According to data provided by the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), Greenland is currently GAINING snow and ice at a level never before seen this late into the season.Using the daily output from a weather forecasting model combined with a model that calculates the melt of snow and ice, the DMI calculate the "surface mass budget" (SMB) of the ice sheet.
Crucial to the survival of a
glacier is its SMB, which is the difference between
accumulation and
ablation (sublimation and melting).
The budget takes into account the balance between snow that is added to the ice sheet vs melting snow and glacier ice that runs off into the ocean.
The budget is totaled over the course of a season, from September 1 to August 31.
Last season's SMB totaled
349bn tonnes, which was "normal," according to the DMI.
Changes in this mass-balance control a glacier's long-term behavior, and are its most sensitive climate indicators.
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