Greenland Ice Sheet Daily Surface Melt Flux Observed From Space

Abstract

Abstract Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) surface melt has contributed to the global sea‐level rise and the ongoing warming is expected to promote this process. This study provides a new strategy for the quantitative estimate of GrIS daily surface melt at enhanced resolution (3.125 km) from a remote sensing perspective beyond traditional regional climate models (RCMs). Daily melt flux is estimated from spaceborne radiometer observations with a back‐propagation neural network model. The network is trained with melt fluxes that are calculated using detailed in‐situ atmospheric and snow observations and a surface energy balance model. Our results provide details about the extreme melt in mid‐July 2012 when surface melt occurred at Summit and the meltwater volume exceeded 20 Gt as a result of anomalous warming. Meltwater volume from the satellite is very close to that from RCMs.