The Impact of Extreme Blocking and Moisture Transport on Melting Events of the Northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet

The Arctic is an area of continued interest due to its quickly changing climate and associated impact on the overall globe. For several decades, the Greenland ice sheet has been rapidly and continuously melting, causing changes in surface mass balance and destabilizing large parts of the ice sheet. However, melting across the ice sheet is not evenly distributed as shown by accelerated rates of melt in the Northwest. This higher rate of melt is possibly enhanced by phenomena such as atmospheric blocking and anomalous moisture transport. Atmospheric blocking can be quantified using the Greenland Blocking Index (GBI), and moisture transport can also be measured using Integrated Water Vapor Transport (IVT). These values will be compared to changes in surface mass balance over multiple Greenland drainage basins. The purpose of this work is to closer examine how days consisting of these events affect the rate of melt of the Northwestern ice sheet compared to other areas of Greenland, and if so, what factors make it more susceptible to melt.