Surface Temperature and Melt of the Greenland Ice Sheet from MODIS

Using the recently-developed Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) climate-quality data record of the clear-sky ice-surface temperature (IST) of the Greenland ice sheet, we have studied daily, monthly, seasonal and annual IST from March 2000 to the present, and also surface melt extent for the last 13 melt seasons. In addition, IST trends both above and below 2000 m elevation, and in the six major drainage basins of the ice sheet have been identified, and monthly, seasonal and annual anomaly maps were created. Although the time series is relatively short, it includes some interesting features, such as an anomalously-cold winter in 2008, an anomalously-warm year (2010) and a major melt event in 2012. A time series of daily MODIS melt images shows the progression of melt covering almost the entire surface of the ice sheet in mid-July 2012. The existence of the climate-quality data record allows us to document trends in surface temperature and changes in melt patterns, and to put unusual events, such as the extensive melt in July of 2012, into the context of melt observed during the MODIS era (2000 - present).