46 
48° W 5 32° 
40° W 
Fig. 1. Distribution of precipitation in Greenland (g em72 a-1). Compiled by Reeh, 1984. 
3.2. Melting from the Greenland Ice Sheet 
According to Holtzsherer and Bauer (1954), the mean net balance (net ablation) over the 
ablation area is -1.1 m of w. eqv/year. (The net balance is defined as the net loss of ice-mass 
or -volume, i-e. as the accumulation minus the total melt.) This estimate is based on scattered 
observations from the ablation zone in west Greenland. In east- and north-Greenland very few 
ablation rates have been measured on the ice sheet. Net ablation rates are probably lower than 
has been previously estimated, in southeastern Greenland due to neglect of the large precipita- 
tion over the ice sheet margin (see Fig. 1) and in east central Greenland due to high elevations 
of the ice sheet margin. 
