The surface albedo of the Greenland Ice Sheet between 1982 and 2015 from the CLARA-A2 dataset and its relationship to the ice sheet's surface mass balance

Aku Riihelä,Kati Anttila,Michalea D King

doi:10.5194/tc-13-2597-2019

Abstract

Abstract. The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing mass at a significant rate, driven in part by increasing surface-melt-induced runoff. Because the ice sheet's surface melt is closely connected to changes in the surface albedo, studying multidecadal changes in the ice sheet's albedo offers insight into surface melt and associated changes in its surface mass balance. Here, we first analyse the CM SAF Cloud, Albedo and Surface Radiation dataset from AVHRR data second edition (CLARA-A2) Surface Albedo (SAL), covering 1982–2015, to obtain decadal albedo trends for each summer month. We also examine the rates of albedo change during the early summer, supported with atmospheric reanalysis data from MERRA-2 (Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, version 2), to discern changes in the intensity of early summer melt, and their likely drivers. We find that rates of albedo decrease during summer melt have accelerated during the 2000s relative to the early 1980s and that the surface albedos now often decrease to values typical of bare ice at elevations 50–100 m higher on the ice sheet. The southern margins exhibit the opposite behaviour, though, and we suggest this is due to increasing snowfall over the area. We then subtract ice discharge from the mass balance estimates observed by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission to estimate surface mass balance. The CLARA-A2 albedo changes are regressed with these data to obtain a summer-aggregated proxy surface mass balance time series for the summer periods 1982–2015. This proxy time series is compared with latest regional climate model estimates from the MAR model to perform an observation-based test on the dominance of surface runoff in the magnitude and variability of the summer surface mass balance. We show that the proxy time series agrees with MAR through the analysed period within the associated uncertainties of the data and methods, demonstrating and confirming that surface runoff has dominated the rapid surface mass loss period between the 1990s and 2010s. Finally, we extend the analysis to the drainage basin scale to examine discharge–albedo relationships. We find little evidence of surface-melt-induced ice flow acceleration at annual timescales.

Highlights

The surface albedo of the Greenland Ice Sheet’s ablation area has been shown to play a crucial role in determining melt variability through the snow/ice albedo feedback effect (Box et al, 2012)
Over the full CLARA period, we note that ice sheet albedo has largely remained stable during the early summer months of May and June, though some of the outermost ice sheet margins in the north and east show statistically significant albedo decrease in June
Analysing the CLARA subperiods corresponding the pre-MODIS and MODIS eras (Fig. 3, centre and bottom rows), we find that the majority of the albedo decrease signal originates after 2000, with a strong albedo decrease along the Kangerlussuaq sector on the west margin

Summary

Introduction

The surface albedo of the Greenland Ice Sheet’s ablation area has been shown to play a crucial role in determining melt variability through the snow/ice albedo feedback effect (Box et al, 2012). The study of these albedo changes over the last decade and a half from modern satellite sensors such as MODIS has drawn considerable research attention (Tedesco et al, 2011; Stroeve et al, 2013; Alexander et al, 2014; Tedstone et al, 2017). Riihelä et al.: The surface albedo of the Greenland Ice Sheet shown to currently be among the leading contributors to sea level rise (Box et al, 2017a)

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion