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Diagnosing the extreme surface melt event over southwestern Greenland in 2007
1City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, 10031, USA
2NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA
3University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 21250, USA
4Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
5Département de Géographie, Université de Liège, Belgium
Abstract. Analysis of passive microwave brightness temperatures from the space-borne Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) documents a record surface snowmelt over high elevations (above 2000 m) of the Greenland ice sheet during summer of 2007. To interpret this record, results from the SSM/I are examined in conjunction with fields from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis and output from a regional climate model. The record surface melt reflects unusually warm conditions, seen in positive summertime anomalies of surface air temperatures, downwelling longwave radiation, 1000–500 hPa atmospheric thickness, and the net surface energy flux, linked in turn to southerly airflow over the ice sheet. Low snow accumulation may have contributed to the record through promoting anomalously low surface albedo.
Discussion Paper (PDF, 6871 KB) Interactive Discussion (Closed, 8 Comments) Final Revised Paper (TC)
Citation: Tedesco, M., Serreze, M., and Fettweis, X.: Diagnosing the extreme surface melt event over southwestern Greenland in 2007, The Cryosphere Discuss., 2, 383-397, 2008. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager
