The Impact of Atmospheric Rivers on Precipitation and Their Contribution to Crustal Deformation in Greenland, 2010 to 2019

In recent years, the range and impact of atmospheric rivers (ARs) landing in Greenland have been increasing. Extreme precipitation brought by ARs can cause a short-term surge in regional ice and snow mass, resulting in “transient” signal in the coordinate time series of Greenland GNSS stations. However, previous studies have mainly focused on ARs detection and corresponding climate impact factors, lacking research on the contribution of extreme AR precipitation to crustal deformation. This article utilizes MERRA-2 reanalysis data and the vIVT algorithm to statistically analyze the frequency, duration, and spatiotemporal distribution of ARs landings in Greenland from 2010 to 2019. We quantitatively analyze the extreme precipitation events caused by ARs and their spatiotemporal evolution characteristics across Greenland and its basins. Then, using coordinates time series from 46 GNSS stations in Greenland, we extract the transient crustal deformation signals caused by AR-induced precipitation based on the multichannel singular spectrum analysis method. The results show that from 2010 to 2019, ARs landed in Greenland a total of 186 times, with a duration of 3174 h, and they showed an overall increasing trend. AR-induced precipitation in Greenland accounted for approximately 13.42% of annual precipitation, with the western region contributing more than 16%. Overall, the contribution rate of AR-induced rainfall was lower than that of AR-induced snowfall. Transient crustal deformation signals caused by AR-induced precipitation were found in some GNSS stations, with vertical deformation reaching up to 1 mm. Coastal areas showed greater deformation than inland areas, and low-latitude areas showed greater deformation than high-latitude areas.