• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Renewables ‘Set to Soar’ with 440 GW of New Installations in 2023: IEA June 4, 2023
Greek Industrial Giant Announces 1.4-GW Alberta Solar Farm, Canada’s Biggest June 4, 2023
Shift to Remote Work Cuts Commutes, Frees Downtown Space for Affordable Housing June 4, 2023
2.7M Hectares Lost, Nova Scotia at Ground Zero in ‘Unprecedented’ Early Wildfire Season June 4, 2023
Is Equinor’s Bay du Nord ‘Delay’ a Cancellation in Slow Motion? June 1, 2023
Next
Prev

Winter Rainfall Accelerates Melting of Greenland Ice Sheet

March 10, 2019
Reading time: 2 minutes

Christine Zenino/Wikimedia Commons

Christine Zenino/Wikimedia Commons

4
SHARES
 

Rainfall is making the Greenland ice sheet melt more quickly, even during the long Arctic winter, concludes a new study in The Cryosphere, a journal of the European Geosciences Union.

“Precipitation usually falls as snow in winter—rather than as rain—which can balance out any melting of the ice in the summer,” the BBC reports. But “on more than 300 occasions between 1979 and 2012, the analysis found that rainfall events were triggering a melting of the ice.”

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
Subscribe

The frequency of those events increased sharply, from two per year at the beginning of the study period to 12 in 2012. And “a growing number happened in winter months when the permanent dark of the polar winter would be expected to keep temperatures well below freezing,” the UK broadcaster states.

“We were surprised that there was rain in the winter,” said lead author Dr. Marilena Oltmanns of Germany’s GEOMAR ocean research centre. “It does make sense, because we’re seeing flows of warm air coming up from the south, but it’s still surprising to see that associated with rainfall.”

“This is starting to open a window to what’s driving the melting,” added co-author Marco Tedesco of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “ The liquid water is carrying the energy from the surface deep into the ice sheet.”

“When a frozen snowflake falls on the Greenland ice sheet, it lands with a whisper and stays frozen, sometimes for months,” InsideClimate News explains. “But raindrops splat down, making little craters and melting some of the adjacent snow crystals. Multiplied across thousands of square miles, they can trigger widespread melting and runoff, which can lead to more sea level rise.”

While the study found no change in total precipitation over the study period, “more of it fell as rain,” InsideClimate notes. “The scientists estimated that almost a third of the total runoff measured was triggered by rainfall.” Moreover, “melting events triggered by rain lasted longer, lengthening from an average of two days to three in the summer, and from two days to five in the winter.”

Glaciologist Jason Box, who wasn’t involved in the study, told BBC he’d had direct experience with sudden rainstorms on the Greenland ice sheet. “After weeks of sunshine, it started raining on us and it completely transformed the surface—it got darker,” he said. “”And I became convinced, only by being there and seeing it with my own eyes, that rain is just as important as strong sunny days in melting the Greenland ice sheet.”

He added that, “in a warming climate, it’s not rocket science that you’re going to have more rain than snow, and it’s one more reason why the ice sheet can go into deficit instead of being in surplus.”

Citing a research team led by Box, InsideClimate notes that the loss of Arctic land ice increased about tenfold from the quarter-century ending in 1996 to the most recent quarter-century. “Another study, published in February, found that melting on just the Greenland ice sheet had quadrupled between 2002 and 2012, and that the greatest increase was in southwest Greenland—a region with few glaciers that is projected to experience more rainfall in the coming decades.”



in Arctic & Antarctica, Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Sol y Playa condo, Rincón, Puerto Rico
Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise

Storms, Sea Level Rise Intensify Conflicts Over Public Beach Access

May 29, 2023
117
Inspiration 4 Photos/flickr
Climate Impacts & Adaptation

Cooling Upper Atmosphere Has Scientists ‘Very Worried’

May 23, 2023
465
Trocker767/wikimedia commons
Food Security & Agriculture

Renewable-Powered Greenhouse Brings Fresh Produce Bounty to Gjoa Haven Inuit

May 21, 2023
68

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

/MaxPixels

‘Substantial Damage’, No Injuries as Freight Train Hits Wind Turbine Blade

May 25, 2022
13.8k
Equinor

Is Equinor’s Bay du Nord ‘Delay’ a Cancellation in Slow Motion?

June 1, 2023
805
Inspiration 4 Photos/flickr

Cooling Upper Atmosphere Has Scientists ‘Very Worried’

May 23, 2023
465
Neal Alderson/Twitter

Out-of-Control Wildfire Burns Homes, Forces Evacuations Outside Halifax

May 29, 2023
2.7k
Natural Resources Canada

2.7M Hectares Lost, Nova Scotia at Ground Zero in ‘Unprecedented’ Early Wildfire Season

June 4, 2023
44
Martin Davis/Facebook

13 Canadian Fossils Linked to Massive Losses in Western Wildfires

May 30, 2023
645

Recent Posts

sunrise windmill

Renewables ‘Set to Soar’ with 440 GW of New Installations in 2023: IEA

June 4, 2023
13
Pixabay

Greek Industrial Giant Announces 1.4-GW Alberta Solar Farm, Canada’s Biggest

June 4, 2023
23
Oregon Department of Transportation/flickr

Shift to Remote Work Cuts Commutes, Frees Downtown Space for Affordable Housing

June 4, 2023
9
Clairewych/Pixabay

Demand Surges for Giant Heat Pumps as Europe Turns to District Heating

June 4, 2023
16
nicolasdebraypointcom/pixabay

Factor Gender into Transportation Planning, IISD Analyst Urges Policy-Makers

June 4, 2023
8
moerschy / Pixabay

Federal Climate Plans Must Embrace Community-Driven Resilience

June 4, 2023
6
Next Post
Marcusroos/Wikimedia Commons

Fossils ‘Dodge a Bullet’ as Norway Opts for Limited Divestment

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}