HR: 1340h
AN: C33A-0341    [Abstracts]
TI: Greenland melt, surface mass balance and equilibrium line altitude from microwave radiometry
AU: * Mote, T L
EM: tmote@uga.edu
AF: Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-2502 United States
AU: Powell, E J
EM: empowell@uga.edu
AF: Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-2502 United States
AB: Surface mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet is thought to respond directly to climate changes. However, knowledge of whether the overall change is positive or negative remains unclear. Several studies have addressed the role Greenland plays in predictions of future sea level under various climate change scenarios; however, there is uncertainty as to whether the ice sheet as a whole is increasing or decreasing in mass. The question of how the ice sheet responds to variations in climate, and potential climate change, can be at least partially addressed by examining the variations in snowpack melt. This project presents an update to the time series of Greenland melt extent to 2003 using SMMR and SSM/I data. Significant positive trends exist in the annual time series, as well as months of June, July and August. The interannual variability is largely driven by western and northern Greenland. Estimates of surface mass balance (SMB) using SSM/I-derived melt frequency are the most positive in 1992 and the negative SMB in 1995. This project presents a comparison of the SSM/I-derived ablation area, SMB and equilibrium line altitude estimates and based on ECMWF reanalysis data. The main goals of this project were to examine interannual variability in melt extent, ablation area, surface mass balance and the location of the equilibrium line of the Greenland ice sheet and to assess how the different data sources agree or disagree over this period.
DE: 9315 Arctic region
DE: 1600 GLOBAL CHANGE (New category)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting