New Hydrometeorological Instrument Cluster at Inglefield Land, NW Greenland

Abstract

Mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is a primary contributor to sea level rise, but substantial uncertainty exists in estimates of future ice sheet losses. Surface mass balance (SMB) models, the current leading approach to sea level rise projection, anticipate continued dominance of runoff as a mass loss pathway. Despite their preeminence, SMB models in vulnerable northern environments lack adequate field validation, particularly for error-sensitive runoff estimates. We have installed a cluster of high quality field instruments at the Minturn Elv, a proglacial river site in Inglefield Land, NW Greenland to provide discharge and weather datasets for the validation and refinement of climate/SMB runoff models. The instrument cluster has meteorological, hydrological, and time lapse camera instrumentation, including a vented water level stage recorder, single shot and scanning lidars, time lapse cameras, and in situ ADCP discharge and terrestrial scanning lidar measurements. The instrument suite provides novel flow and weather datasets with the opportunity to evaluate experimental approaches to stage measurement in adverse, high-latitude areas. Inglefield is a uniquely advantaged location because proglacial runoff is dominated by SMB processes operating on the ice surface without interference from subglacial hydrology. Overall, our hydrometeorological instrument cluster at Inglefield Land will provide one of the few validation datasets for regional climate models outside of Southwest Greenland.

Acoustic Sensing of Glacial Discharge in Greenland

“…Proglacial discharge is controlled primarily by surface processes that generate supraglacial runoff and potentially by a minor contribution from subglacial hydrology (Esenther et al., 2022; Kondo et al., 2021). The overall response time of the drainage basin to solar radiation and positive temperature typically yields maximum runoff in the evening.…”

“…In Greenland, glacier monitoring is particularly important for global sea‐level rise projections, since glacial discharge is expected to increase owing to intensifying ice‐sheet ablation in the future. However, such monitoring is virtually nonexistent, with only a few sites possessing hydrographs to monitor meltwater discharge (Esenther et al., 2022; Kondo et al., 2021; Mankoff et al., 2020). Environmental seismo‐acoustic monitoring is becoming more widespread and can now sample across up to 20 octaves thanks to fiber‐optic technology (Lindsey & Martin, 2021; Paitz et al., 2020).…”

“…In Greenland, glacier monitoring is particularly important for global sea-level rise projections, since glacial discharge is expected to increase owing to intensifying ice-sheet ablation in the future. However, such monitoring is virtually nonexistent, with only a few sites possessing hydrographs to monitor meltwater discharge (Esenther et al, 2022;Kondo et al, 2021;Mankoff et al, 2020). 3.…”