Advancing Knowledge of North Atlantic Land ICE - LINKing Observations and Models

ongoing

ICELINK will bridge the knowledge gap between climate models, ice-flow models, satellite observations and in-situ observations to accelerate the understanding of how glaciers and ice sheets in the North Atlantic respond to climate change, and their impacts on climate and ecosystems. Observations in the past decades have alerted for the rapid changes in land ice in this region. Record temperatures, melting ice and increased fresh water flux may destabilise the atmosphere and ocean circulation, with severe consequences for regional weather system, sea level rise, and affecting Europe and beyond. An improved understanding of trends and variability of ice evolution is important, and ICELINK will address this challenge by integrating Earth Observation data, in-situ observations and ice flow and climate models into an improved understanding of the processes that control the evolution of glaciers. Through improved understanding of snow, surface mass balance and the ice dynamical response to meltwater runoff, ICELINK will provide new knowledge of the response of Icelandic glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet to global warming and the impacts on climate and ecosystems. ICELINK will engage closely with local communities to co-develop and disseminate new knowledge, needed to support adaptation strategies, mitigate risks and enhance their resilience. A novel approach in ICELINK is to investigate the effect of increasing surface melting on ice evolution of the Greenland Ice Sheet by using Icelandic glaciers as a data-observation laboratory for understanding the response in a warmer world with more melt. The improved models and new insights will feed into the World Climate Research Programme’s Cryosphere Project, IPCC, IPBES, assist development of Copernicus, and support the Destination Earth Initiative. ICELINK will produce results that are in high demand in order to plan and adapt for the future.