Greenland Surface Mass-Balance Observations from the Ice-Sheet Ablation Area and Local Glaciers
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Journal of Glaciology (2016), 62(235) 861–887 doi: 10.1017/jog.2016.75 © The Author(s) 2016. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the same Creative Commons licence is included and the original work is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use. Greenland surface mass-balance observations from the ice-sheet ablation area and local glaciers HORST MACHGUTH,1,2,3 HENRIK H. THOMSEN,1 ANKER WEIDICK,1 ANDREAS P. AHLSTRØM,1 JAKOB ABERMANN,4 MORTEN L. ANDERSEN,1 SIGNE B. ANDERSEN,1 ANDERS A. BJØRK,5 JASON E. BOX,1 ROGER J. BRAITHWAITE,6 CARL E. BØGGILD,2 MICHELE CITTERIO,1 POUL CLEMENT,1 WILLIAM COLGAN,1,7 ROBERT S. FAUSTO,1 KARIN GLEIE,1 STEFANIE GUBLER,8 BENT HASHOLT,9 BERNHARD HYNEK,10 NIELS T. KNUDSEN,11 SIGNE H. LARSEN,1 SEBASTIAN H. MERNILD,12,13 JOHANNES OERLEMANS,14 HANS OERTER,15 OLE B. OLESEN,1 C. J. P. PAUL SMEETS,14 KONRAD STEFFEN,16 MANFRED STOBER,17 SHIN SUGIYAMA,18 DIRK VAN AS,1 MICHIEL R. VAN DEN BROEKE,14 RODERIK S. W. VAN DE WAL14 1Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark 2Centre for Arctic Technology (ARTEK), Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark 3Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 4Asiaq Greenland Survey, Nuuk, Greenland 5Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark 6The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK 7Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University, Toronto, Canada 8Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Zurich, Switzerland 9Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark 10Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG), Vienna, Austria 11Institute for Geoscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark 12Faculty of Engineering and Science, Sogn og Fjordane University College, Sogndal, Norway 13Direction for Antarctic and Subantarctic Programs, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile 14Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht, The Netherlands 15Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany 16Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland 17Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, Stuttgart, Germany 18Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan Correspondence: Horst Machguth <[email protected]> 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: glacier and ice caps, ice sheet, surface mass balance 1. INTRODUCTION field investigations. For more than a century glaciologists Greenland, being home to the second largest contemporary have studied the climate, the mass budget and the dynamics ice mass in the world, has a long history of glaciological of ice sheet and glaciers. Recent studies into the mass Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. 29 Sep 2021 at 22:07:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use. 862 Machguth and others: Greenland surface mass-balance observations from the ice-sheet ablation area and local glaciers balance of the ice sheet make extensive use of remote 1887) and was soon followed by glaciological exploration (e.g sensing products and large-scale modelling. Investigations Nansen, 1890; von Drygalski, 1897). Early expeditions aiming at assessing the balance state of the entire ice sheet addressed basic questions such as measuring the surface ele- or large glacier samples provide clear evidence of substantial vation of the interior of the ice sheet (de Quervain and loss of ice (e.g. Shepherd and others, 2012; Bolch and others, Mercanton, 1925), but soon a diverse set of research questions 2013; Andersen and others, 2015). Surface mass balance cal- evolved as listed in Fristrup (1959)’s overview of glaciological culated from regional climate models indicates that between research on Greenland. One of these research questions is the half to two thirds of the Greenland ice sheet’s current mass measurement of mass balance, whereby a distinction is made loss stem from increased meltwater runoff, with enhanced between the actual mass balance, which is the result from iceberg production accounting for the remainder (van den surface, internal and basal mass balance as well as ice dynam- Broeke and others, 2009; Enderlin and others, 2014). ics, the climatological mass balance (as e.g. measured by Evaluating models and remote sensing data against field Schytt, 1955), which comprises the surface mass balance as observations is essential. The most comprehensive intercom- well as internal ablation and accumulation (Cogley and parison of the aforementioned surface mass-balance models others, 2011), and the surface mass balance, which quantifies to date (Vernon and others, 2013), however, revealed an mass changes resulting solely from surface processes. asymmetry in the availability of accumulation and ablation observations. Ice and firn cores in the accumulation area provide over 3000 observation-years across 100 sites. By 2.1. History of surface mass-balance measurements contrast, only 100 measurements from one single site were The mass budget of the ice sheet is among the research ques- available in the ablation area. Naturally, far more ablation- tions that were addressed very early on; Hinrich Rink’s esti- area observations have been performed throughout the mations of the unknown interior of the ice sheet were history of Greenland glaciological research, but until recently based on mass budget considerations with focus on iceberg they have been largely unavailable. discharge, and led to the first recognition of its vast size (‘at Difficulties in accessing data from the ablation area are minimum 20 000 square miles’ ( ∼ 1:15 × 106 km2 at 1 related to the nature of ablation processes. While in the accu- Danish mile =7.532 km); Rink, 1877) and a reasonable esti- mulation zone one could drill and analyse an ice core unrav- mate of the position of the ice divide (called ‘drainage divide’ elling 100 a of accumulation history within one field season, by Rink, 1877). The same author also measured the velocity the ablation zone requires 100 annual visits to a measuring of Jackobshavn Glacier, but the oldest preserved measure- site to obtain an ablation record of equal length. The ments of ice sheet and glacier surface mass balance are melting surface requires repeated re-installation of measuring somewhat younger and date, to our knowledge, from the equipment, which can create inconsistencies and renders 1891 to 1893 German expedition under the leadership of measurements in the ablation area labour intensive and Erich von Drygalski (1897). Similar to the second oldest costly. Consequently, ablation observations are mostly con- known and preserved ablation dataset (1912, Sermek fined to local projects of shorter duration. Given the crucial Kujadlek; de Quervain and Mercanton, 1925), the measure- role of melt in the ice sheet mass balance, it is paramount ments were basically a by-product of the determination of ice to collect these scattered measurements to enable, for in- velocities. While ablation data remain scarce in the early stance, model evaluation in a broad spatiotemporal context. years of Greenland glacier research, accumulation data are Here we present the first database of surface mass-balance more abundant as they have been measured during all of measurements from the ablation area of the ice sheet and the the early crossings of the ice sheet (e.g. The Danish exped- local glaciers dynamically disconnected from the ice sheet. ition to Dronning Louise Land and across the Inland Ice, The major purpose of the data collection is to make available 1912–1913; Koch and Wegener, 1930). quality tested and georeferenced point observations, i.e. pre- After the Second World War a number of large-scale dominantly stake readings and snow pit data. The data can expeditions were organized, among them the Greenland expe- be downloaded from http://www.promice.dk. The database ditions of the ‘Expéditions Polaires Françaises’ (EPF, 1949– also sheds light on an important chapter of the history of 1953), the ‘Expéditions Glaciologiques Internationale au Greenland glaciology and is intended to counter the risk of Groenland’ (EGIG, 1959–1960 and 1967–1968) and eventually losing data and metadata. We hereby also the ‘British North Greenland Expedition’ (1952–1954) suggest a methodological framework for editing and archiv- (Hamilton and others, 1956). These expeditions also involved ing point surface mass-balance observations.