Earth System Science Data (Aug 2012)

Twenty-one years of mass balance observations along the K-transect, West Greenland

  • R. S. W. van de Wal,
  • W. Boot,
  • C. J. P. P. Smeets,
  • H. Snellen,
  • M. R. van den Broeke,
  • J. Oerlemans

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-4-31-2012
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 1
pp. 31 – 35

Abstract

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A 21-yr record is presented of surface mass balance measurements along the K-transect. The series covers the period 1990&ndash;2011. Data are available at eight sites along a transect over an altitude range of 380&ndash;1850 m at approximately 67&deg; N in West Greenland. The surface mass balance gradient is on average 3.8 &times; 10<sup>&minus;3</sup> m w.e. m<sup>&minus;1</sup>, and the mean equilibrium line altitude is 1553 m a.s.l. Only the lower three sites within 10 km of the margin up to an elevation of 700 m experience a significant increasing trend in the ablation over the entire period. Data are available at: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.779181"target="_blank">doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.779181</a>.