Snowpack thermal regime controls ice layer permeability
Lea, James
Increased occurrence of high melt summers across Arctic ice caps and the Greenland Ice Sheet creates thicker, more numerous ice layers within the near surface snow and firn of their accumulation zones. Ice layers may reduce vertical percolation of surface meltwater, promote lateral runoff, reduce refreezing at depth in underlying snow and firn promoting a positive feedback towards more negative surface mass balance. Despite their significance for ice sheet mass balance, controls on ice layer per