The Watson River flows from the Greenland Ice Sheet, past Kangerlussuaq (formerly Søndre Strømfjord) and into the sea. Map shows the difference between the annual SMB in 2019-20 and the 1981-2010 period (in mm of ice melt). The map shows how much light is reflected from the Greenland Ice Sheet – on a day-to-day basis. The river drains about 12000 km2 of the inland ice.
The red areas of the map indicate where the surface of the ice has become darker. (See our previous annual analysis for 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015.).

After thorough investigations of data quality, it is now evident that the GRACE and GRACE-FO data are, indeed, consistent across the gap between the two satellite missions from late 2017 to mid-2018. Satellite images from areas along the coasts of Greenland. The map is based on NASA’s satellite measurements from the MODIS sensor, which measures the reflection of sunlight from the surface. Please make sure that you read the disclaimer at the top of the file! Likewise, surface mass loss can occur without melting due to sublimation. The figures are based in part on observations made by meteorological stations on the ice sheet and in part on DMI's research weather model for Greenland, Hirlam-Newsnow, and since 1 July 2017 the HARMONIE-AROME weather model. The mass of the Greenland ice sheet has rapidly declined in the last several years due to surface melting and iceberg calving. The HIRHAM5 regional climate model estimates that the average annual smb is around 367 km3 over the 1989 – 2012 period which is consistent with other model estimates and with calculated smb at locations where the components are measured accurately.
Webinar: Is climate change making wildfires worse? The images are delivered by the the University of Dundee, Scotland (the green images) and by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Light areas reflect more sunlight than dark areas. The amount of meltwater, however, varies substantially from year to year. The map below illustrates the geographical spread of surface mass losses (red shading) and gains (blue) over 2019-20 compared to the long-term average. Typically, this is the point in the year where the ice melt seen through late spring and summer comes to an end and the ice sheet starts to gain mass again as northern hemisphere temperatures decline through autumn and into winter. So far, so simple. He will be much missed. See further discussions of the difference between surface mass balance and melting here. The HARMONIE-AROME weather model that since 1 July 2017 drives the melt model. The orange line shows the annual average. The red dots on the chart show the month-by-month observations of ice sheet mass. In general, the map reveals more losses on the western side of Greenland over the past year and gains in the east. The melt season of 2018-19 is a classic example. By clicking on the magenta circle, measurements of runoff from Watson river close to Kangerlussuaq is shown.