Arctic glaciers record wavier circumpolar winds

Sasgen, Ingo; Salles, Annette; Wegmann, Martin; Wouters, Bert; Fettweis, Xavier; Noël, Brice P. Y.; Beck, Christoph (2022). Arctic glaciers record wavier circumpolar winds. Nature climate change, 12(3), pp. 249-255. Nature Publishing Group 10.1038/s41558-021-01275-4

Preview

Text s41558-021-01275-4.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY). Download (16MB) | Preview

Glaciers in the Arctic respond sensitively to climate change, recording the polar amplification of global warming with increasing mass loss. Here, we use glacier mass balances in Svalbard and northern Arctic Canada to categorize tropospheric variability and the associated summer circulation over the Arctic. We establish a link between annual glacier mass balances and their respective atmospheric forcings since 1950 using GRACE/GRACE-FO satellite data (2002–2021), as well as regional climate models and reanalysis data (1950–2019). We find that asynchronous behaviour of mass balance between the regions has become very likely since the early 2000s, exceeding the range of previous decadal variability. Related tropospheric circulation exhibits more meridional patterns, a greater influence of meridional heat advection and a wavier summer circulation. The traceable impact on glacier mass balances emphasizes the importance of dynamic next to thermodynamic climate changes for the future of glacier mass loss, Arctic ecology and societal impacts.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

20 since deposited on 24 Jan 2023
11 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item