Greenland “snow drought” makes big 2013 melt more likely

[GliderGuider]

Greenland snow drought makes big 2013 melt more likely

Multiple melt factors combine to increase the odds of more melt water runoff from the ice sheet during the 2013 melt season:

1. Less ‘cold content’ of snow to melt away (ablate) for a given energy input before bare ice is exposed;a longer period of exposed darker bare ice, in this case weeks earlier bare ice exposure is likely unless a big snow dump before or during the coming warm season;

2. Less snow leads to a smaller refreezing capacity in the lower accumulation area. Thanks Robert Fausto of GEUS for reminding me of this one.

3. A possible higher concentration of light absorbing impurities per unit volume of snow, assuming that the impurities are deposited whether or not it snows;

4. This pattern results from a persistent atmospheric anomaly, blocking cold air transport southward along west Greenland, producing relatively warm temperatures there while northwestern Europe has had a cold winter.

[OnlinePoker]

1. Hmmm...seems to be a contradiction

NSIDC's Greenland Ice Sheet page said "Heavy snow fell during the relatively warm winter, burying and insulating deeper snow. This contributed to anomalously high temperatures for the uppermost layers of snow this winter."

http://nsidc.org/greenland-today/