Journal of Glaciology (Oct 2016)
Greenland surface mass-balance observations from the ice-sheet ablation area and local glaciers
- HORST MACHGUTH,
- HENRIK H. THOMSEN,
- ANKER WEIDICK,
- ANDREAS P. AHLSTRØM,
- JAKOB ABERMANN,
- MORTEN L. ANDERSEN,
- SIGNE B. ANDERSEN,
- ANDERS A. BJØRK,
- JASON E. BOX,
- ROGER J. BRAITHWAITE,
- CARL E. BØGGILD,
- MICHELE CITTERIO,
- POUL CLEMENT,
- WILLIAM COLGAN,
- ROBERT S. FAUSTO,
- KARIN GLEIE,
- STEFANIE GUBLER,
- BENT HASHOLT,
- BERNHARD HYNEK,
- NIELS T. KNUDSEN,
- SIGNE H. LARSEN,
- SEBASTIAN H. MERNILD,
- JOHANNES OERLEMANS,
- HANS OERTER,
- OLE B. OLESEN,
- C. J. P. PAUL SMEETS,
- KONRAD STEFFEN,
- MANFRED STOBER,
- SHIN SUGIYAMA,
- DIRK VAN AS,
- MICHIEL R. VAN DEN BROEKE,
- RODERIK S. W. VAN DE WAL
Affiliations
- HORST MACHGUTH
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark Centre for Arctic Technology (ARTEK), Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- HENRIK H. THOMSEN
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark
- ANKER WEIDICK
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark
- ANDREAS P. AHLSTRØM
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark
- JAKOB ABERMANN
- Asiaq Greenland Survey, Nuuk, Greenland
- MORTEN L. ANDERSEN
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark
- SIGNE B. ANDERSEN
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark
- ANDERS A. BJØRK
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- JASON E. BOX
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark
- ROGER J. BRAITHWAITE
- The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- CARL E. BØGGILD
- Centre for Arctic Technology (ARTEK), Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
- MICHELE CITTERIO
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark
- POUL CLEMENT
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark
- WILLIAM COLGAN
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University, Toronto, Canada
- ROBERT S. FAUSTO
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark
- KARIN GLEIE
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark
- STEFANIE GUBLER
- Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Zurich, Switzerland
- BENT HASHOLT
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- BERNHARD HYNEK
- Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG), Vienna, Austria
- NIELS T. KNUDSEN
- Institute for Geoscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- SIGNE H. LARSEN
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark
- SEBASTIAN H. MERNILD
- Faculty of Engineering and Science, Sogn og Fjordane University College, Sogndal, Norway Direction for Antarctic and Subantarctic Programs, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile
- JOHANNES OERLEMANS
- Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht, The Netherlands
- HANS OERTER
- Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
- OLE B. OLESEN
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark
- C. J. P. PAUL SMEETS
- Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht, The Netherlands
- KONRAD STEFFEN
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- MANFRED STOBER
- Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, Stuttgart, Germany
- SHIN SUGIYAMA
- Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
- DIRK VAN AS
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark
- MICHIEL R. VAN DEN BROEKE
- Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht, The Netherlands
- RODERIK S. W. VAN DE WAL
- Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht, The Netherlands
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.75
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 62
pp. 861 – 887
Abstract
Glacier surface mass-balance measurements on Greenland started more than a century ago, but no compilation exists of the observations from the ablation area of the ice sheet and local glaciers. Such data could be used in the evaluation of modelled surface mass balance, or to document changes in glacier melt independently from model output. Here, we present a comprehensive database of Greenland glacier surface mass-balance observations from the ablation area of the ice sheet and local glaciers. The database spans the 123 a from 1892 to 2015, contains a total of ~3000 measurements from 46 sites, and is openly accessible through the PROMICE web portal (http://www.promice.dk). For each measurement we provide X, Y and Z coordinates, starting and ending dates as well as quality flags. We give sources for each entry and for all metadata. Two thirds of the data were collected from grey literature and unpublished archive documents. Roughly 60% of the measurements were performed by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS, previously GGU). The data cover all regions of Greenland except for the southernmost part of the east coast, but also emphasize the importance of long-term time series of which there are only two exceeding 20 a. We use the data to analyse uncertainties in point measurements of surface mass balance, as well as to estimate surface mass-balance profiles for most regions of Greenland.
Keywords