Wind-Associated Melt Trends and Contrasts Between the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets

Antarctic ice sheets; Downslope winds; Greenland Ice Sheet; Hydrofractures; Ice sheet; Ice shelves; Katabatic winds; Regional climate model simulation; Run-off; Sheet surface; Geophysics; Earth and Planetary Sciences (all); General Earth and Planetary Sciences

Abstract :

[en] Föhn and katabatic winds (downslope winds) can increase ice sheet surface melt, run-off, and ice-shelf vulnerability to hydrofracture and are poorly constrained on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets (GIS and AIS). We use regional climate model simulations of the GIS and AIS to quantify and intercompare trends in downslope winds and associated melt since 1960. Results reveal surface melt associated with downslope wind is significant on both the GIS and AIS representing 27.5 ± 4.5% and 19.7 ± 3.8% of total surface melt respectively. Wind-associated melt has decreased 31.8 ± 5.3% on the AIS while total melt decreased 15.4 ± 2.4% due to decreased föhn-induced melt on the Antarctic Peninsula and increasing stratospheric ozone. Wind-associated melt has increased 10.3 ± 2.5% on the GIS, combining with a more positive North Atlantic Oscillation and warmer surface to increase total melt 34 ± 5.8%.

Disciplines :

Earth sciences & physical geography

Author, co-author :

Laffin, Matthew K. ; Department of Earth System Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, United States

Zender, Charles S. ; Department of Earth System Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, United States ; Department of Computer Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, United States

van Wessem, Melchior; Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands

Noël, Brice ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de géographie > Climatologie et Topoclimatologie ; Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands

Wang, Wenshan ; Department of Earth System Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, United States

Language :

English

Title :

Wind-Associated Melt Trends and Contrasts Between the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets

Publication date :

28 August 2023

Journal title :

Geophysical Research Letters

ISSN :

0094-8276

eISSN :

1944-8007

Publisher :

John Wiley and Sons Inc

Volume :

Issue :

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2023GL102828

Funding text :

MKL was supported by the National Science Foundation (NRT‐1633631) and NASA AIST (80NSSC17K0540). CSZ and WW gratefully acknowledges support from the DOE BER ESM and SciDAC programs (DE‐SC0019278, LLNL‐B641620, LANL‐520117). JMVW acknowledges support by PROTECT and was partly funded by the NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) VENI Grant VI.Veni.192.083. BN was funded by the NWO VENI Grant VI.Veni.192.019. We also thank the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht (IMAU) for providing RACMO2 output.MKL was supported by the National Science Foundation (NRT-1633631) and NASA AIST (80NSSC17K0540). CSZ and WW gratefully acknowledges support from the DOE BER ESM and SciDAC programs (DE-SC0019278, LLNL-B641620, LANL-520117). JMVW acknowledges support by PROTECT and was partly funded by the NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) VENI Grant VI.Veni.192.083. BN was funded by the NWO VENI Grant VI.Veni.192.019. We also thank the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht (IMAU) for providing RACMO2 output.

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since 11 September 2023

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