Amplified melt and flow of the Greenland ice sheet driven by late-summer cyclonic rainfall

Samuel H. Doyle; Alun Hubbard; Roderik S.W. Van De Wal; Jason E. Box; Dirk Van As; Kilian Scharrer; Toby W. Meierbachtol; Paul C.J.P. Smeets; Joel T. Harper; Emma Johansson; Ruth H. Mottram; Andreas B. Mikkelsen; Frank Wilhelms; Henry Patton; Poul Christoffersen; Bryn Hubbard

doi:10.1038/ngeo2482

Amplified melt and flow of the Greenland ice sheet driven by late-summer cyclonic rainfall

Samuel H. Doyle, Alun Hubbard, Roderik S.W. Van De Wal, Jason E. Box, Dirk Van As, Kilian Scharrer, Toby W. Meierbachtol, Paul C.J.P. Smeets, Joel T. Harper, Emma Johansson, Ruth H. Mottram, Andreas B. Mikkelsen, Frank Wilhelms, Henry Patton, Poul Christoffersen, Bryn Hubbard

Geosciences

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121 Scopus citations

Abstract

Intense rainfall events significantly affect Alpine and Alaskan glaciers through enhanced melting, ice-flow acceleration and subglacial sediment erosion, yet their impact on the Greenland ice sheet has not been assessed. Here we present measurements of ice velocity, subglacial water pressure and meteorological variables from the western margin of the Greenland ice sheet during a week of warm, wet cyclonic weather in late August and early September 2011. We find that extreme surface runoff from melt and rainfall led to a widespread acceleration in ice flow that extended 140 km into the ice-sheet interior. We suggest that the late-season timing was critical in promoting rapid runoff across an extensive bare ice surface that overwhelmed a subglacial hydrological system in transition to a less-efficient winter mode. Reanalysis data reveal that similar cyclonic weather conditions prevailed across southern and western Greenland during this time, and we observe a corresponding ice-flow response at all land- and marine-terminating glaciers in these regions for which data are available. Given that the advection of warm, moist air masses and rainfall over Greenland is expected to become more frequent in the coming decades, our findings portend a previously unforeseen vulnerability of the Greenland ice sheet to climate change.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	647-653
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature Geoscience
Volume	8
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2482
State	Published - Aug 1 2015

Funding

This research was financially supported by: SKB/Posiva through the Greenland Analogue Project (GAP); UK National Environment Research Council (NERC) grants NE/G005796/1, NE/G010595/1, NE/H024204/1; a Royal Geographical Society Gilchrist Fieldwork Award; and The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NOW/PPP)—the last of which generously supported the K-transect measurements. TanDEM-X data were provided by the German Aerospace centre (DLR) within the framework of the XTI_GLAC0433 project. We thank UNAVCO, the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the Danish Meteorological Institute, MIT, J. Cappellen, R. Pettersson, K. Lindback and A. Fitzpatrick for help with data collection and processing. The crew of SV Gambo are thanked for help in the deployment of the Store Glacier GPS. A.H. and H.P. were supported at the Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate by funding from the Research Council of Norway (Grant No. 223259). S.H.D. was supported by an Aberystwyth University doctoral scholarship and NERC grant NE/K006126.

Funders	Funder number
NE/G010595/1, NE/G005796/1, NE/H024204/1
226375
Royal Geographical Society with IBG
NE/K006126, 223259

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10.1038/ngeo2482

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Doyle, S. H., Hubbard, A., Van De Wal, R. S. W., Box, J. E., Van As, D., Scharrer, K., Meierbachtol, T. W., Smeets, P. C. J. P., Harper, J. T., Johansson, E., Mottram, R. H., Mikkelsen, A. B., Wilhelms, F., Patton, H., Christoffersen, P., & Hubbard, B. (2015). Amplified melt and flow of the Greenland ice sheet driven by late-summer cyclonic rainfall. Nature Geoscience, 8(8), 647-653. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2482

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title = "Amplified melt and flow of the Greenland ice sheet driven by late-summer cyclonic rainfall",

abstract = "Intense rainfall events significantly affect Alpine and Alaskan glaciers through enhanced melting, ice-flow acceleration and subglacial sediment erosion, yet their impact on the Greenland ice sheet has not been assessed. Here we present measurements of ice velocity, subglacial water pressure and meteorological variables from the western margin of the Greenland ice sheet during a week of warm, wet cyclonic weather in late August and early September 2011. We find that extreme surface runoff from melt and rainfall led to a widespread acceleration in ice flow that extended 140 km into the ice-sheet interior. We suggest that the late-season timing was critical in promoting rapid runoff across an extensive bare ice surface that overwhelmed a subglacial hydrological system in transition to a less-efficient winter mode. Reanalysis data reveal that similar cyclonic weather conditions prevailed across southern and western Greenland during this time, and we observe a corresponding ice-flow response at all land- and marine-terminating glaciers in these regions for which data are available. Given that the advection of warm, moist air masses and rainfall over Greenland is expected to become more frequent in the coming decades, our findings portend a previously unforeseen vulnerability of the Greenland ice sheet to climate change.",

