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Science Rendezvous > Posters
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Reducing uncertainties in estimates of the mass balance of the ice sheets from a combined observation & modelling approach
Jonathan Bamber
CIRES visiting fellow and Bristol Glaciology Centre, University Bristol, UK
The aim of this poster is to present some of the research themes that I am working on at present and those which I wish to develop while at CIRES, with a particular focus on collaborative components of the research. The overarching aims of my research are to elucidate ice sheet processes that are central to controlling mass balance: namely ice dynamics and surface mass balance (SMB).
Recent research on the latter component includes improving estimates of SMB time-series for the Greenland ice sheet for the period 1957-present using ERA-40 re-anlysis and a regional climate model. The results of this work indicate important trends since 1990 and spatial patterns previously unresolved. In addition we have investigated how the SMB might evolve in the future with new conclusions about the likely 'tipping point' for the certain loss of the Greenland ice sheet. We have also investigated how freshwater fluxes from the ice sheet are entrained in coastal waters using an eddy-resolving ocean GCM (NEMO). An emerging theme from this, and related work, is the potential for fingerprinting the sea level and salinity signal of mass loss from the ice sheets.
Future research aims at combining estimates of elevation change from altimetry, with modelled snow accumulation, gravity anomalies from GRACE and mass outflux estimates from SAR interferometry. These data will be combined (in a statistical sense) with a-priori physically-bases assumptions about ice sheet behaviour that will help constrain the errors. The aim is to produce a basin-scale mass balance time series consistent with the independent observations. Some initial work and ideas in this area will be presented for discussion and improvement!
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