Satellite-Derived Summer Albedo Variations on the Greenland Ice Sheet from 1979 to 2024 Linked with Climatic Indices.
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| Title: | Satellite-Derived Summer Albedo Variations on the Greenland Ice Sheet from 1979 to 2024 Linked with Climatic Indices. |
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| Authors: | Zhang, Yulun1 (AUTHOR), Geng, Shang1 (AUTHOR), Wang, Yetang1 (AUTHOR) yetangwang@sdnu.edu.cn |
| Source: | Remote Sensing. Jan2026, Vol. 18 Issue 2, p295. 21p. |
| Subjects: | Albedo, Atmospheric circulation, Climate change, Meltwater, Environmental indicators, Greenland ice, Artificial satellites |
| Geographic Terms: | Greenland Ice Sheet (Greenland), Greenland |
| Abstract: | Highlights: What are the main findings? Compared with earlier versions, the CLARA-A3-SAL product shows improved performance over Greenland, characterized by biases lower than 0.05 in the interior and correlations exceeding 0.6 at the majority of coastal stations. Since 1979, Greenland summer albedo has declined significantly (−0.24% decade−1), driven primarily by meltwater-induced grain growth and bare ice exposure, while large-scale atmospheric circulation strongly influences the magnitude and spatial pattern of albedo change. What are the implications of the main findings? Reliable long-term satellite albedo records in polar regions, such as CLARA-A3-SAL, provide robust assessments of ice and snow changes and their energy-budget feedbacks, supporting analyses of climate trends and underlying processes. The pronounced sensitivity of albedo to melt and atmospheric blocking, together with the decadal variability driven by the AMO and PDO, highlights the need for accurately representing albedo–melt–circulation interactions in climate and ice-sheet models. CLARA-A3 currently provides the longest temporal coverage among available albedo products, with improvements in both retrieval algorithms and product coverage compared to earlier versions. This study first evaluates the performance of the CLARA-A3-SAL product over Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and subsequently applies it to investigate spatiotemporal trends in summer albedo from 1979 to 2024. Validation against 32 in situ observation sites indicates negligible bias in the interior regions, with RMSE values ranging from 0.01 to 0.07. Although larger errors exist in the coastal ablation zone due to unresolved sub-grid surface heterogeneity, the product successfully captures observed spatiotemporal variability and long-term trends, demonstrating that CLARA-A3-SAL provides a generally reliable representation of surface albedo. Since 1979, the summer surface albedo averaged over the entire ice sheet has decreased at a rate of −0.24% decade−1. Albedo in the dry snow area has remained relatively stable and showed no significant correlation with most climate variables, except for the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Greenland Blocking Index (GBI). Conversely, the marginal zone has undergone substantial darkening (−0.66% decade−1), which is strongly correlated with temperature, snowfall and melt, with meltwater showing the highest correlation (r = −0.90, p < 0.01). This suggests that meltwater-driven grain growth and exposure of bare ice are the primary drivers of albedo reduction over the non-dry snow zone. Large-scale atmospheric circulation also plays a key role: the GBI exhibits the strongest association with albedo (r = −0.63, p < 0.05), underscoring the importance of persistent blocking in amplifying surface warming and darkening. Furthermore, decadal-scale variability associated with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) modulates both the magnitude and spatial pattern of albedo changes across GrIS, with AMO+ generally linked to reduced albedo and PDO+ tending to enhance it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Engineering Source |
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| Abstract: | Highlights: What are the main findings? Compared with earlier versions, the CLARA-A3-SAL product shows improved performance over Greenland, characterized by biases lower than 0.05 in the interior and correlations exceeding 0.6 at the majority of coastal stations. Since 1979, Greenland summer albedo has declined significantly (−0.24% decade−1), driven primarily by meltwater-induced grain growth and bare ice exposure, while large-scale atmospheric circulation strongly influences the magnitude and spatial pattern of albedo change. What are the implications of the main findings? Reliable long-term satellite albedo records in polar regions, such as CLARA-A3-SAL, provide robust assessments of ice and snow changes and their energy-budget feedbacks, supporting analyses of climate trends and underlying processes. The pronounced sensitivity of albedo to melt and atmospheric blocking, together with the decadal variability driven by the AMO and PDO, highlights the need for accurately representing albedo–melt–circulation interactions in climate and ice-sheet models. CLARA-A3 currently provides the longest temporal coverage among available albedo products, with improvements in both retrieval algorithms and product coverage compared to earlier versions. This study first evaluates the performance of the CLARA-A3-SAL product over Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and subsequently applies it to investigate spatiotemporal trends in summer albedo from 1979 to 2024. Validation against 32 in situ observation sites indicates negligible bias in the interior regions, with RMSE values ranging from 0.01 to 0.07. Although larger errors exist in the coastal ablation zone due to unresolved sub-grid surface heterogeneity, the product successfully captures observed spatiotemporal variability and long-term trends, demonstrating that CLARA-A3-SAL provides a generally reliable representation of surface albedo. Since 1979, the summer surface albedo averaged over the entire ice sheet has decreased at a rate of −0.24% decade−1. Albedo in the dry snow area has remained relatively stable and showed no significant correlation with most climate variables, except for the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Greenland Blocking Index (GBI). Conversely, the marginal zone has undergone substantial darkening (−0.66% decade−1), which is strongly correlated with temperature, snowfall and melt, with meltwater showing the highest correlation (r = −0.90, p < 0.01). This suggests that meltwater-driven grain growth and exposure of bare ice are the primary drivers of albedo reduction over the non-dry snow zone. Large-scale atmospheric circulation also plays a key role: the GBI exhibits the strongest association with albedo (r = −0.63, p < 0.05), underscoring the importance of persistent blocking in amplifying surface warming and darkening. Furthermore, decadal-scale variability associated with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) modulates both the magnitude and spatial pattern of albedo changes across GrIS, with AMO+ generally linked to reduced albedo and PDO+ tending to enhance it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 20724292 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/rs18020295 |
