Ice sheet

Warmer air temperatures are resulting in increased precipitation on the Greenland ice sheet and particularly an increasing contribution from rain. Rain quickly removes and darkens existing snow thus amplifying melt and loss of mass. Capturing the amplification effect caused by this transition from snow to rain precipitation is essential to correctly understand mass loss and sea level rise. To address this, existing weather stations near the margin of the ice sheet will be upgraded to better record these changes.

Sea ice & snow

GIOS partners have a unique network of climate stations in Greenland which all hold a possibility for extension with monitoring of other atmospheric variables.

Air

GIOS partners have a unique network of climate stations in Greenland which all hold a possibility for extension with monitoring of other atmospheric variables. An established example of this is the concept of ICOS atmospheric stations which monitors greenhouse gas (CO2 and CH4) concentrations along with a standard range of meteorological variables.