HR: 0800h
AN: C11A-0084    [Abstracts]
TI: A Long-Term Network of Automatic Weather and Ice Monitoring Stations in the Ablation Zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet
AU: * van As, D
EM: dva@geus.dk
AF: Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Oster Voldgade 10, Copenhagen, 1350, Denmark
AU: Ahlstrom, A P
EM: apa@geus.dk
AF: Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Oster Voldgade 10, Copenhagen, 1350, Denmark
AB: This August the first five of in total 14 automatic weather and ice monitoring stations were placed in the ablation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet. In the coming years the network will be completed, covering seven regions of the ablation zone around the ice sheet. This effort is part of the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet Margin (Promice). The Promice stations measure all basic meteorological parameters, supplemented by GPS readings, potentially enabling us to correlate ice dynamics to surface melt water production. However, the most prominent feature of the stations is that surface-height variability is monitored in detail using two sonic rangers as well as pressure tubing drilled 30+ m into the ice. Observations are forwarded through satellite communication four times a day. We discuss the potential of the monitoring network and show early results for one of the Promice stations placed on the ice in south-east Greenland. Surface-height variability since installation is interpreted in terms of atmospheric conditions. Furthermore, we discuss expected regional differences using climate data as recorded by pre-Promice stations at three locations on the ice-sheet margin over the period 2001-2007.
DE: 0394 Instruments and techniques
DE: 0726 Ice sheets
DE: 0740 Snowmelt
DE: 0762 Mass balance (1218, 1223)
DE: 0764 Energy balance
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting