The anomalously warm summer of 2023 over Greenland as compared to previous record melt summers of 2012 and 2019

Mchedlishvili, Alexander; Vountas, Marco; Bösch, Hartmut

doi:10.5194/tc-20-2895-2026

Articles | Volume 20, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2895-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2895-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 5

Research article

|

21 May 2026

Research article |

| 21 May 2026

The anomalously warm summer of 2023 over Greenland as compared to previous record melt summers of 2012 and 2019

Alexander Mchedlishvili, Marco Vountas, and Hartmut Bösch

Data sets

MEaSUREs Greenland Surface Melt Daily 25km EASE-Grid 2.0 T. L. Mote et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/MEASURES/CRYOSPHERE/nsidc-0533.001

ERA5 monthly averaged data on pressure levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.6860a573

ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7

An ERA5-based Dataset for Atmospheric River Analysis (EDARA): Multi-decade numerical and graphical catalogues R. Mo https://doi.org/10.20383/103.0935

GOME-2 Level 1B Fundamental Data Record Release 3 - Metop-A and -B EUMETSAT https://doi.org/10.15770/EUM_SEC_CLM_0039

PROMICE and GC-Net Automated Weather Station Data in Greenland P. How et al. https://doi.org/10.22008/FK2/IW73UU

Short summary

Air circulation over Greenland affects ice melt by changing temperature, moisture, and wind. We study how much sunlight the ice reflects and how this relates to extreme melting. Focusing on the summers of 2012, 2019, and 2023, we explore the weather patterns that caused unusually warm conditions and how the Greenland ice sheet responded.