Abstract
Abstract. Increasing atmospheric temperatures over ice cover affect surface processes, including melt, snowfall, and snow density. Here, we present the Surface Mass Balance and Snow on Sea Ice Working Group (SUMup) dataset, a standardized dataset of Arctic and Antarctic observations of surface mass balance components. The July 2018 SUMup dataset consists of three subdatasets, snow/firn density (https://doi.org/10.18739/A2JH3D23R), at least near-annually resolved snow accumulation on land ice (https://doi.org/10.18739/A2DR2P790), and snow depth on sea ice (https://doi.org/10.18739/A2WS8HK6X), to monitor change and improve estimates of surface mass balance. The measurements in this dataset were compiled from field notes, papers, technical reports, and digital files. SUMup is a compiled, community-based dataset that can be and has been used to evaluate modeling efforts and remote sensing retrievals. Active submission of new or past measurements is encouraged. Analysis of the dataset shows that Greenland Ice Sheet density measurements in the top 1 m do not show a strong relationship with annual temperature. At Summit Station, Greenland, accumulation and surface density measurements vary seasonally with lower values during summer months. The SUMup dataset is a dynamic, living dataset that will be updated and expanded for community use as new measurements are taken and new processes are discovered and quantified.
Highlights
Introduction and backgroundEarth’s polar regions are warming at an accelerated rate
As increased air temperatures and associated feedbacks with radiative heating persist, the ice cover is changing, at the ice–atmosphere interface (e.g., Vaughan et al, 2003; Serreze and Francis, 2006; Hall et al, 2013). This change is evident in declining Arctic sea ice extent (e.g., RichterMenge et al, 2016) and the recent acceleration of total mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and Antarctic ice sheets (AIS) (e.g., Velicogna et al, 2014; IMBIE Team, 2018), which contributed ∼ 11 mm to global sea levels between 1992 and 2011 (Shepherd et al, 2012)
We note that large, standardized datasets of radar-derived snow depth on sea ice are available through the IceBridge Sea Ice Freeboard, Snow Depth and Thickness product and similar products derived from the IceBridge Snow Radar (Kurtz, 2012; Kwok et al, 2017)
Summary
Earth’s polar regions are warming at an accelerated rate. As increased air temperatures and associated feedbacks with radiative heating persist, the ice cover is changing, at the ice–atmosphere interface (e.g., Vaughan et al, 2003; Serreze and Francis, 2006; Hall et al, 2013). In 2012, at the Surface Mass Balance and Snow on Sea Ice Working Group (SUMup) meeting, the modeling and remote sensing communities clearly stated to observationalists that the lack of easy-to-access, standardized, in situ measurements hindered scientific achievement They emphasized the need for spatially extensive measurements and annual to sub-annual accumulation measurements to coincide with the spatial and temporal scales covered by modeling and remote sensing methods. Modeling and remote sensing studies require validation measurements (e.g., Fettweis et al, 2017; Arthern et al, 2006; Burgess et al, 2010; Kuipers Munneke et al, 2015; Koenig et al, 2016), ideally with the model’s same spatial (typically tens of kilometers) and temporal (typically sub-annual) resolutions These observations are needed over large polar regions, which are difficult for an individual researcher to compile. The field measurements in SUMup were not designed to and cannot control this naturally occurring variability
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