Spatial and temporal differences in surface and subsurface meltwater distribution over Greenland ice sheet using multi-frequency passive microwave observations

Andreas Colliander; Mohammad Mousavi; John S. Kimball; Julie Z. Miller; Mariko Burgin

doi:10.1016/j.rse.2023.113705

Spatial and temporal differences in surface and subsurface meltwater distribution over Greenland ice sheet using multi-frequency passive microwave observations

Andreas Colliander, Mohammad Mousavi, John S. Kimball, Julie Z. Miller, Mariko Burgin

W. A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Increasingly larger portions of the Greenland ice sheet are undergoing seasonal melting-refreeze cycles due to global climate warming. The cycle begins with the arrival of high temperatures and increased solar radiation in the spring and summer seasons generating meltwater on the ice sheet's surface. Meltwater percolates to deeper ice layers, either refreezing within the firn, creating longer-term meltwater pockets (firn aquifers), or generating peripheral runoff. Depending on the location and climate, the refreeze duration, the depth of infiltration, and meltwater persistence are temporally and spatially complex. Our recent study showed that multi-frequency passive microwave measurements in the 1.4 GHz to 36.5 GHz range effectively distinguished seasonal meltwater between the immediate surface and deeper firn layers at an experiment site in the accumulation zone of the southwestern Greenland ice sheet. Here, we further explored the vertically and horizontally polarized multi-frequency melt response at the pan-Greenland scale. We employed 1.4 GHz brightness temperature (TB) measurements from the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite and 6.9, 10.7, 18.9, and 36.5 GHz TB measurements from the JAXA Global Change Observation Mission-Water Shizuku (GCOM-W) satellite. The results show that the frequency-dependent response was consistent across the ice sheet. The multi-frequency melt indications match with lasting seasonal subsurface meltwater with delayed refreezing compared to the surface. These results suggest persistent seasonal subsurface meltwater occurrences that are spatially and temporally significant but concealed from the high-frequency observations. Retrieving the meltwater evolution in snow and firn presents a complex problem; this work represents an initial step toward developing an ice-sheet-wide algorithm for more comprehensive retrieval of the meltwater profile.

Original language	English
Article number	113705
Journal	Remote Sensing of Environment
Volume	295
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2023.113705
State	Published - Sep 1 2023

Funding

This work was performed at thte Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NSSC18K0980 & 80NM0018F0585). The Greenland maps were generated with the assistance of the Arctic Mapping Tools (Greene et al. 2017).

Funders	Funder number
National Aeronautics and Space Administration	80NSSC18K0980, 80NM0018F0585

Keywords

Firn
Ice sheet
Melt
Snow

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.rse.2023.113705

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title = "Spatial and temporal differences in surface and subsurface meltwater distribution over Greenland ice sheet using multi-frequency passive microwave observations",

abstract = "Increasingly larger portions of the Greenland ice sheet are undergoing seasonal melting-refreeze cycles due to global climate warming. The cycle begins with the arrival of high temperatures and increased solar radiation in the spring and summer seasons generating meltwater on the ice sheet's surface. Meltwater percolates to deeper ice layers, either refreezing within the firn, creating longer-term meltwater pockets (firn aquifers), or generating peripheral runoff. Depending on the location and climate, the refreeze duration, the depth of infiltration, and meltwater persistence are temporally and spatially complex. Our recent study showed that multi-frequency passive microwave measurements in the 1.4 GHz to 36.5 GHz range effectively distinguished seasonal meltwater between the immediate surface and deeper firn layers at an experiment site in the accumulation zone of the southwestern Greenland ice sheet. Here, we further explored the vertically and horizontally polarized multi-frequency melt response at the pan-Greenland scale. We employed 1.4 GHz brightness temperature (TB) measurements from the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite and 6.9, 10.7, 18.9, and 36.5 GHz TB measurements from the JAXA Global Change Observation Mission-Water Shizuku (GCOM-W) satellite. The results show that the frequency-dependent response was consistent across the ice sheet. The multi-frequency melt indications match with lasting seasonal subsurface meltwater with delayed refreezing compared to the surface. These results suggest persistent seasonal subsurface meltwater occurrences that are spatially and temporally significant but concealed from the high-frequency observations. Retrieving the meltwater evolution in snow and firn presents a complex problem; this work represents an initial step toward developing an ice-sheet-wide algorithm for more comprehensive retrieval of the meltwater profile.",

keywords = "Firn, Ice sheet, Melt, Snow",

author = "Andreas Colliander and Mohammad Mousavi and Kimball, {John S.} and Miller, {Julie Z.} and Mariko Burgin",

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year = "2023",

month = sep,

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doi = "10.1016/j.rse.2023.113705",

language = "English",

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T1 - Spatial and temporal differences in surface and subsurface meltwater distribution over Greenland ice sheet using multi-frequency passive microwave observations

AU - Colliander, Andreas

AU - Mousavi, Mohammad

AU - Kimball, John S.

