Simulation of Ice Phenology on a Large Lake in the Mackenzie River Basin (1960–2000)
ABSTRACT: A one-dimensional thermodynamic lake ice model (the Canadian Lake Ice Model or CLIMo) is presented and validated against in situ observations from Back Bay on Great Slave Lake (GSL) in the Mackenzie River basin, N.W.T. CLIMo results are also compared with freeze-up and break-up dates deriv...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.587.2407 http://www.easternsnow.org/proceedings/2002/001_Menard.pdf |
| Summary: | ABSTRACT: A one-dimensional thermodynamic lake ice model (the Canadian Lake Ice Model or CLIMo) is presented and validated against in situ observations from Back Bay on Great Slave Lake (GSL) in the Mackenzie River basin, N.W.T. CLIMo results are also compared with freeze-up and break-up dates derived from SSM/I 85 GHz passive microwave data over GSL. Simulations are carried out over a 41-year period (1960–2000). Meteorological variables used as input for model simulations consist of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, cloud cover and snow on the ground. In addition, snow density derived from snow course measurements is used whenever available. The model output contains several information, notably ice and snow thickness as well as freeze-up and break-up dates. CLIMo reproduces lake ice phenology very well. Results show an excellent agreement between observed and simulated ice thickness and on-ice snow depth. The freeze-up and break-up dates are also well reproduced with a RMSE of 6 and 4 days, respectively. Undoubtedly, given the huge area of GSL, meteorological data from the Yellowknife airport weather station are probably representative of only a limited section of the lake. This is one of the reasons why a future investigation will focus on several weather stations around the lake. |
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