Greenland Ice Sheet late-season melt: investigating multiscale drivers of K-transect events
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Published:2019-08-30
Issue:8
Volume:13
Page:2241-2257
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ISSN:1994-0424
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Container-title:The Cryosphere
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language:en
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Short-container-title:The Cryosphere
Author:
Ballinger Thomas J.ORCID, Mote Thomas L.ORCID, Mattingly KyleORCID, Bliss Angela C., Hanna Edward, van As DirkORCID, Prieto Melissa, Gharehchahi Saeideh, Fettweis XavierORCID, Noël Brice, Smeets Paul C. J. P., Reijmer Carleen H.ORCID, Ribergaard Mads H., Cappelen John
Abstract
Abstract. One consequence of recent Arctic warming is an increased
occurrence and longer seasonality of above-freezing air temperature
episodes. There is significant disagreement in the literature concerning
potential physical connectivity between high-latitude open water duration
proximate to the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and late-season (i.e.,
end-of-summer and autumn) GrIS melt events. Here, a new date of sea ice
advance (DOA) product is used to determine the occurrence of Baffin Bay sea
ice growth along Greenland's west coast for the 2011–2015 period. Over the
2-month period preceding the DOA, northwest Atlantic Ocean and atmospheric
conditions are analyzed and linked to late-season melt events observed at a
series of on-ice automatic weather stations (AWSs) along the K-transect in
southwestern Greenland. Surrounding ice sheet, tundra, and coastal winds
from the Modèle Atmosphérique Régional (MAR) and Regional
Atmospheric Climate Model (RACMO) provide high-resolution spatial context to
AWS observations and are analyzed along with ERA-Interim reanalysis fields
to understand the meso-to-synoptic-scale (thermo)dynamic drivers of the melt
events. Results suggest that late-season melt events, which primarily occur
in the ablation area, are strongly affected by ridging atmospheric
circulation patterns that transport warm, moist air from the subpolar North Atlantic toward west Greenland. Increasing concentrations of North Atlantic
water vapor are shown to be necessary to produce melt conditions as autumn
progresses. While thermal conduction and advection off south Baffin Bay open waters impact coastal air temperatures, local marine air incursions are
obstructed by barrier flows and persistent katabatic winds along the western
GrIS margin.
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
Subject
Earth-Surface Processes,Water Science and Technology
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