Articles | Volume 16, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-435-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-435-2022
Research article
 | 
04 Feb 2022
Research article |  | 04 Feb 2022

Relating snowfall observations to Greenland ice sheet mass changes: an atmospheric circulation perspective

Michael R. Gallagher, Matthew D. Shupe, Hélène Chepfer, and Tristan L'Ecuyer

Related authors

Observations of surface energy fluxes and meteorology in the seasonally snow-covered high-elevation East River watershed during SPLASH, 2021–2023
Christopher J. Cox, Janet M. Intrieri, Brian J. Butterworth, Gijs de Boer, Michael R. Gallagher, Jonathan Hamilton, Erik Hulm, Tilden Meyers, Sara M. Morris, Jackson Osborn, P. Ola G. Persson, Benjamin Schmatz, Matthew D. Shupe, and James M. Wilczak
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1481–1499, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1481-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1481-2025, 2025
Short summary
Accelerating research through community open source software for a standardized file format to improve process representation in numerical weather prediction models
Johanna Tjernström, Michael Gallagher, Jareth Holt, Gunilla Svensson, Matthew D. Shupe, Jonathan J. Day, Lara Ferrighi, Siri Jodha Khalsa, Leslie M. Hartten, Ewan O'Connor, Zen Mariani, and Øystein Godøy
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2088,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2088, 2024
Preprint archived
Short summary
The Year of Polar Prediction site Model Intercomparison Project (YOPPsiteMIP) phase 1: project overview and Arctic winter forecast evaluation
Jonathan J. Day, Gunilla Svensson, Barbara Casati, Taneil Uttal, Siri-Jodha Khalsa, Eric Bazile, Elena Akish, Niramson Azouz, Lara Ferrighi, Helmut Frank, Michael Gallagher, Øystein Godøy, Leslie M. Hartten, Laura X. Huang, Jareth Holt, Massimo Di Stefano, Irene Suomi, Zen Mariani, Sara Morris, Ewan O'Connor, Roberta Pirazzini, Teresa Remes, Rostislav Fadeev, Amy Solomon, Johanna Tjernström, and Mikhail Tolstykh
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5511–5543, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5511-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5511-2024, 2024
Short summary
Special Observing Period (SOP) data for the Year of Polar Prediction site Model Intercomparison Project (YOPPsiteMIP)
Zen Mariani, Sara M. Morris, Taneil Uttal, Elena Akish, Robert Crawford, Laura Huang, Jonathan Day, Johanna Tjernström, Øystein Godøy, Lara Ferrighi, Leslie M. Hartten, Jareth Holt, Christopher J. Cox, Ewan O'Connor, Roberta Pirazzini, Marion Maturilli, Giri Prakash, James Mather, Kimberly Strong, Pierre Fogal, Vasily Kustov, Gunilla Svensson, Michael Gallagher, and Brian Vasel
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 3083–3124, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3083-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3083-2024, 2024
Short summary
Wind redistribution of snow impacts the Ka- and Ku-band radar signatures of Arctic sea ice
Vishnu Nandan, Rosemary Willatt, Robbie Mallett, Julienne Stroeve, Torsten Geldsetzer, Randall Scharien, Rasmus Tonboe, John Yackel, Jack Landy, David Clemens-Sewall, Arttu Jutila, David N. Wagner, Daniela Krampe, Marcus Huntemann, Mallik Mahmud, David Jensen, Thomas Newman, Stefan Hendricks, Gunnar Spreen, Amy Macfarlane, Martin Schneebeli, James Mead, Robert Ricker, Michael Gallagher, Claude Duguay, Ian Raphael, Chris Polashenski, Michel Tsamados, Ilkka Matero, and Mario Hoppmann
The Cryosphere, 17, 2211–2229, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2211-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2211-2023, 2023
Short summary

Cited articles

Bennartz, R., Fell, F., Pettersen, C., Shupe, M. D., and Schuettemeyer, D.: Spatial and temporal variability of snowfall over Greenland from CloudSat observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 8101–8121, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8101-2019, 2019. a, b, c, d, e, f, g
Boening, C., Lebsock, M., Landerer, F., and Stephens, G.: Snowfall-driven mass change on the East Antarctic ice sheet, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, 1–5, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL053316, 2012. a
Boisvert, L. N. and Stroeve, J. C.: The Arctic is becoming warmer and wetter as revealed by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 4439–4446, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063775, 2015. a
Box, J. E., Bromwich, D. H., Veenhuis, B. A., Bai, L.-S., Stroeve, J. C., Rogers, J. C., Steffen, K., Haran, T., and Wang, S.-H.: Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Mass Balance Variability (1988–2004) from Calibrated Polar MM5 Output, J. Climate, 19, 2783–2800, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3738.1, 2006. a
Cao, Q., Zhang, J., Gourley, J. J., Kirstetter, P. E., Chen, S., and Hong, Y.: Snowfall Detectability of Nasa'S Cloudsat: the First Cross-Investigation of Its 2C-Snow-Profile Product and National Multi-Sensor Mosaic Qpe (Nmq) Snowfall Data, Prog. Electromagn. Res., 148, 55–61, https://doi.org/10.2528/pier14030405, 2014. a
Download
Short summary
By using direct observations of snowfall and mass changes, the variability of daily snowfall mass input to the Greenland ice sheet is quantified for the first time. With new methods we conclude that cyclones west of Greenland in summer contribute the most snowfall, with 1.66 Gt per occurrence. These cyclones are contextualized in the broader Greenland climate, and snowfall is validated against mass changes to verify the results. Snowfall and mass change observations are shown to agree well.
Share