Fig. 3. Partitioned net shortwave radiation absorbed by the Greenland Ice Sheet ablation zone over the 2001-2017 study period, in units of energy (exajoules) and mass (gigatons of potential melt).
(A) Interannual variations; (B) cumulative summer (JJA) average. In each figure, net shortwave (SWnet) radiation is partitioned into radiation absorbed by firn/snow albedo (turquoise), firn/snow extent (blue), bare ice extent (orange), and bare ice albedo (red). Interannual fluctuations in bare ice extent (and corresponding fluctuations in firn/snow extent) drive most of the variation in net shortwave radiation, signifying that the processes that expose bare ice (e.g., snowline migration) are the strongest melt-albedo feedback operating on the ice sheet.