Articles | Volume 16, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3971-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3971-2022
Research article
 | 
06 Oct 2022
Research article |  | 06 Oct 2022

Simulations of firn processes over the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets: 1980–2021

Brooke Medley, Thomas A. Neumann, H. Jay Zwally, Benjamin E. Smith, and C. Max Stevens

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Revised manuscript under review for TC
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Cited articles

Adolph, A. C. and Albert, M. R.: Gas diffusivity and permeability through the firn column at Summit, Greenland: measurements and comparison to microstructural properties, The Cryosphere, 8, 319–328, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-319-2014, 2014. 
Adusumilli, S., Fricker, H. A., Medley, B., Padman, L., and Siegfried, M. R.: Interannual variations in meltwater input to the Southern Ocean from Antarctic ice shelves, Nat. Geosci., 13, 616–620, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0616-z, 2020. 
Agosta, C., Amory, C., Kittel, C., Orsi, A., Favier, V., Gallée, H., van den Broeke, M. R., Lenaerts, J. T. M., van Wessem, J. M., van de Berg, W. J., and Fettweis, X.: Estimation of the Antarctic surface mass balance using the regional climate model MAR (1979–2015) and identification of dominant processes, The Cryosphere, 13, 281–296, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-281-2019, 2019. 
Alley, R. B.: Densification and recrystallization of firn at Dome C, East Antarctica, Institute of Polar Studies, The Ohio State University, http://hdl.handle.net/1811/51278 (last access: 26 September 2022), 1980. 
Alley, R. B.: Transformations in polar firn (glaciology, antarctica, greenland), The University of Wisconsin-Madison, https://www.proquest.com/openview/9bbe798c21a3f41e13720da92816c947/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y (last access: 26 September 2022), 1987. 
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Short summary
Satellite altimeters measure the height or volume change over Earth's ice sheets, but in order to understand how that change translates into ice mass, we must account for various processes at the surface. Specifically, snowfall events generate large, transient increases in surface height, yet snow fall has a relatively low density, which means much of that height change is composed of air. This air signal must be removed from the observed height changes before we can assess ice mass change.