Atmospheric Rivers Play Key Role in Rare Greenland Melt Episodes

Integrated Water Vapor (IWV) impacting Greenland on July 9, 2012 based on data from the 20th Century Reanalysis.

Researchers at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory and the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes here at Scripps have published a new article examining the processes responsible for the unusual melting episode in Greenland during the summer of 2012 when temperatures at the summit of Greenland rose above freezing for the first time since 1889. They found a number of climate factors were present in both 1889 and 2012 including strong atmospheric rivers transporting warm, moist air towards Greenland’s west coast. The research article was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres.

A more in depth news story on this research can be found on the Scripps website.

A personal use copy of the article is available here.