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Firn cold content evolution at nine sites on the Greenland ice sheet between 1998 and 2017



Details

  • Journal Title:
    Journal of Glaciology
  • Personal Author:
    Vandecrux, B. ORCID ICON IMG ; Fausto, R. S. ORCID ICON IMG ; van As, D. ORCID ICON IMG ; Colgan, W. ORCID ICON IMG ; Langen, P. L. ORCID ICON IMG ; Haubner, K. ORCID ICON IMG ; Ingeman-Nielsen, T. ORCID ICON IMG ; Heilig, A. ORCID ICON IMG ; Stevens, C. M. ORCID ICON IMG ; MacFerrin, M. ORCID ICON IMG ; Niwano, M. ORCID ICON IMG ; Steffen, K. ; Box, J.E. ORCID ICON IMG
  • NOAA Program & Office:
    CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
  • Description:
    Current sea-level rise partly stems from increased surface melting and meltwater runoff from the Greenland ice sheet. Multi-year snow, also known as firn, covers about 80% of the ice sheet and retains part of the surface meltwater. Since the firn cold content integrates its physical and thermal characteristics, it is a valuable tool for determining the meltwater-retention potential of firn. We use gap-filled climatological data from nine automatic weather stations in the ice-sheet accumulation area to drive a surface-energy-budget and firn model, validated against firn density and temperature observations, over the 1998–2017 period. Our results show a stable top 20 m firn cold content (CC20) at most sites. Only at the lower-elevation Dye-2 site did CC20 decrease, by 24% in 2012, before recovering to its original value by 2017. Heat conduction towards the surface is the main process feeding CC20 at all nine sites, while CC20 reduction occurs through low-cold-content fresh-snow addition at the surface during snowfall and latent-heat release when meltwater refreezes. Our simulations suggest that firn densification, while reducing pore space for meltwater retention, increases the firn cold content, enhances near-surface meltwater refreezing and potentially sets favourable conditions for ice-slab formation.
  • Source:
    Journal of Glaciology, 66(258), 591-602
  • DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2020.30
  • Document Type:
    Journal Article
  • Place as Subject:
    Greenland
  • Rights Information:
    CC BY-NC-ND
  • Compliance:
    Submitted
  • Download URL:
    https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/31900/noaa_31900_DS1.pdf
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 1.17 MB]
  • Collection(s):
    NOAA Cooperative Institutes
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha256:b739c910b4984034dc5d959427d7624acbda9e43dfb4dbd899e235a02dcd8a82
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