Modeled Response of Greenland Snowmelt to the Presence of Biomass Burning-Based Absorbing Aerosols in the Atmosphere and Snow

Ward, Jamie L.; Flanner, Mark G.; Bergin, Mike; Dibb, Jack E.; Polashenski, Chris M.; Soja, Amber J.; Thomas, Jennie L.

doi:10.1029/2017jd027878

Modeled Response of Greenland Snowmelt to the Presence of Biomass Burning-Based Absorbing Aerosols in the Atmosphere and Snow

Journal Article · Sun May 20 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2017jd027878· OSTI ID:1539729

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[5]; ^[6]; ^[7]

Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); DOE/OSTI
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)
Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United States)
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States)
LATMOS, Paris (France)

Biomass burning produces smoke aerosols that are emitted into the atmosphere. Some smoke constituents, notably black carbon, are highly effective light-absorbing aerosols (LAA). Emitted LAA can be transported to high-albedo regions like the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and affect local snowmelt. In the summer, the effects of LAA in Greenland are uncertain. To explore how LAA affect GrIS snowmelt and surface energy flux in the summer, we conduct idealized global climate model simulations with perturbed aerosol amounts and properties in the GrIS snow and overlying atmosphere. The in-snow and atmospheric aerosol burdens we select range from background values measured on the GrIS to unrealistically high values. This helps us explore the linearity of snowmelt response and to achieve high signal-to-noise ratios. With LAA operating only in the atmosphere, we find no significant change in snowmelt due to the competing effects of surface dimming and tropospheric warming. Regardless of atmospheric LAA presence, in-snow black carbon-equivalentmixing ratios greater than ~60 ng/g produce statistically significant snowmelt increases over much of the GrIS. We find that net surface energy flux changes correspond well to snowmelt changes for all cases. The dominant component of surface energy flux change is solar energy flux, but sensible and longwave energy fluxes respond to temperature changes. Atmospheric LAA dampen the magnitude of solar radiation absorbed by in-snow LAA when both varieties are simulated. In general, the significant melt and surface energy flux changes we simulate occur with LAA quantities that have never been recorded in Greenland.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0013991

OSTI ID:: 1539729

Journal Information:: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 123; ISSN 2169-897X

Publisher:: American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (56)

