The Cryosphere

The extreme melt across the Greenland ice sheet in 2012

  1. S. V. Nghiem1,*,
  2. D. K. Hall2,
  3. T. L. Mote3,
  4. M. Tedesco4,
  5. M. R. Albert5,
  6. K. Keegan5,
  7. C. A. Shuman6,
  8. N. E. DiGirolamo7,
  9. G. Neumann1

Article first published online: 27 OCT 2012

DOI: 10.1029/2012GL053611

Issue

Geophysical Research Letters

Geophysical Research Letters

Volume 39, Issue 20, 28 October 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Nghiem, S. V., D. K. Hall, T. L. Mote, M. Tedesco, M. R. Albert, K. Keegan, C. A. Shuman, N. E. DiGirolamo, and G. Neumann (2012), The extreme melt across the Greenland ice sheet in 2012, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L20502, doi:10.1029/2012GL053611.

Author Information

  1. 1

    Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

  2. 2

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

  3. 3

    Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

  4. 4

    Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, City University of New York, New York, New York, USA

  5. 5

    Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

  6. 6

    Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

  7. 7

    Science System and Application, Inc., Lanham, Maryland, USA

*Corresponding author: S. V. Nghiem, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, MS 300-235, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109, USA. (son.v.nghiem@jpl.nasa.gov)

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 27 OCT 2012
  2. Article first published online: 27 OCT 2012
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 26 SEP 2012
  4. Manuscript Revised: 25 SEP 2012
  5. Manuscript Received: 24 AUG 2012

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Keywords:

  • Greenland ice sheet;
  • Oceansat-2 scatterometer;
  • Summit;
  • extreme melt

[1] The discovery of the 2012 extreme melt event across almost the entire surface of the Greenland ice sheet is presented. Data from three different satellite sensors – including the Oceansat-2 scatterometer, the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder – are combined to obtain composite melt maps, representing the most complete melt conditions detectable across the ice sheet. Satellite observations reveal that melt occurred at or near the surface of the Greenland ice sheet across 98.6% of its entire extent on 12 July 2012, including the usually cold polar areas at high altitudes like Summit in the dry snow facies of the ice sheet. This melt event coincided with an anomalous ridge of warm air that became stagnant over Greenland. As seen in melt occurrences from multiple ice core records at Summit reported in the published literature, such a melt event is rare with the last significant one occurring in 1889 and the next previous one around seven centuries earlier in the Medieval Warm Period. Given its rarity, the 2012 extreme melt across Greenland provides an exceptional opportunity for new studies in broad interdisciplinary geophysical research.

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