author = "Doyle, \{Samuel H.\} and Alun Hubbard and \{Van De Wal\}, \{Roderik S.W.\} and Box, \{Jason E.\} and \{Van As\}, Dirk and Kilian Scharrer and Meierbachtol, \{Toby W.\} and Smeets, \{Paul C.J.P.\} and Harper, \{Joel T.\} and Emma Johansson and Mottram, \{Ruth H.\} and Mikkelsen, \{Andreas B.\} and Frank Wilhelms and Henry Patton and Poul Christoffersen and Bryn Hubbard",

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year = "2015",

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doi = "10.1038/ngeo2482",

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Doyle, SH, Hubbard, A, Van De Wal, RSW, Box, JE, Van As, D, Scharrer, K, Meierbachtol, TW, Smeets, PCJP, Harper, JT, Johansson, E, Mottram, RH, Mikkelsen, AB, Wilhelms, F, Patton, H, Christoffersen, P & Hubbard, B 2015, 'Amplified melt and flow of the Greenland ice sheet driven by late-summer cyclonic rainfall', Nature Geoscience, vol. 8, no. 8, pp. 647-653. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2482

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T1 - Amplified melt and flow of the Greenland ice sheet driven by late-summer cyclonic rainfall

AU - Doyle, Samuel H.

AU - Hubbard, Alun

AU - Van De Wal, Roderik S.W.

AU - Box, Jason E.

AU - Van As, Dirk

AU - Scharrer, Kilian

AU - Meierbachtol, Toby W.

AU - Smeets, Paul C.J.P.

AU - Harper, Joel T.

AU - Johansson, Emma

AU - Mottram, Ruth H.

AU - Mikkelsen, Andreas B.

AU - Wilhelms, Frank

AU - Patton, Henry

AU - Christoffersen, Poul

AU - Hubbard, Bryn

PY - 2015/8/1

Y1 - 2015/8/1

N2 - Intense rainfall events significantly affect Alpine and Alaskan glaciers through enhanced melting, ice-flow acceleration and subglacial sediment erosion, yet their impact on the Greenland ice sheet has not been assessed. Here we present measurements of ice velocity, subglacial water pressure and meteorological variables from the western margin of the Greenland ice sheet during a week of warm, wet cyclonic weather in late August and early September 2011. We find that extreme surface runoff from melt and rainfall led to a widespread acceleration in ice flow that extended 140 km into the ice-sheet interior. We suggest that the late-season timing was critical in promoting rapid runoff across an extensive bare ice surface that overwhelmed a subglacial hydrological system in transition to a less-efficient winter mode. Reanalysis data reveal that similar cyclonic weather conditions prevailed across southern and western Greenland during this time, and we observe a corresponding ice-flow response at all land- and marine-terminating glaciers in these regions for which data are available. Given that the advection of warm, moist air masses and rainfall over Greenland is expected to become more frequent in the coming decades, our findings portend a previously unforeseen vulnerability of the Greenland ice sheet to climate change.

AB - Intense rainfall events significantly affect Alpine and Alaskan glaciers through enhanced melting, ice-flow acceleration and subglacial sediment erosion, yet their impact on the Greenland ice sheet has not been assessed. Here we present measurements of ice velocity, subglacial water pressure and meteorological variables from the western margin of the Greenland ice sheet during a week of warm, wet cyclonic weather in late August and early September 2011. We find that extreme surface runoff from melt and rainfall led to a widespread acceleration in ice flow that extended 140 km into the ice-sheet interior. We suggest that the late-season timing was critical in promoting rapid runoff across an extensive bare ice surface that overwhelmed a subglacial hydrological system in transition to a less-efficient winter mode. Reanalysis data reveal that similar cyclonic weather conditions prevailed across southern and western Greenland during this time, and we observe a corresponding ice-flow response at all land- and marine-terminating glaciers in these regions for which data are available. Given that the advection of warm, moist air masses and rainfall over Greenland is expected to become more frequent in the coming decades, our findings portend a previously unforeseen vulnerability of the Greenland ice sheet to climate change.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84938599130

U2 - 10.1038/ngeo2482

DO - 10.1038/ngeo2482

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84938599130

SN - 1752-0894

VL - 8

SP - 647

EP - 653

JO - Nature Geoscience

JF - Nature Geoscience

IS - 8

ER -

Amplified melt and flow of the Greenland ice sheet driven by late-summer cyclonic rainfall

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