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Author Topic: Greenland 2019 Melt Season  (Read 217204 times)

gerontocrat

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Re: Greenland 2019 Melt Season
« Reply #550 on: November 13, 2019, 07:18:30 PM »
GRACE-FO has updated - now  with Greenland Mass loss to mid-September

http://gravis.gfz-potsdam.de/greenland 

Thank-you Potsdam, Germany.

In the 09/2018 to 08/2019 Greenland Year, total SMB gain was a very low 170 GT.
Greenland Mass Loss from Mid-Oct 2018 to Mid-Sept 2019 was just over 500GT.

So mass loss from calving and glacial melt from contact at the ocean edge with salt water  was approaching 700GT, which was high but not extremely so.

But the circa 500GT net mass loss is extremely high compared with the 2002-2019 average of circa 225 GT, due in part to low SMB gain but also due to greater calving / melt from marine-terminating glaciers.
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

bluesky

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Re: Greenland 2019 Melt Season
« Reply #551 on: November 14, 2019, 01:09:33 AM »
It seems that 2019 is getting very close to 2012 record mass loss, 486 GT according to the below GRACE chart

https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/ice-sheets/

gerontocrat

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Re: Greenland 2019 Melt Season
« Reply #552 on: November 14, 2019, 01:18:25 AM »
It seems that 2019 is getting very close to 2012 record mass loss, 486 GT according to the below GRACE chart

https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/ice-sheets/
Probably too late, mate. Winter is upon us. SMB gain underway, melting & calving reducing even if not stopping.

GRACE-FO data has been collected again since October 2018. NASA has not put anything new on that link. Instead they have made it all too complicated unless you are a scientist already plugged into the system.

Germany came to the rescue - hence the link I posted above and post again -
http://gravis.gfz-potsdam.de/greenland

There is the Antarctic and some other data accessible from there as well.
« Last Edit: November 14, 2019, 01:29:23 AM by gerontocrat »
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
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bluesky

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Re: Greenland 2019 Melt Season
« Reply #553 on: November 14, 2019, 09:27:49 PM »
Dear Gerontocrat, that was just a gentle comparative, I know a few things about SMB for quite some time, did a long MSc report on climate change in partially glaciated catchments  in a specific mountain range in 2010 where SMB was an important factor of course.
Anyway, I always read all your posts with great attention (when I have time to read them, unfortunately not enough), been here for a very long time, but a bit too discrete and very sparsely contributing and wishing I could do more (again lack of time). A massive thank you for all your very informative and interesting posts and to Neven and all the very informative contributors around here.

gerontocrat

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Re: Greenland 2019 Melt Season
« Reply #554 on: November 14, 2019, 10:26:46 PM »
Dear Gerontocrat, that was just a gentle comparative, I know a few things about SMB for quite some time, did a long MSc report on climate change in partially glaciated catchments  in a specific mountain range in 2010 where SMB was an important factor of course.
Anyway, I always read all your posts with great attention (when I have time to read them, unfortunately not enough), been here for a very long time, but a bit too discrete and very sparsely contributing and wishing I could do more (again lack of time). A massive thank you for all your very informative and interesting posts and to Neven and all the very informative contributors around here.
Then you know a lot more about SMB than I do. I hate cold, I hate snow, and spent most of my working life avoiding it (overseas). Bags of memories instead of bags of cash.
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

FrostKing70

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Re: Greenland 2019 Melt Season
« Reply #555 on: November 14, 2019, 11:06:02 PM »
Thank you again for the nice links!  I hadn't noticed the lower graph before.  Concerning to see the steady erosion of the ice mass, with the several years with a steep, dramatic drop in the summer (2010, 2012, 2016 and 2019).  Three of the four links to El Nino...


ArcticMelt2

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Re: Greenland 2019 Melt Season
« Reply #556 on: November 15, 2019, 01:16:05 PM »
Weather models also believe that 2019 was as bad for Greenland as 2012.

http://nsidc.org/greenland-today/2019/11/large-ice-loss-on-the-greenland-ice-sheet-in-2019/
Quote
Large ice loss on the Greenland ice sheet in 2019
November 8, 2019

Low winter snow cover, springtime heat waves, and a sunny summer led to a large runoff of meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet in 2019, primarily from its western side.


Despite the less-than-record number of melt days, models show that 2019 had very large net ice loss for the year, at slightly more than 300 Gt, nearly equal to the intense melt year of 2012. Results of the University of Liege’s MAR 3.10 model (here using weather reanalysis data from NCEP-NCARv1; the ERA5 reanalysis data provides similar results) confirms that the 2018 to 2019 surface mass balance (SMB) departure from average is very close to the previous 2011 to 2012 record of surface mass loss (Figure 3). SMB is the net result of total snowfall and rainfall minus runoff and evaporation. This does not include the imbalance in discharge, or the extent to which glacier outflow exceeded remaining snowfall input, which is significant although smaller than earlier in the decade. The main area of mass loss was the western side of the ice sheet.


gerontocrat

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Re: Greenland 2019 Melt Season
« Reply #557 on: November 15, 2019, 02:56:47 PM »
Weather models also believe that 2019 was as bad for Greenland as 2012.

Thanks ArcticMelt2. I had completely forgotten that the NSIDC annual analysis was due.

I attach their snowfall maps. Where would we be without our pretty pictures ?
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)