Predicting the Future of Greenland’s Melting Ice Sheet

Simulation of ice-sheet melting

A simple model is presented where the temperature, extent and thickness of sea ice is predicted in a numerical simulation. The model is based on Newton’s law of cooling with added terms to account for black-body emission by the ice and solar and atmospheric radiation. The ice is assumed to be an ellipsoid, with the temperature being uniform throughout. Coupled equations are developed for the te...

Heat and mass transfer: Melting of an ice sheet

Esse trabalho descreve um experimento simples e de fácil execução, destinado ao estudo da transferência de calor e massa por meio de uma aula prática. Tal estudo é realizado a partir da fusão de uma placa de gelo, ao ar ambiente, e com base na avaliação quantitativa do calor transferido por radiação, convecção e condensação de vapor d ́água sobre a superf́ıcie dessa placa. Os valores teóricos, pr...

Has Arctic Sea Ice Loss Contributed to Increased Surface Melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet?

In recent decades, the Greenland ice sheet has experienced increased surface melt. However, the underlying cause of this increased surface melting and how it relates to cryospheric changes across the Arctic remain unclear. Here it is shown that an important contributing factor is the decreasingArctic sea ice. Reduced summer sea ice favors stronger and more frequent occurrences of blocking-high ...

Rapid bottom melting widespread near Antarctic Ice Sheet grounding lines.

As continental ice from Antarctica reaches the grounding line and begins to float, its underside melts into the ocean. Results obtained with satellite radar interferometry reveal that bottom melt rates experienced by large outlet glaciers near their grounding lines are far higher than generally assumed. The melting rate is positively correlated with thermal forcing, increasing by 1 meter per ye...

Melting and freezing under Antarctic ice shelves from a combination of ice-sheet modelling and observations