Nature Communications, April 20
Surface meltwater run-off currently dominates ice mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Porous layers of multi-year snow can instead absorb this meltwater, slowing and limiting runoff and mass loss. However, thick layers of ice, such as ice slabs, can develop and restrict the snow’s ability to retain meltwater, with greater run-off and potentially, mass loss the result. Recent observations suggest these ice slabs can develop rapidly during extreme melt seasons, such as witnessed during the abnormally warm period in summer 2012, when the entire ice sheet experienced melt conditions. The resulting layers of ice reached nearly 700 m higher in elevation, and 160 km further inland than ever observed previously. With increased frequency of such extreme melt seasons under additional global warming, formation of these ice slabs may therefore speed run-off and ice mass loss from Greenland at greater rates than projected.
https://tc.copernicus.org/
Compiled by Amy Imdieke
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