Runoff from Greenland's firn area – why do MODIS, RCMs and a firn model disagree?

Machguth, Horst; Tedstone, Andrew; Kuipers Munneke, Peter; Brils, Max; Noël, Brice; Clerx, Nicole; Jullien, Nicolas; Fettweis, Xavier; van den Broeke, Michiel

doi:10.5194/tc-20-427-2026

Articles | Volume 20, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-427-2026

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

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-427-2026

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

Articles | Volume 20, issue 1

Research article

|

20 Jan 2026

Research article |

| 20 Jan 2026

Runoff from Greenland's firn area – why do MODIS, RCMs and a firn model disagree?

Horst Machguth, Andrew Tedstone, Peter Kuipers Munneke, Max Brils, Brice Noël, Nicole Clerx, Nicolas Jullien, Xavier Fettweis, and Michiel van den Broeke

Data sets

Runoff from Greenland's Firn Area - Why do MODIS, RCMs and a Firn Model disagree? Horst Machguth et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13332326

Model code and software

Runoff from Greenland's Firn Area - Why do MODIS, RCMs and a Firn Model disagree? Horst Machguth et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13332326

Short summary

Due to increasing air temperatures, surface melt expands to higher elevations on the Greenland ice sheet. This is visible on satellite imagery in the form of rivers of meltwater running across the surface of the ice sheet. We compare model results of meltwater at high elevations on the ice sheet to satellite observations. We find that each of the models shows strengths and weaknesses. A detailed look into the model results reveals potential reasons for the differences between models.