Neither dust nor black carbon causing apparent albedo decline in Greenland's dry snow zone: Implications for MODIS C5 surface reflectance: GREENLAND ALBEDO DECLINE NOT DUST OR BC Polashenski, Chris M.; Dibb, Jack E.; Flanner, Mark G. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 42, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL065912	journal	November 2015
Changing black carbon transport to the Arctic from present day to the end of 21st century Jiao, Chaoyi; Flanner, Mark G. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 121, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023964	journal	May 2016
The sensitivity of global climate to the episodicity of fire aerosol emissions: MODELING FIRE EPISODICITY Clark, Spencer K.; Ward, Daniel S.; Mahowald, Natalie M. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 120, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD024068	journal	November 2015
Quantifying black carbon deposition over the Greenland ice sheet from forest fires in Canada: BC DEPOSITION FROM FOREST FIRES Thomas, J. L.; Polashenski, C. M.; Soja, A. J. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 44, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073701	journal	August 2017
Bounding the role of black carbon in the climate system: A scientific assessment: BLACK CARBON IN THE CLIMATE SYSTEM Bond, T. C.; Doherty, S. J.; Fahey, D. W. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 118, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrd.50171	journal	June 2013
Arctic climate sensitivity to local black carbon: BLACK CARBON INFLUENCE ON ARCTIC CLIMATE Flanner, Mark G. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 118, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrd.50176	journal	February 2013
Dependence of climate forcing and response on the altitude of black carbon aerosols Ban-Weiss, George A.; Cao, Long; Bala, G. Climate Dynamics, Vol. 38, Issue 5-6 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-011-1052-y	journal	April 2011
Global wildland fire season severity in the 21st century Flannigan, Mike; Cantin, Alan S.; de Groot, William J. Forest Ecology and Management, Vol. 294 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.10.022	journal	April 2013
Climate-induced boreal forest change: Predictions versus current observations Soja, Amber J.; Tchebakova, Nadezda M.; French, Nancy H. F. Global and Planetary Change, Vol. 56, Issue 3-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2006.07.028	journal	April 2007
Global biomass burning: a synthesis and review of Holocene paleofire records and their controls Marlon, Jennifer R.; Bartlein, Patrick J.; Daniau, Anne-Laure Quaternary Science Reviews, Vol. 65 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.11.029	journal	April 2013
Global direct radiative forcing due to multicomponent anthropogenic and natural aerosols Jacobson, Mark Z. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 106, Issue D2 https://doi.org/10.1029/2000JD900514	journal	January 2001
Global distribution and climate forcing of carbonaceous aerosols Chung, Serena H. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 107, Issue D19 https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JD001397	journal	January 2002
Regional variability of ice core dust composition and provenance in Greenland: REGIONAL VARIABILITY OF ICE-CORE DUST Bory, A. J. -M.; Biscaye, P. E.; Piotrowski, A. M. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, Vol. 4, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GC000627	journal	December 2003
A modeling study on the climate impacts of black carbon aerosols: CLIMATE ASPECTS OF BLACK CARBON Wang, Chien Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 109, Issue D3 https://doi.org/10.1029/2003JD004084	journal	February 2004
Snowpack radiative heating: Influence on Tibetan Plateau climate Flanner, Mark G. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 32, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL022076	journal	January 2005
Climate response of fossil fuel and biofuel soot, accounting for soot's feedback to snow and sea ice albedo and emissivity: SOOT CLIMATE EFFECTS THROUGH SNOW/ICE Jacobson, Mark Z. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 109, Issue D21 https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JD004945	journal	November 2004
Linking snowpack microphysics and albedo evolution Flanner, Mark G.; Zender, Charles S. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 111, Issue D12 https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006834	journal	January 2006
Pan-Arctic enhancements of light absorbing aerosol concentrations due to North American boreal forest fires during summer 2004 Stohl, A.; Andrews, E.; Burkhart, J. F. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 111, Issue D22 https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD007216	journal	January 2006
Present-day climate forcing and response from black carbon in snow Flanner, Mark G.; Zender, Charles S.; Randerson, James T. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 112, Issue D11 https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD008003	journal	January 2007
Impact of disturbed desert soils on duration of mountain snow cover Painter, Thomas H.; Barrett, Andrew P.; Landry, Christopher C. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 34, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL030284	journal	January 2007
Impacts of climate change from 2000 to 2050 on wildfire activity and carbonaceous aerosol concentrations in the western United States Spracklen, D. V.; Mickley, L. J.; Logan, J. A. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 114, Issue D20 https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010966	journal	January 2009
Cloud influence on and response to seasonal Arctic sea ice loss Kay, Jennifer E.; Gettelman, Andrew Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 114, Issue D18 https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD011773	journal	January 2009
Local and remote controls on observed Arctic warming: CONTROLS ON ARCTIC WARMING Screen, J. A.; Deser, C.; Simmonds, I. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 39, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL051598	journal	May 2012
The extreme melt across the Greenland ice sheet in 2012 Nghiem, S. V.; Hall, D. K.; Mote, T. L. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 39, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL053611	journal	October 2012
Sensitivity of scattering and absorbing aerosol direct radiative forcing to physical climate factors: PHYSICAL CLIMATE EFFECTS ON AEROSOL DIRECT FORCING Ocko, Ilissa B.; Ramaswamy, V.; Ginoux, Paul Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 117, Issue D20 https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JD018019	journal	October 2012
Dust radiative forcing in snow of the Upper Colorado River Basin: 1. A 6 year record of energy balance, radiation, and dust concentrations: DUST RADIATIVE FORCING ENERGY BALANCE Painter, Thomas H.; Skiles, S. McKenzie; Deems, Jeffrey S. Water Resources Research, Vol. 48, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1029/2012WR011985	journal	July 2012
Global sensitivity studies of the direct radiative forcing due to anthropogenic sulfate and black carbon aerosols Haywood, J. M.; Ramaswamy, V. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 103, Issue D6 https://doi.org/10.1029/97JD03426	journal	March 1998
Quantifying the emission of light-absorbing particles: Measurements tailored to climate studies Bond, Tami C.; Charlson, Robert J.; Heintzenberg, Jost Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 25, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1029/98GL00039	journal	February 1998
Threatened loss of the Greenland ice-sheet Gregory, Jonathan M.; Huybrechts, Philippe; Raper, Sarah C. B. Nature, Vol. 428, Issue 6983 https://doi.org/10.1038/428616a	journal	April 2004