AU - Miller, Julie Z.

AU - Burgin, Mariko

PY - 2023/9/1

Y1 - 2023/9/1

N2 - Increasingly larger portions of the Greenland ice sheet are undergoing seasonal melting-refreeze cycles due to global climate warming. The cycle begins with the arrival of high temperatures and increased solar radiation in the spring and summer seasons generating meltwater on the ice sheet's surface. Meltwater percolates to deeper ice layers, either refreezing within the firn, creating longer-term meltwater pockets (firn aquifers), or generating peripheral runoff. Depending on the location and climate, the refreeze duration, the depth of infiltration, and meltwater persistence are temporally and spatially complex. Our recent study showed that multi-frequency passive microwave measurements in the 1.4 GHz to 36.5 GHz range effectively distinguished seasonal meltwater between the immediate surface and deeper firn layers at an experiment site in the accumulation zone of the southwestern Greenland ice sheet. Here, we further explored the vertically and horizontally polarized multi-frequency melt response at the pan-Greenland scale. We employed 1.4 GHz brightness temperature (TB) measurements from the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite and 6.9, 10.7, 18.9, and 36.5 GHz TB measurements from the JAXA Global Change Observation Mission-Water Shizuku (GCOM-W) satellite. The results show that the frequency-dependent response was consistent across the ice sheet. The multi-frequency melt indications match with lasting seasonal subsurface meltwater with delayed refreezing compared to the surface. These results suggest persistent seasonal subsurface meltwater occurrences that are spatially and temporally significant but concealed from the high-frequency observations. Retrieving the meltwater evolution in snow and firn presents a complex problem; this work represents an initial step toward developing an ice-sheet-wide algorithm for more comprehensive retrieval of the meltwater profile.

AB - Increasingly larger portions of the Greenland ice sheet are undergoing seasonal melting-refreeze cycles due to global climate warming. The cycle begins with the arrival of high temperatures and increased solar radiation in the spring and summer seasons generating meltwater on the ice sheet's surface. Meltwater percolates to deeper ice layers, either refreezing within the firn, creating longer-term meltwater pockets (firn aquifers), or generating peripheral runoff. Depending on the location and climate, the refreeze duration, the depth of infiltration, and meltwater persistence are temporally and spatially complex. Our recent study showed that multi-frequency passive microwave measurements in the 1.4 GHz to 36.5 GHz range effectively distinguished seasonal meltwater between the immediate surface and deeper firn layers at an experiment site in the accumulation zone of the southwestern Greenland ice sheet. Here, we further explored the vertically and horizontally polarized multi-frequency melt response at the pan-Greenland scale. We employed 1.4 GHz brightness temperature (TB) measurements from the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite and 6.9, 10.7, 18.9, and 36.5 GHz TB measurements from the JAXA Global Change Observation Mission-Water Shizuku (GCOM-W) satellite. The results show that the frequency-dependent response was consistent across the ice sheet. The multi-frequency melt indications match with lasting seasonal subsurface meltwater with delayed refreezing compared to the surface. These results suggest persistent seasonal subsurface meltwater occurrences that are spatially and temporally significant but concealed from the high-frequency observations. Retrieving the meltwater evolution in snow and firn presents a complex problem; this work represents an initial step toward developing an ice-sheet-wide algorithm for more comprehensive retrieval of the meltwater profile.

KW - Firn

KW - Ice sheet

KW - Melt

KW - Snow

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M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85164223930

SN - 0034-4257

VL - 295

JO - Remote Sensing of Environment

JF - Remote Sensing of Environment

M1 - 113705

ER -

Spatial and temporal differences in surface and subsurface meltwater distribution over Greenland ice sheet using multi-frequency passive microwave observations

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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