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Time-Domain Reflectometry Measurements and Modelling of Firn Meltwater Infiltration at DYE-2, Greenland
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  • Samira Samimi,
  • Shawn J. Marshall,
  • Michael MacFerrin,
  • Baptiste Vandecrux
Samira Samimi
University of Calgary
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Shawn J. Marshall
University of Calgary

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Michael MacFerrin
University of Colorado Boulder
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Baptiste Vandecrux
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland
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Abstract

Meltwater infiltration and refreezing in snow and firn are important processes for Greenland Ice Sheet mass balance, acting to reduce meltwater runoff and mass loss. To advance understanding of meltwater retention processes in firn, we deployed vertical arrays of time-domain reflectometry sensors and thermistors to continuously monitor meltwater infiltration, refreezing, and wetting-front propagation in the upper 4 m of snow and firn over the 2016 melt season at DYE-2, Greenland. The dataset provides a detailed record of the co-development of the firn wetting and thawing fronts through the melt season. These data are used to constrain a model of firn thermodynamics and hydrology that is then used in simulations of the long-term firn evolution at DYE-2, forced by ERA5 climate reanalyses over the period 1950-2020. Summer 2016 meltwater infiltration reached a depth of 1.8 m below the surface, which is close to the modelled long-term mean at this site. Modelled meltwater infiltration increased at DYE-2 from 1990-2020, driving increases in firn density, ice content, and temperature; 10-m firn temperatures increased by 1°C per decade over this period. Modelled meltwater infiltration reached 6 to 7 m depth during extreme melt seasons in Greenland such as 2012 and 2019, causing 3-4°C increases in 10-m firn temperatures which persist for several years. A similar event occurred in 1968 in the model reconstructions. These deep infiltration events strongly impact the firn at DYE-2, and may be more influential than the background warming trend in governing meltwater retention capacity in the Greenland percolation zone.