Spatial and Temporal Snow Grain Size Variability across Northwestern Greenland

Abstract:

The albedo of snow-covered surfaces is influenced by several factors including the presence of water; the inclusion of impurities, in particular black carbon and dust; and snow grain size and shape. The SAGE project (Sunlight Absorption across the Greenland ice sheet Experiment) aims at determining the impact of these interdependent factors. The SAGE project consisted of two overland traverses in 2013 and 2014 between Summit Station in the center of the ice sheet and Thule Air Base, on the northwest coast. This route crosses over several facies of the ice sheet representing different accumulation and melt regimes. The SAGE field objectives included detailed shallow pit studies of snow grain size, stratigraphy, and chemistry. In addition to snow pit data from the SAGE traverses that can be used to examine spatial variations, snow grain size and chemistry data from seasonal campaigns at Summit Station are used to examine temporal variations. Here, we present snow grain and chemistry seasonal and spatial results, and compare the relative effects to available ground-based albedo and meteorological data from co-located weather stations and hand-held spectro-radiometer measurements.