GC13A-0613:
The Impact of Large-Scale Moisture Variability from Lower Latitudes on Cloud Formation and the Surface Energy Budget at Summit, Greenland
Monday, 15 December 2014
Amy Solomon1, Matthew Shupe1, Ola P.G. Persson1, David D Turner2 and Von Patrick Walden3, (1)University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)NOAA Norman, Norman, OK, United States, (3)Washington State University, Pullman, WA, United States
Abstract:
Uncertainty in climate feedbacks currently limits the ability to make reliable predictions of climate change in the Arctic. For example, over the past few decades Arctic sea-ice extent has decreased more rapidly than predicted by state-of-the-art climate model simulations. In addition, it is unclear whether extreme events, such as the record melt event over the Greenland Ice Sheet in July 2012, will occur more frequently as a response to an increase in greenhouse gases. In this study we investigate how advection of moisture from lower-latitudes impacts Arctic climate, focusing on cloud formation and the surface energy budget at Summit, Greenland. Sensitivity studies from regional climate model simulations will be presented and discussed that explore how moisture advection into the Arctic during extreme events such as the July 2012 record melt and the 2010 extended period of atmospheric blocking impact cloud formation and the surface energy budget at Summit. The impact on the cryospheric mass budget of the Greenland Ice Sheet via precipitation and modulation of the surface energy budget will be discussed. Diagnostic studies will be presented that identify how air masses advected to Summit are modified through turbulent mixing, surface fluxes, and cloud radiative cooling, as well as, how this modification of air masses impacts cloud formation at Summit.
