Increased Runoff from Melt from the Greenland Ice Sheet: A Response to Global Warming

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorHanna, Edward
dc.contributor.authorHuybrechts, Philippe
dc.contributor.authorSteffen, Konrad
dc.contributor.authorCappelen, John
dc.contributor.authorHuff, Russell
dc.contributor.authorShuman, Christopher
dc.contributor.authorIrvine-Fynn, Tristram
dc.contributor.authorWise, Stephen
dc.contributor.authorGriffiths, Michael
dc.date.accessioned2022-02-23T13:59:42Z
dc.date.available2022-02-23T13:59:42Z
dc.description.abstractThe authors attribute significantly increased Greenland summer warmth and Greenland Ice Sheet melt and runoff since 1990 to global warming. Southern Greenland coastal and Northern Hemisphere summer temperatures were uncorrelated between the 1960s and early 1990s but were significantly positively correlated thereafter. This relationship appears to have been modulated by the North Atlantic Oscillation, whose summer index was significantly (negatively) correlated with southern Greenland summer temperatures until the early 1990s but not thereafter. Significant warming in southern Greenland since ∼1990, as also evidenced from Swiss Camp on the west flank of the ice sheet, therefore reflects general Northern Hemisphere and global warming. Summer 2003 was the warmest since at least 1958 in coastal southern Greenland. The second warmest coastal summer 2005 had the most extensive anomalously warm conditions over the ablation zone of the ice sheet, which caused a record melt extent. The year 2006 was the third warmest in coastal southern Greenland and had the third-highest modeled runoff in the last 49 yr from the ice sheet; five of the nine highest runoff years occurred since 2001 inclusive. Significantly rising runoff since 1958 was largely compensated by increased precipitation and snow accumulation. Also, as observed since 1987 in a single composite record at Summit, summer temperatures near the top of the ice sheet have declined slightly but not significantly, suggesting the overall ice sheet is experiencing a dichotomous response to the recent general warming: possible reasons include the ice sheet’s high thermal inertia, higher atmospheric cooling, or changes in regional wind, cloud, and/or radiation patterns.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipWe thank the British Atmospheric Data Centre, A. Stephens, and ECMWF for providing (re)analysis data, the Climatic Research Unit and Hadley Centre for Northern Hemisphere temperature data, Dr. J. Hurrell’s excellent web site for NAO index data, and the NCEP, Environmental Monitoring Center/University of Columbia for SST data. The Cathy, Kenton, and GISP2 AWS data used for part of the Summit temperature series were enabled by the National Science Foundation and are courtesy of the University of Wisconsin (available online at http://uwamrc.ssec.wisc.edu/greenland.html). G. Aðalgeirsdóttir, G. Bigg, C. Clark, F. Ng, T. Scambos, and M. Serreze kindly provided useful comments on the manuscript, and P. Coles and G. Allsopp drafted figures. P.H. acknowledges support through the Belgian Federal Public Planning Service Science Policy Research Programme on Science for a Sustainable Development under Contract SD/CS/01A. The research carried out at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado and also at NASA/GSFC, was supported by NASA’s Cryospheric Sciences Program.en_US
dc.description.urihttps://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/21/2/2007jcli1964.1.xmlen_US
dc.format.extent11 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articlesen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2za4a-10wa
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1175/2007JCLI1964.1
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/24312
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Collection
dc.rights© Copyright 2008 American Meteorological Society (AMS). For permission to reuse any portion of this work, please contact permissions@ametsoc.org. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S. Code §?107) or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 USC § 108) does not require the AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a website or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, requires written permission or a license from the AMS. All AMS journals and monograph publications are registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (https://www.copyright.com). Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy statement, available on the AMS website (https://www.ametsoc.org/PUBSCopyrightPolicy).en_US
dc.titleIncreased Runoff from Melt from the Greenland Ice Sheet: A Response to Global Warmingen_US
dc.typeTexten_US
dcterms.creatorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9606-767Xen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
[15200442 - Journal of Climate] Increased Runoff from Melt from the Greenland Ice Sheet_ A Response to Global Warming.pdf
Size:
1.1 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
2.56 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

UMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET)
UMBC Faculty Collection