Open AccessGreenland Ice Sheet surface mass balance 1870 to 2010 based on Twentieth Century Reanalysis, and links with global climate forcing
Author(s) -
Hanna Edward,
Huybrechts Philippe,
Cappelen John,
Steffen Konrad,
Bales Roger C.,
Burgess Evan,
McConnell Joseph R.,
Peder Steffensen Joergen,
Van den Broeke Michiel,
Wake Leanne,
Bigg Grant,
Griffiths Mike,
Savas Deniz
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2011jd016387
Subject(s) - greenland ice sheet , glacier mass balance , climatology , ice sheet , forcing (mathematics) , ice core , environmental science , series (stratigraphy) , north atlantic oscillation , snow , climate model , future sea level , climate change , geology , ice stream , atmospheric sciences , glacier , sea ice , cryosphere , oceanography , geomorphology , paleontology
We present a reconstruction of the Greenland Ice Sheet surface mass balance (SMB) from 1870 to 2010, based on merged Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CR) and European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) meteorological reanalyses, and we compare our new SMB series with global and regional climate and atmospheric circulation indices during this period. We demonstrate good agreement between SMB annual series constructed from 20CR and ECMWF reanalyses for the common period of overlap and show statistically significant agreement of long‐term modeled snowfall with ice‐core‐based accumulation data. We analyze variations in SMB for the last 140 years and highlight the periods with significantly increased runoff and decreased SMB since 1870, which have both been enhanced in the period since 1990, as well as interannual variations in SMB linked to Greenland climate fluctuations. We show very good agreement of our SMB series variations with existing, independently derived SMB series (RACMO2) variations for the past few decades of overlap but also a significant disparity of up to ∼200 km 3 yr −1 in absolute SMB values due to poorly constrained modeled accumulation reflecting a lack of adequate validation data in southeast Greenland. There is no significant correlation between our SMB time series and a widely referenced time series of North Atlantic icebergs emanating from Greenland for the past century, which may reflect the complex nature of the relationship between SMB and ice dynamical changes. Finally, we discuss how our analysis sheds light on the sensitivity and response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to ongoing and future global climate change, and its contribution to global sea level rise.