Model Estimates of the Mass Balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets
The six possible combinations of two climate models and three methods for calculating the melting of snow and ice are used to estimate current values of accumulation and ablation on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. This allows the contrasting of high vs. low resolution climate input and to as...
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ftciteseerx:oai:CiteSeerX.psu:10.1.1.297.6533 2023-05-15T13:59:20+02:00 Model Estimates of the Mass Balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets Veronique Bugnion The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives application/pdf http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.297.6533 http://globalchange.mit.edu/files/document/MITJPSPGC_Rpt54.pdf en eng http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.297.6533 http://globalchange.mit.edu/files/document/MITJPSPGC_Rpt54.pdf Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. http://globalchange.mit.edu/files/document/MITJPSPGC_Rpt54.pdf text ftciteseerx 2016-01-07T21:51:54Z The six possible combinations of two climate models and three methods for calculating the melting of snow and ice are used to estimate current values of accumulation and ablation on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. This allows the contrasting of high vs. low resolution climate input and to assess the reliability of simple temperature based parameterizations of melting when compared to a physical model of the seasonal evolution of the snow cover. In contrast to past e orts at modelling the mass balance of Greenland and Antarctica, the latter model allows an explicit calculation of the formation of meltwater, of the fraction of meltwater which refreezes and of runo in the ablation region, this is not the case for the other two melt models. While the higher resolution GCM (ECHAM 4) does bring the estimation of accumulation closer to observations, it fails to give accurate results in its predictions of runo. The simpler climate model (MIT 2D LO) overestimates accumulation in Antarctica but produces satisfactory estimates of runo from the Greenland ice sheet. Both models reproduce some of the characteristics of the extent of the wet snow zone observed with satellite remote sensing, but the MIT model is closer to observations in terms of areal extent and intensity of the melting. The temperature dependent melting parameterizations generally require an accuracy in the climatic input beyond what is currently achieved to produce reliable. Because it is based on physical principles and relies on the surface energy balance as input, the snow cover model is believed to have the capability to respond adequately to the current climatic forcing as well as to future changes in climate. 1 1 Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet Unknown Antarctic Greenland |
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English |
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The six possible combinations of two climate models and three methods for calculating the melting of snow and ice are used to estimate current values of accumulation and ablation on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. This allows the contrasting of high vs. low resolution climate input and to assess the reliability of simple temperature based parameterizations of melting when compared to a physical model of the seasonal evolution of the snow cover. In contrast to past e orts at modelling the mass balance of Greenland and Antarctica, the latter model allows an explicit calculation of the formation of meltwater, of the fraction of meltwater which refreezes and of runo in the ablation region, this is not the case for the other two melt models. While the higher resolution GCM (ECHAM 4) does bring the estimation of accumulation closer to observations, it fails to give accurate results in its predictions of runo. The simpler climate model (MIT 2D LO) overestimates accumulation in Antarctica but produces satisfactory estimates of runo from the Greenland ice sheet. Both models reproduce some of the characteristics of the extent of the wet snow zone observed with satellite remote sensing, but the MIT model is closer to observations in terms of areal extent and intensity of the melting. The temperature dependent melting parameterizations generally require an accuracy in the climatic input beyond what is currently achieved to produce reliable. Because it is based on physical principles and relies on the surface energy balance as input, the snow cover model is believed to have the capability to respond adequately to the current climatic forcing as well as to future changes in climate. 1 1 |
author2 |
The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives |
format |
Text |
author |
Veronique Bugnion |
spellingShingle |
Veronique Bugnion Model Estimates of the Mass Balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets |
author_facet |
Veronique Bugnion |
author_sort |
Veronique Bugnion |
title |
Model Estimates of the Mass Balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets |
title_short |
Model Estimates of the Mass Balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets |
title_full |
Model Estimates of the Mass Balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets |
title_fullStr |
Model Estimates of the Mass Balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets |
title_full_unstemmed |
Model Estimates of the Mass Balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets |
title_sort |
model estimates of the mass balance of the greenland and antarctic ice sheets |
url |
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.297.6533 http://globalchange.mit.edu/files/document/MITJPSPGC_Rpt54.pdf |
geographic |
Antarctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Greenland |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
http://globalchange.mit.edu/files/document/MITJPSPGC_Rpt54.pdf |
op_relation |
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.297.6533 http://globalchange.mit.edu/files/document/MITJPSPGC_Rpt54.pdf |
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Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. |
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1766267864633835520 |