TY - JOUR
T1 - Arctic glaciers record wavier circumpolar winds
AU - Sasgen, Ingo
AU - Salles, Anette
AU - Wegmann, Martin
AU - Wouters, Bert
AU - Fettweis, Xavier
AU - Noël, Brice P.Y.
AU - Beck, Christoph
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Glaciers in the Arctic respond sensitively to climate change, recording the polar amplification of global warming with increasing mass loss. Here, we use glacier mass balances in Svalbard and northern Arctic Canada to categorize tropospheric variability and the associated summer circulation over the Arctic. We establish a link between annual glacier mass balances and their respective atmospheric forcings since 1950 using GRACE/GRACE-FO satellite data (2002–2021), as well as regional climate models and reanalysis data (1950–2019). We find that asynchronous behaviour of mass balance between the regions has become very likely since the early 2000s, exceeding the range of previous decadal variability. Related tropospheric circulation exhibits more meridional patterns, a greater influence of meridional heat advection and a wavier summer circulation. The traceable impact on glacier mass balances emphasizes the importance of dynamic next to thermodynamic climate changes for the future of glacier mass loss, Arctic ecology and societal impacts.
AB - Glaciers in the Arctic respond sensitively to climate change, recording the polar amplification of global warming with increasing mass loss. Here, we use glacier mass balances in Svalbard and northern Arctic Canada to categorize tropospheric variability and the associated summer circulation over the Arctic. We establish a link between annual glacier mass balances and their respective atmospheric forcings since 1950 using GRACE/GRACE-FO satellite data (2002–2021), as well as regional climate models and reanalysis data (1950–2019). We find that asynchronous behaviour of mass balance between the regions has become very likely since the early 2000s, exceeding the range of previous decadal variability. Related tropospheric circulation exhibits more meridional patterns, a greater influence of meridional heat advection and a wavier summer circulation. The traceable impact on glacier mass balances emphasizes the importance of dynamic next to thermodynamic climate changes for the future of glacier mass loss, Arctic ecology and societal impacts.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124513121&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41558-021-01275-4
DO - 10.1038/s41558-021-01275-4
M3 - Article
SN - 1758-678X
VL - 12
SP - 249
EP - 255
JO - Nature Climate Change
JF - Nature Climate Change
IS - 3
ER -