C51A:
Advances in Observing and Modeling Ice Sheet and Ice Shelf Surface Mass Balance: Past, Present, and Future I
C51A:
Advances in Observing and Modeling Ice Sheet and Ice Shelf Surface Mass Balance: Past, Present, and Future I
Advances in Observing and Modeling Ice Sheet and Ice Shelf Surface Mass Balance: Past, Present, and Future I
Submit an Abstract to this Session
Session ID#: 60377
Session Description:
A reliable estimate of surface mass balance (SMB), including its components, change, and drivers, is pivotal for understanding past, present, and future ice sheet mass balance and sea level change. Large temporal SMB variability, predominantly driven by snowfall anomalies, challenges the detection of longer-term trends in Antarctic mass balance. As the atmosphere warms, episodes of pervasive melt are becoming frequent over Greenland Ice Sheet and Antarctic ice shelves. Melt water can be partly stored in firn, crevasses, surface or buried ponds and rivers, impacting hydrofracture, cryohydrologic warming, firn pore-space depletion, and snow/ice darkening. Our assessment of ice sheet mass balance depends on the accurate representation of these processes in ice sheet and climate models and evaluation using observations. We invite papers that study processes such as snowfall, snow redistribution, firn densification, meltwater retention, surface water storage and drainage, and albedo, using remote sensing, ground based measurements, and modeling approaches.
Primary Convener: Indrani Das, Lamont -Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, NY, United States
Conveners: Jan Lenaerts, University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Boulder, CO, United States, Brice Noel, Utrecht University, Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands and Brooke Medley, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
Primary Liaison: Jan Lenaerts, University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Boulder, CO, United States
Chairs: Indrani Das, Lamont -Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, NY, United States and Jan Lenaerts, University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Boulder, CO, United States
OSPA Liaison: Brice Noel, Utrecht University, Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
Cross-Listed:
- A - Atmospheric Sciences
- H - Hydrology
Index Terms:
0726 Ice sheets [CRYOSPHERE]
0728 Ice shelves [CRYOSPHERE]
0762 Mass balance [CRYOSPHERE]
0776 Glaciology [CRYOSPHERE]
Abstracts Submitted to this Session:
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