Curtin University Homepage
  • Library
  • Help
    • Admin

    espace - Curtin’s institutional repository

    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item

    Greenland ice sheet response to transient climate change: Consensus between two CGCMs

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Ren, Diandong
    Leslie, L.
    Karoly, D.
    Date
    2008
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Ren, D. and Leslie, L. and Karoly, D. 2008. Greenland ice sheet response to transient climate change: Consensus between two CGCMs. Geophysical Research Abstracts. 10.
    Source Title
    Geophysical Research Abstracts
    Additional URLs
    http://meetings.copernicus.org/www.cosis.net/abstracts/EGU2008/12412/EGU2008-A-12412.pdf
    ISSN
    1607-7962
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/4210
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Possible accelerated melting of the Greenland ice sheet in the 21st century has profound implications for sea-level rise and for climate change feedback. This study quantifies the potential melting of the Greenland ice sheet under a realistic 21st century greenhouse gas emission scenario. To this end, an extended integration is carried out of a new multi-phase, multiple-rheology, scalable and extensible geofluid model of the Greenland ice sheet, using 200-year long monthly atmospheric forcing from two high-resolution climate models. The ice sheet model versatility allows an investigation of detailed features such as seasonal melt area extent. Applied to Greenland, the warming- enhanced low altitude surface melting is found to dominate snow precipitation increase, causing a steady ice loss. By 2060, the ice surface topography has changed little over inland Greenland. However, the surface flow patterns change significantly over the entire Greenland ice sheet, due to the temperature dependence of ice viscosity. With increased surface flow speed, strain-heating becomes a mechanism for rapid heating of the ice to a far greater depth than diffusion alone. Basal sliding, especially involving granular sediments, is shown to be an efficient mechanism for fast-glacier acceleration and enhanced mass loss. This significant source of rapid dynamic responses to climate change is absent from previous models. The net mass loss estimates from the model are ∼ 50 km 3 of ice per year for the first 50 years of the 21st century, reaching 220 km 3 per year for the second half. By 2100, the perennial frozen surface area decreases by as much as 60%, to ∼ 7 × 10 5 km 2, indicative of a massive expansion of the ablation zone.

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Ice-sheet model sensitivities to environmental forcing and their use in projecting future sea level (the SeaRISE project)
      Bindschadler, R.; Nowicki, S.; Abe-Ouchi, A.; Aschwanden, A.; Choi, H.; Fastook, J.; Ren, Diandong (2013)
      Ten ice-sheet models are used to study sensitivity of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets to prescribed changes of surface mass balance, sub-ice-shelf melting and basal sliding. Results exhibit a large range in projected ...
    • The Greenland ice sheet response to transient climate change
      Ren, Diandong; Fu, R.; Leslie, L.; Chen, J.; Wilson, C.; Karoly, D. (2011)
      This study applies a multiphase, multiple-rheology, scalable, and extensible geofluid model to the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). The model is driven by monthly atmospheric forcing from global climate model simulations. Novel ...
    • A multirheology ice model: Formulation and application to the Greenland ice sheet
      Ren, Diandong; Fu, R.; Leslie, L.; Karoly, D.; Chen, J.; Wilson, C. (2011)
      Accurate prediction of future sea level rises requires models which can reproduce recent observed change in ice sheet behavior. This study describes a new multiphase, multiple-rheology ice dynamics model (SEGMENT-ice), ...
    Advanced search

    Browse

    Communities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument TypeThis CollectionIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument Type

    My Account

    Admin

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Follow Curtin

    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 

    CRICOS Provider Code: 00301JABN: 99 143 842 569TEQSA: PRV12158

    Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy statement | Accessibility

    Curtin would like to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Perth campus is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation; and on our Kalgoorlie campus, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields.