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. In Kobbefjord (near Nuuk) the GEM GlacioBasis station will be upgraded with a state-of-theart snow-water-equivalent meter, to resemble the setup at the PROMICE stations.

Increased snowfall on the central part of the ice sheet will be observed from a mobile ice camp. GIOS will transform the ice camp to a mobile camp with the ability to monitor the surface for parameters like the present accumulation, surface temperatures, exchange of water vapor in the atmosphere, flow and deformation of ice and change of snow properties needed for calibration of satellite-based elevation observations. In addition, the main building on skies, the Dome will be covered with solar panels to transform the facility to use more green energy. The ice camp is also used for deep ice core drilling, for surface monitoring and as an access point for other projects by maintaining a skiway and a depot of fuel. As a new initiative the ice camp will support the construction of a telescope on the summit of the ice sheet. These programs document the potential of such programs to lead world leading research, much can be gained by expanding and linking across institutions and research fields both nationally and internationally.