVELOPE(35.717,35.717,-71.250,-71.250) |
geographic |
Svalbard Lomonosovfonna Van Pelt |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard Lomonosovfonna Van Pelt |
genre |
glacier Journal of Glaciology Svalbard |
genre_facet |
glacier Journal of Glaciology Svalbard |
op_relation |
Journal of Glaciology, 0022-1430, 2021, 67:265, s. 921-932 orcid:0000-0003-4785-4532 orcid:0000-0003-4839-7900 orcid:0000-0002-6961-0128 orcid:0000-0001-6851-1673 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-334153 doi:10.1017/jog.2021.43 ISI:000695957300015 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.43 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
67 |
container_issue |
265 |
container_start_page |
921 |
op_container_end_page |
932 |
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1790600514539356160 |