HR: 0800h
AN: C41B-0476    [Abstracts]
TI: Surface Melt Area and Water Balance Modeling on the Greenland Ice Sheet 1995\–2005
AU: * Mernild, S H
EM: fxsm@uaf.edu
AU: Liston, G E
AF: Sebastian H. Mernild, International Arctic Research Center and Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, fairbanks, AK 99775, United States
AU: HIEMSTRA, C A
AF: GLEN E. LISTON, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Colorado State University, Colorado, USA, Fort Collins, CO 80523, United States
AU: STEFFEN, K
AF: CHRISTOPHER A. HIEMSTRA, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Colorado State University, Colorado, USA, FOrt Collins, CO 80523, United States
AB: SnowModel was used to simulate variations in snow water equivalant, surface snow and ice melt, and other water balance components for the period 1995–2005 in Greenland, including the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). Meteorological observations from 25 stations inside and outside the GrIS were used as model input. Winter and summer mass balance observations, spatial snow depth observations, and snow melt depletion curves derived from time lapse photography from the Mittivakkat and Zackenberg glacierized catchments in East Greenland were used to validate the performance of SnowModel. Model results compared well with observed values. The yearly modeled GrIS interior non-melt area differs from satellite observations by a maximum of ~68,000 km2 (or ~6%) in 2004, and the lowest uncertainties (<8,000 km2, or <1%) occur for the years with the smallest (2005) and most extensive (1996) non-melt area. The modeled inter-annual variability in non-melt area also agrees with observation records (R2 = 0.96), yielding a simulated GrIS non-melt cover of 71% for 1996 and 50% for 2005. Modeled surface melt occurred at elevations reaching 2,950 m a.s.l. for 2005. On average, the simulated non- melt area decreased ~6% from 1995 through 2005; this trend is similar to satellite observed values. An average loss in GrIS storage of -79(±98) mm w.eq. y-1 (or -153(±181) km3 y-1), and a runoff of 211(±31) mm w.eq. y-1 (or 392(±58) km3 y-1) also occurred over the period 1995–2005. Approximately 58% and 42% of the runoff occured from the GrIS western drainage and eastern drainage areas, respectively. The modeled average specific runoff from the GrIS was 6.7 l s-1 km-2 y-1, which, over the simulation period, represents a contribution of ~1 mm y-1 to global sea level rise.
DE: 0720 Glaciers
DE: 0740 Snowmelt
DE: 0762 Mass balance (1218, 1223)
DE: 0776 Glaciology (1621, 1827, 1863)
DE: 0798 Modeling
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting