Hypsometric amplification and routing moderation of Greenland ice sheet meltwater release

van As, Dirk; Bech Mikkelsen, Andreas; Holtegaard Nielsen, Morten; Box, Jason E.; Claesson Liljedahl, Lillemor; Lindbäck, Katrin; Pitcher, Lincoln; Hasholt, Bent

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1371-2017

Articles | Volume 11, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1371-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1371-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 11, issue 3

Research article

|

09 Jun 2017

Research article |

| 09 Jun 2017

Hypsometric amplification and routing moderation of Greenland ice sheet meltwater release

Dirk van As, Andreas Bech Mikkelsen, Morten Holtegaard Nielsen, Jason E. Box, Lillemor Claesson Liljedahl, Katrin Lindbäck, Lincoln Pitcher, and Bent Hasholt

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Final revised paper (published on 09 Jun 2017)
Preprint (discussion started on 02 Jan 2017)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC1: 'review', Xavier Fettweis, 26 Jan 2017
- AC1: 'reply to comments by X. Fettweis', Dirk van As, 09 Apr 2017
RC2: 'Review comments', Anonymous Referee #2, 15 Mar 2017
- AC2: 'reply to anonymous referee 2', Dirk van As, 09 Apr 2017

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Dirk van As on behalf of the Authors (14 Apr 2017) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (Editor review) (05 May 2017) by Lora Koenig

AR by Dirk van As on behalf of the Authors (05 May 2017) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (08 May 2017) by Lora Koenig

AR by Dirk van As on behalf of the Authors (09 May 2017)

Short summary

The Greenland ice sheet melts faster in a warmer climate. The ice sheet is flatter at high elevation, therefore atmospheric warming increases the melt area exponentially. For current climate conditions, we find that the ice sheet shape amplifies the total meltwater generation by roughly 60 %. Meltwater is not stored underneath the ice sheet, as previously found, but it does take multiple days for it to pass through the seasonally developing subglacial drainage channels, moderating discharge.