The interaction between an ice sheet and its atmospheric boundary layer

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Hall, Alison, Weston, Keith
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1993
• Subjects: Earth-Surface Processes; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s002214300001649x; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S002214300001649X

Abstract The importance of the atmospheric boundary layer for the coupling between the climate and an ice sheet is investigated using a slab model of the atmospheric boundary layer. The model is shown to give reasonable agreement with observations over Antarctica and it is used to look at the effect of different ice-sheet shapes on the boundary layer. The importance of entrainment in bringing heat to the surface is highlighted and is shown to be particularly significant when the ice profile becomes steeper. The model could be used as part of an energy-balance model of snow in order to incorporate the interplay of the boundary layer and ice-sheet shape in the ablation process. The slab model could also be used in a GCM as a parameterization of these sub-grid scale processes which are at present ignored in models on a global scale.