Climate-induced variations in global wildfire danger from 1979 to 2013 Jolly, W. Matt; Cochrane, Mark A.; Freeborn, Patrick H. Nature Communications, Vol. 6, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8537	journal	July 2015
Global and regional climate changes due to black carbon Ramanathan, V.; Carmichael, G. Nature Geoscience, Vol. 1, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo156	journal	March 2008
Implications of changing climate for global wildland fire Flannigan, Mike D.; Krawchuk, Meg A.; de Groot, William J. International Journal of Wildland Fire, Vol. 18, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF08187	journal	January 2009
Recent burning of boreal forests exceeds fire regime limits of the past 10,000 years Kelly, R.; Chipman, M. L.; Higuera, P. E. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 110, Issue 32 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1305069110	journal	July 2013
Climate change and forest fires synergistically drive widespread melt events of the Greenland Ice Sheet Keegan, K. M.; Albert, M. R.; McConnell, J. R. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 111, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1405397111	journal	May 2014
Soot climate forcing via snow and ice albedos Hansen, J.; Nazarenko, L. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 101, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2237157100	journal	December 2003
Climate Effects of Black Carbon Aerosols in China and India Menon, S. Science, Vol. 297, Issue 5590 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1075159	journal	September 2002
20th-Century Industrial Black Carbon Emissions Altered Arctic Climate Forcing McConnell, J. R.; Edwards, R.; Kok, G. L. Science, Vol. 317, Issue 5843 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1144856	journal	September 2007
Overview of Arctic Cloud and Radiation Characteristics Curry, Judith A.; Schramm, Julie L.; Rossow, William B. Journal of Climate, Vol. 9, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1996)009<1731:OOACAR>2.0.CO;2	journal	August 1996
A Model for the Spectral Albedo of Snow. II: Snow Containing Atmospheric Aerosols Warren, Stephen G.; Wiscombe, Warren J. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 37, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1980)037<2734:AMFTSA>2.0.CO;2	journal	December 1980
Increased Runoff from Melt from the Greenland Ice Sheet: A Response to Global Warming Hanna, Edward; Huybrechts, Philippe; Steffen, Konrad Journal of Climate, Vol. 21, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JCLI1964.1	journal	January 2008
A Characterization of the Present-Day Arctic Atmosphere in CCSM4 de Boer, Gijs; Chapman, William; Kay, Jennifer E. Journal of Climate, Vol. 25, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00228.1	journal	April 2012
Exposing Global Cloud Biases in the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) Using Satellite Observations and Their Corresponding Instrument Simulators Kay, J. E.; Hillman, B. R.; Klein, S. A. Journal of Climate, Vol. 25, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00469.1	journal	August 2012
Elucidating the Role of Anthropogenic Aerosols in Arctic Sea Ice Variations Wang, Yuan; Jiang, Jonathan H.; Su, Hui Journal of Climate, Vol. 31, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0287.1	journal	January 2018
Light-absorbing impurities in Arctic snow Doherty, S. J.; Warren, S. G.; Grenfell, T. C. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 10, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-11647-2010	journal	January 2010
Historical (1850–2000) gridded anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions of reactive gases and aerosols: methodology and application Lamarque, J. -F.; Bond, T. C.; Eyring, V. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 10, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-7017-2010	journal	January 2010
Sources of carbonaceous aerosols and deposited black carbon in the Arctic in winter-spring: implications for radiative forcing Wang, Q.; Jacob, D. J.; Fisher, J. A. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 11, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-12453-2011	journal	January 2011
The Arctic response to remote and local forcing of black carbon Sand, M.; Berntsen, T. K.; Kay, J. E. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 13, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-211-2013	journal	January 2013
An AeroCom assessment of black carbon in Arctic snow and sea ice Jiao, C.; Flanner, M. G.; Balkanski, Y. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 14, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2399-2014	journal	January 2014
Evaluation of black carbon estimations in global aerosol models Koch, D.; Schulz, M.; Kinne, S. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 9, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-9001-2009	journal	January 2009
Light-absorbing impurities in Arctic snow Doherty, S. J.; Warren, S. G.; Grenfell, T. C. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, Vol. 10, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-10-18807-2010	journal	January 2010
Historical (1850–2000) gridded anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions of reactive gases and aerosols: methodology and application Lamarque, J. -F.; Bond, T. C.; Eyring, V. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, Vol. 10, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-10-4963-2010	journal	January 2010
Evaluation of black carbon estimations in global aerosol models Koch, D.; Schulz, M.; Kinne, S. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, Vol. 9, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-9-15769-2009	journal	January 2009
Toward a minimal representation of aerosols in climate models: description and evaluation in the Community Atmosphere Model CAM5 Liu, X.; Easter, R. C.; Ghan, S. J. Geoscientific Model Development, Vol. 5, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-5-709-2012	journal	January 2012
Climate of the Greenland ice sheet using a high-resolution climate model – Part 2: Near-surface climate and energy balance Ettema, J.; van den Broeke, M. R.; van Meijgaard, E. The Cryosphere, Vol. 4, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-4-529-2010	journal	January 2010
Data in support of the study "Modeled Response of Greenland Snowmelt to the Presence of Biomass Burning-Based Absorbing Aerosols in the Atmosphere and Snow" Ward, Jamie L. University of Michigan https://doi.org/10.7302/z24q7s64	dataset	January 2018
The extreme melt across the Greenland ice sheet in 2012 Nghiem, S. V.; Hall, D. K.; Mote, T. L. Columbia University https://doi.org/10.7916/d85m65nn	null	January 2012

Cited By (2)

Progress and Challenges in Quantifying Wildfire Smoke Emissions, Their Properties, Transport, and Atmospheric Impacts Sokolik, I. N.; Soja, A. J.; DeMott, P. J. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 124, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jd029878	journal	December 2019
Variability in individual particle structure and mixing states between the glacier–snowpack and atmosphere in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau Dong, Zhiwen; Kang, Shichang; Qin, Dahe The Cryosphere, Vol. 12, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3877-2018	journal	January 2018

Similar Records

Investigating the impact of aerosol deposition on snowmelt over the Greenland Ice Sheet using a large-ensemble kernel

Journal Article · Tue Nov 06 23:00:00 EST 2018 · Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online) · OSTI ID:1481225

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences

Modeled Response of Greenland Snowmelt to the Presence of Biomass Burning-Based Absorbing Aerosols in the Atmosphere and Snow

Citation Formats

References (56)

Cited By (2)

Similar Records

Related Subjects