Supraglacial streamflow and meteorological drivers from southwest Greenland

Abstract 2 supraglacial stream catchment in southwest Greenland. The result is an unprecedentedly long record of supraglacial discharge that captures both diurnal variability and changes over the melt season. A comparison of surface energy fluxes to stream discharge reveals shortwave radiation as the primary driver of melting. However, during high-melt episodes, the contribution of shortwave radiation to melt energy is reduced by ∼ 40   % (from 1.13 to 0.73 proportion). Instead, the relative contribution of longwave radiation, sensible heat fluxes, and latent heat fluxes to overall melt increases by ∼ 24  %, 6 %, and 10 % (proportion increased from - 0.32 to - 0.08, 0.28 to 0.34, and - 0.04 to 0.06) respectively. Our data also identify that the timing of daily maximum discharge during clear-sky days shifts from 16:00 local time (i.e., 2 h 45 min after solar noon) in late June to 14:00 in late July and then rapidly returns to 16:00 in early August. The change in the timing of daily maximum discharge could be attributed to the expansion and contraction of the stream network, caused by skin temperatures that likely fell below freezing at night. The abrupt shift, in early August, in the timing of daily maximum discharge coincides with a drop in air temperature, a drop in the amount of water temporarily stored in weathering crust, and a decreasing covariance between stream velocity and discharge. Further work is needed to investigate if these results can be transferable to larger catchments and uncover if rapid shifts in the timing of peak discharge are widespread across Greenland supraglacial streams and thus have an impact on meltwater delivery to the subglacial system and ice dynamics.

Objekt anzeigen

• Standort: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Umfang: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Supraglacial streamflow and meteorological drivers from southwest Greenland ; volume:16 ; number:6 ; year:2022 ; pages:2245-2263 ; extent:19 ; The Cryosphere ; 16, Heft 6 (2022), 2245-2263 (gesamt 19)

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Urheber: Muthyala, Rohi ; Rennermalm, Åsa K. ; Leidman, Sasha Z. ; Cooper, Matthew G. ; Cooley, Sarah W. ; Smith, Laurence C. ; van As, Dirk

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: 10.5194/tc-16-2245-2022
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2022061605164343248459
• Rechteinformation: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.