Metadata
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PROMICE QAS_L
Primary CryoNet Station Information
Measurement Methods Used
- WMO Technical Regulations
- UNESCO
- GTN-G/WGMS
Other relevant measurement method documents:
Given the broad scope of PROMICE, different guidelines and measurement methods are followed as far as relevant to the peculiar conditions of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Among these:
WMO, 2008, Guide to meteorological instruments and methods of observation, WMO-No. 8, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Paul, F., R.G. Barry, J.G. Cogley, H. Frey, W. Haeberli, A. Ohmura, C.S.L. Ommanney, B. Raup, A. Rivera & M. Zemp, 2009, Recommendations for the compilation of glacier inventory data from digital sources, Annals Glaciol., 50(53), 119–126.
Østrem G. and M. Brugmann, 1991, Glacier Mass Balance Measurements. A manual for field and office work. National Hydrology Research Institute (Canada), Science Report No. 4.
Kaser, G., Fountain, A., and Jansson, P., 2003, A Manual For Monitoring the Mass Balance of Mountain Glaciers. IHP-VI Technical Documents in Hydrology No. 59, UNESCO-IHP, Paris.
Data Information
- Are the data quality controlled? yes
- How are the data accessible? HTTP (web), an existing data center, other
- Data availability (may depend on the variable measured): in near real-time, delayed less than one year
Publications
Measurements
The measurements made at PROMICE QAS_L are listed in the following tables. (Note: If End Year is blank, measurements are ongoing.)
Cryosphere Measurements
| Atmosphere Measurements
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In 2007 the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE) was initiated as an ongoing effort to assess changes in the mass budget of the Greenland ice sheet. The two major contributors to the Greenland ice sheet mass loss are a reduction in the surface mass budget through enhanced surface melt and an increasing ice calving flux through glacier acceleration. PROMICE aims to quantify both these processes. The surface mass budget is monitored by a network of weather stations in the melt zone of the ice sheet, providing measurements that feed into models calculating ice-sheet-wide melt. Changes in ice dynamics are tracked using satellite imagery and on-ice GPS. In order to translate this into the mass of ice lost at the many Greenland calving glaciers, information on ice thickness is required as well. This is obtained by airborne laser and radar surveys of the entire ice sheet margin. In addition, changes in the extent of the ice sheet and the many local ice caps and glaciers in Greenland are monitored through with satellite imagery.
The PROMICE network on the ground is composed of seven transects encompassing the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Each transect is composed by two to four automatic stations, from Thule in NW Greenland to Upernavik, Kangerlussuaq, Nuuk, and Qassimiut in West and South Greenland, to Tasiilaq, Scoresbysund and Kronprins Christian Land in East and North Greenland. Starting with 2009, Mittivakkat Glacier in East Greenland is also being monitored. Since 2007 all PROMICE stations are identical and measure air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, incoming and outgoing short- and longwave radiation, ice temperature, surface velocity, snow depth and surface ice ablation.