Abstract
Mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is a primary contributor
to sea level rise, but substantial uncertainty exists in estimates of
future ice sheet losses. Surface mass balance (SMB) models, the current
leading approach to sea level rise projection, anticipate continued
dominance of runoff as a mass loss pathway. Despite their preeminence,
SMB models in vulnerable northern environments lack adequate field
validation, particularly for error-sensitive runoff estimates. We have
installed a cluster of high quality field instruments at the Minturn
Elv, a proglacial river site in Inglefield Land, NW Greenland to provide
discharge and weather datasets for the validation and refinement of
climate/SMB runoff models. The instrument cluster has meteorological,
hydrological, and time lapse camera instrumentation, including a vented
water level stage recorder, single shot and scanning lidars, time lapse
cameras, and in situ ADCP discharge and terrestrial scanning lidar
measurements. The instrument suite provides novel flow and weather
datasets with the opportunity to evaluate experimental approaches to
stage measurement in adverse, high-latitude areas. Inglefield is a
uniquely advantaged location because proglacial runoff is dominated by
SMB processes operating on the ice surface without interference from
subglacial hydrology. Overall, our hydrometeorological instrument
cluster at Inglefield Land will provide one of the few validation
datasets for regional climate models outside of Southwest Greenland.