Seasonal changes of ice surface characteristics and productivity in the ablation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet

Chandler, D. M.; Alcock, J. D.; Wadham, J. L.; Mackie, S. L.; Telling, J.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-487-2015

Articles | Volume 9, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-487-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-487-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 9, issue 2

Research article

|

06 Mar 2015

Research article |

| 06 Mar 2015

Seasonal changes of ice surface characteristics and productivity in the ablation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet

D. M. Chandler, J. D. Alcock, J. L. Wadham, S. L. Mackie, and J. Telling

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Final revised paper (published on 06 Mar 2015)
Preprint (discussion started on 25 Feb 2014)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC C337: 'Comments', Anonymous Referee #1, 29 Mar 2014
RC C451: 'review Chandler et al', Anonymous Referee #2, 14 Apr 2014
RC C531: 'reviewer report on Chandler et al.', A. Hodson, 24 Apr 2014
AC C1197: 'Final response', D. Chandler, 09 Jul 2014

Short summary

The Greenland Ice Sheet surface shows a diverse range of characteristics, and hosts active microbial communities in debris-rich ''cryoconite holes'' (CHs). Field and satellite data for a complete melt season revealed significant links between surface albedo, CH coverage and biological activity. This suggests satellites may be able to monitor CH biological processes. Nevertheless, caution is needed when extrapolating point measurements of biological processes to larger space and time scales.