Variations in snowpack melt on the Greenland ice sheet based on passive-microwave measurements

Abstract

AbstractA simple microwave-emission model is used to simulate 37 GHz brightness temperatures associated with snowpack-melt conditions for locations across the Greenland ice sheet. The simulated values are utilized as threshold values and compared to daily, gridded SMMR and SSM/I passive-microwave data, in order to reveal regions experiencing melt. The spatial extent of the area classified as melting is examined on a daily, monthly and seasonal (May-August) basis for 1979–91. The typical seasonal cycle of melt coverage shows melt beginning in late April, a rapid increase in the melting area from mid-May to mid-July, a rapid decrease in melt extent from late July through mid-August, and cessation of melt in late September. Seasonal averages of the daily melt extents demonstrate an apparent increase in melt coverage over the 13 year period of approximately 3.8% annually (significant at the 95% confidence interval). This increase is dominated by statistically significant positive trends in melt coverage during July and August in the west and southwest of the ice sheet. We find that a linear correlation between microwave-derived melt extent and a surface measure of ablation rate is significant in June and July but not August, so caution must be exercised in using the microwave-derived melt extents in August. Nevertheless, knowledge of the variability of snowpack melt on the Greenland ice sheet as derived from microwave data should prove useful in detecting climate change in the Arctic and examining the impact of climate change on the ice sheet.