Abstract
Abstract. Pressing scientific questions concerning the Greenland ice sheet's climatic sensitivity, hydrology, and contributions to current and future sea level rise require hydrological datasets to resolve. While direct observations of ice sheet meltwater losses can be obtained in terrestrial rivers draining the ice sheet and from lake levels, few such datasets exist. We present a new hydrologic dataset from previously unmonitored sites in the vicinity of Kangerlussuaq, Southwest Greenland. This dataset contains measurements of river stage and discharge for three sites along the Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua (Watson) River's northern tributary, with 30 min temporal resolution between June 2008 and July 2011. Additional data of water temperature, air pressure, and lake stage are also provided. Flow velocity and depth measurements were collected at sites with incised bedrock or structurally reinforced channels to maximize data quality. However, like most proglacial rivers, high turbulence and bedload transport introduce considerable uncertainty to the derived discharge estimates. Eleven propagating error sources were quantified, and reveal that largest uncertainties are associated with flow depth observations. Mean discharge uncertainties (approximately the 68% confidence interval) are two to four times larger (±19% to ±43%) than previously published estimates for Greenland rivers. Despite these uncertainties, this dataset offers a rare collection of direct measurements of ice sheet runoff to the global ocean and is freely available for scientific use at http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.762818.
Highlights
Mean annual air temperatures over the Greenland ice sheet have warmed 1.8 ◦C between 1840 and 2007 (Box et al, 2009)
Rennermalm et al.: Proglacial river stage, discharge, and temperature datasets future mass losses and their associated global and regional impacts require a better understanding of Greenland ice sheet hydrologic processes and runoff
Half-hourly hydrologic datasets of stage, temperature, and derived discharge are presented for previously unmonitored sites in proglacial streams and lakes draining the Greenland ice sheet near Kangerlussuaq
Summary
Mean annual air temperatures over the Greenland ice sheet have warmed 1.8 ◦C between 1840 and 2007 (Box et al, 2009). This trend has continued since 2007, with large surface air temperature anomalies along Greenland’s coast in 2010 (Box et al, 2010), accompanied by a near-tripling of overall ice sheet mass balance losses since the 1960s (Rignot et al, 2008). Rennermalm et al.: Proglacial river stage, discharge, and temperature datasets future mass losses and their associated global and regional impacts require a better understanding of Greenland ice sheet hydrologic processes and runoff
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