www.geosci-model-dev.net/5/773/2012/ doi:10.5194/gmd-5-773-2012 © Author(s) 2012. CC Attribution 3.0 License.

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Antarctic; East Antarctic Ice Sheet; Simu; Antarc*; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.635.3560; http://hal-meteofrance.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/84/46/45/PDF/gmd-5-773-2012.pdf

Abstract. Detailed studies of snow cover processes require models that offer a fine description of the snow cover proper-ties. The detailed snowpack model Crocus is such a scheme, and has been run operationally for avalanche forecasting over the French mountains for 20 yr. It is also used for climate or hydrological studies. To extend its potential applications, Crocus has been recently integrated within the framework of the externalized surface module SURFEX. SURFEX com-putes the exchanges of energy and mass between different types of surface and the atmosphere. It includes in particu-lar the land surface scheme ISBA (Interactions between Soil, Biosphere, and Atmosphere). It allows Crocus to be run ei-ther in stand-alone mode, using a time series of forcing me-teorological data or in fully coupled mode (explicit or fully implicit numerics) with atmospheric models ranging from meso-scale models to general circulation models. This ap-proach also ensures a full coupling between the snow cover and the soil beneath. Several applications of this new simu-lation platform are presented. They range from a 1-D stand-alone simulation (Col de Porte, France) to fully-distributed simulations in complex terrain over a whole mountain range (Massif des Grandes Rousses, France), or in coupled mode such as a surface energy balance and boundary layer simula-tion over the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (Dome C). 1