Surface ablation model evaluation on a drifting ice island in the Canadian Arctic

• Published in: Cold Regions Science and Technology
• Main Authors: Crawford, A.J. (Anna J.), Mueller, D. (Derek), Humphreys, E. (Elyn), Carrieres, T. (Tom), Tran, H. (Hai)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Deterioration modeling; Energy-balance; Ice hazards; Ice islands; Melt modeling; Surface ablation; Arctic; Bylot Island; Canada; Lancaster Sound; Nunavut
• Online Access: https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/8181; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2014.11.011

A 4-week micro-meteorological dataset was collected by an automatic weather station on a small ice island (0.13km2) adrift off Bylot Island (Lancaster Sound, Nunavut, Canada) during the 2011 melt season. This dataset provided an opportunity to identify the environmental variables and energy fluxes that contribute most to surface ablation during the melt season, as well as test previously developed surface melt (ablation) models. Surface ablation was estimated using energy fluxes calculated using the bulk aerodynamic approach (EBAWS) and three existing surface ablation models. These models included a simple solar