ICEMON - stations

- monitoring surface melt over large areas of the ice sheet margin in Greenland

Station location/data There are presently 10 stations located at four ice margin locations. Three stations are located at Nuuk , three stations at Tasiilaq and three stations at Qaqortoq One additional station (not shown) is located in the north in the Melville Bugten.

The Automatic Mass Balance Stations (AMS) follow a new concept of "floating" stations. Due to the high melt rates in the margin areas of the ice sheet, fixed stations will find themselves several metres above the ice surface at the end of the melting season. This requires a high degree of maintenance and a continuous correction of the sensor height above the surface. The new AMS consist of a stable aluminium tripod which resides on the surface of the ice sheet. Thus stability is ensured for the entire measurement period and the sensors will always be at the same level above the ice surface during the ablation season. Variations in orientation and tilt are measured (compass, tilt metres) and can be compensated during data processing.