Elevation change of the Greenland Ice Sheet due to surface mass balance and firn processes, 1960–2014
© The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in The Cryosphere 9 (2015): 2009-2025, doi:10.5194/tc-9-2009-2015. Observed changes in the surface elevation of the Greenland Ice Sheet are caused by i...
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ftwhoas:oai:darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org:1912/7769 2023-05-15T16:28:57+02:00 Elevation change of the Greenland Ice Sheet due to surface mass balance and firn processes, 1960–2014 Munneke, Peter Kuipers Ligtenberg, Stefan R. M. Noel, Brice P. Y. Howat, Ian M. Box, Jason E. Mosley-Thompson, Ellen McConnell, Joseph R. Steffen, Konrad Harper, Joel T. Das, Sarah B. van den Broeke, Michiel R. 2015-11-02 https://hdl.handle.net/1912/7769 en eng Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2009-2015 The Cryosphere 9 (2015): 2009-2025 https://hdl.handle.net/1912/7769 doi:10.5194/tc-9-2009-2015 Attribution 3.0 Unported http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ CC-BY The Cryosphere 9 (2015): 2009-2025 doi:10.5194/tc-9-2009-2015 Article 2015 ftwhoas https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2009-2015 2022-05-28T22:59:30Z © The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in The Cryosphere 9 (2015): 2009-2025, doi:10.5194/tc-9-2009-2015. Observed changes in the surface elevation of the Greenland Ice Sheet are caused by ice dynamics, basal elevation change, basal melt, surface mass balance (SMB) variability, and by compaction of the overlying firn. The last two contributions are quantified here using a firn model that includes compaction, meltwater percolation, and refreezing. The model is forced with surface mass fluxes and temperature from a regional climate model for the period 1960–2014. The model results agree with observations of surface density, density profiles from 62 firn cores, and altimetric observations from regions where ice-dynamical surface height changes are likely small. In areas with strong surface melt, the firn model overestimates density. We find that the firn layer in the high interior is generally thickening slowly (1–5 cm yr−1). In the percolation and ablation areas, firn and SMB processes account for a surface elevation lowering of up to 20–50 cm yr−1. Most of this firn-induced marginal thinning is caused by an increase in melt since the mid-1990s and partly compensated by an increase in the accumulation of fresh snow around most of the ice sheet. The total firn and ice volume change between 1980 and 2014 is estimated at −3295 ± 1030 km3 due to firn and SMB changes, corresponding to an ice-sheet average thinning of 1.96 ± 0.61 m. Most of this volume decrease occurred after 1995. The computed changes in surface elevation can be used to partition altimetrically observed volume change into surface mass balance and ice-dynamically related mass changes. P. Kuipers Munneke received financial support from the Netherlands Polar Programme (NPP) of the Netherlands Institute for Scientific Research (NWO). ECMWF at Reading (UK) is acknowledged for use of the Cray supercomputing system. The J. E. Box contribution is ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Woods Hole Scientific Community: WHOAS (Woods Hole Open Access Server) Greenland Kuipers ENVELOPE(161.400,161.400,-77.900,-77.900) The Cryosphere 9 6 2009 2025 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Woods Hole Scientific Community: WHOAS (Woods Hole Open Access Server) |
op_collection_id |
ftwhoas |
language |
English |
description |
© The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in The Cryosphere 9 (2015): 2009-2025, doi:10.5194/tc-9-2009-2015. Observed changes in the surface elevation of the Greenland Ice Sheet are caused by ice dynamics, basal elevation change, basal melt, surface mass balance (SMB) variability, and by compaction of the overlying firn. The last two contributions are quantified here using a firn model that includes compaction, meltwater percolation, and refreezing. The model is forced with surface mass fluxes and temperature from a regional climate model for the period 1960–2014. The model results agree with observations of surface density, density profiles from 62 firn cores, and altimetric observations from regions where ice-dynamical surface height changes are likely small. In areas with strong surface melt, the firn model overestimates density. We find that the firn layer in the high interior is generally thickening slowly (1–5 cm yr−1). In the percolation and ablation areas, firn and SMB processes account for a surface elevation lowering of up to 20–50 cm yr−1. Most of this firn-induced marginal thinning is caused by an increase in melt since the mid-1990s and partly compensated by an increase in the accumulation of fresh snow around most of the ice sheet. The total firn and ice volume change between 1980 and 2014 is estimated at −3295 ± 1030 km3 due to firn and SMB changes, corresponding to an ice-sheet average thinning of 1.96 ± 0.61 m. Most of this volume decrease occurred after 1995. The computed changes in surface elevation can be used to partition altimetrically observed volume change into surface mass balance and ice-dynamically related mass changes. P. Kuipers Munneke received financial support from the Netherlands Polar Programme (NPP) of the Netherlands Institute for Scientific Research (NWO). ECMWF at Reading (UK) is acknowledged for use of the Cray supercomputing system. The J. E. Box contribution is ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Munneke, Peter Kuipers Ligtenberg, Stefan R. M. Noel, Brice P. Y. Howat, Ian M. Box, Jason E. Mosley-Thompson, Ellen McConnell, Joseph R. Steffen, Konrad Harper, Joel T. Das, Sarah B. van den Broeke, Michiel R. |
spellingShingle |
Munneke, Peter Kuipers Ligtenberg, Stefan R. M. Noel, Brice P. Y. Howat, Ian M. Box, Jason E. Mosley-Thompson, Ellen McConnell, Joseph R. Steffen, Konrad Harper, Joel T. Das, Sarah B. van den Broeke, Michiel R. Elevation change of the Greenland Ice Sheet due to surface mass balance and firn processes, 1960–2014 |
author_facet |
Munneke, Peter Kuipers Ligtenberg, Stefan R. M. Noel, Brice P. Y. Howat, Ian M. Box, Jason E. Mosley-Thompson, Ellen McConnell, Joseph R. Steffen, Konrad Harper, Joel T. Das, Sarah B. van den Broeke, Michiel R. |
author_sort |
Munneke, Peter Kuipers |
title |
Elevation change of the Greenland Ice Sheet due to surface mass balance and firn processes, 1960–2014 |
title_short |
Elevation change of the Greenland Ice Sheet due to surface mass balance and firn processes, 1960–2014 |
title_full |
Elevation change of the Greenland Ice Sheet due to surface mass balance and firn processes, 1960–2014 |
title_fullStr |
Elevation change of the Greenland Ice Sheet due to surface mass balance and firn processes, 1960–2014 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Elevation change of the Greenland Ice Sheet due to surface mass balance and firn processes, 1960–2014 |
title_sort |
elevation change of the greenland ice sheet due to surface mass balance and firn processes, 1960–2014 |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/7769 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(161.400,161.400,-77.900,-77.900) |
geographic |
Greenland Kuipers |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Kuipers |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere 9 (2015): 2009-2025 doi:10.5194/tc-9-2009-2015 |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2009-2015 The Cryosphere 9 (2015): 2009-2025 https://hdl.handle.net/1912/7769 doi:10.5194/tc-9-2009-2015 |
op_rights |
Attribution 3.0 Unported http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2009-2015 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
2009 |
op_container_end_page |
2025 |
_version_ |
1766018645608103936 |