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Foehn Winds on Larsen C Ice Shelf During Polar Night: Impacts on the Surface Energy Budget and Melt
  • Matthew Laffin,
  • Charles Zender,
  • Sameer Singh
Matthew Laffin
University of California Irvine

Corresponding Author:matthew.laffin@gmail.com

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Charles Zender
Univ California Irvine
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Sameer Singh
University of California, Irvine
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Abstract

Larsen A and B ice shelves were affected by surface melt which preconditioned them for rapid disintegration due to hydrofracture and densification. Recently, warm and dry foehn winds have been discovered to melt the vulnerable Larsen C Ice Shelf (LCIS) surface via sensible heat transfer during polar night. The climatological extent and intensity of polar night surface melt and their effects on the ice surface energy budget are unknown. Here we quantify the spatial pattern and temporal variability of foehn winds and associated melt events during polar night to understand the ice shelf surface mass balance and indirect implications for ice shelf vulnerability. Our Foehn Detection Algorithm (FonDA) uses events identified from in situ Automated Weather Stations (AWS) to calibrate foehn detection from reanalysis data covering all of Antarctica and Greenland. We present a climatology of foehn-driven surface melt days, melt water equivalent, fraction of melt that occurs during polar night, and the surface energy budget. Preliminary results show that foehns perturb sensible heat fluxes by up to 300 Wm-2 and surface air temperatures by up to 13 °C in the absence of shortwave radiation.