A wind-driven snow redistribution module for Alpine3D v3.3.0: adaptations designed for downscaling ice sheet surface mass balance
Ice sheet surface mass balance describes the net snow accumulation at the ice sheet surface. On the Antarctic ice sheet, winds redistribute snow, resulting in a surface mass balance that is variable in both space and time. Representing wind-driven snow redistribution processes in models is critical...
Published in: | Geoscientific Model Development |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/16/3203/2023/ |
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:gmd101159 2023-07-02T03:29:53+02:00 A wind-driven snow redistribution module for Alpine3D v3.3.0: adaptations designed for downscaling ice sheet surface mass balance Keenan, Eric Wever, Nander Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Medley, Brooke 2023-06-08 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/16/3203/2023/ eng eng doi:10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/16/3203/2023/ eISSN: 1991-9603 Text 2023 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 2023-06-12T16:24:16Z Ice sheet surface mass balance describes the net snow accumulation at the ice sheet surface. On the Antarctic ice sheet, winds redistribute snow, resulting in a surface mass balance that is variable in both space and time. Representing wind-driven snow redistribution processes in models is critical for local assessments of surface mass balance, repeat altimetry studies, and interpretation of ice core accumulation records. To this end, we have adapted Alpine3D, an existing distributed snow modeling framework, to downscale Antarctic surface mass balance to horizontal resolutions up to 1 km . In particular, we have introduced a new two-dimensional advection-based wind-driven snow redistribution module that is driven by an offline coupling between WindNinja, a wind downscaling model, and Alpine3D. We then show that large accumulation variability can be at least partially explained by terrain-induced wind speed variations which subsequently redistribute snow around rolling topography. By comparing Alpine3D to airborne-derived snow accumulation measurements within a testing domain over Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica, we demonstrate that our Alpine3D downscaling approach improves surface mass balance estimates when compared to the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2), a global atmospheric reanalysis which we use as atmospheric forcing. In particular, when compared to MERRA-2, Alpine3D reduces simulated surface mass balance root mean squared error by 23.4 mm w . e . yr - 1 <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="61pt" height="15pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="ababe4b727a34893f1cecbd88151fb23"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="gmd-16-3203-2023-ie00001.svg" width="61pt" height="15pt" src="gmd-16-3203-2023-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg> (13 %) and increases variance explained by 24 %. Despite these improvements, our results demonstrate that considerable uncertainty stems from the employed ... Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet Pine Island Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Antarctic The Antarctic West Antarctica Pine Island Glacier ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) Merra ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816) Geoscientific Model Development 16 11 3203 3219 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Ice sheet surface mass balance describes the net snow accumulation at the ice sheet surface. On the Antarctic ice sheet, winds redistribute snow, resulting in a surface mass balance that is variable in both space and time. Representing wind-driven snow redistribution processes in models is critical for local assessments of surface mass balance, repeat altimetry studies, and interpretation of ice core accumulation records. To this end, we have adapted Alpine3D, an existing distributed snow modeling framework, to downscale Antarctic surface mass balance to horizontal resolutions up to 1 km . In particular, we have introduced a new two-dimensional advection-based wind-driven snow redistribution module that is driven by an offline coupling between WindNinja, a wind downscaling model, and Alpine3D. We then show that large accumulation variability can be at least partially explained by terrain-induced wind speed variations which subsequently redistribute snow around rolling topography. By comparing Alpine3D to airborne-derived snow accumulation measurements within a testing domain over Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica, we demonstrate that our Alpine3D downscaling approach improves surface mass balance estimates when compared to the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2), a global atmospheric reanalysis which we use as atmospheric forcing. In particular, when compared to MERRA-2, Alpine3D reduces simulated surface mass balance root mean squared error by 23.4 mm w . e . yr - 1 <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="61pt" height="15pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="ababe4b727a34893f1cecbd88151fb23"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="gmd-16-3203-2023-ie00001.svg" width="61pt" height="15pt" src="gmd-16-3203-2023-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg> (13 %) and increases variance explained by 24 %. Despite these improvements, our results demonstrate that considerable uncertainty stems from the employed ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Keenan, Eric Wever, Nander Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Medley, Brooke |
spellingShingle |
Keenan, Eric Wever, Nander Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Medley, Brooke A wind-driven snow redistribution module for Alpine3D v3.3.0: adaptations designed for downscaling ice sheet surface mass balance |
author_facet |
Keenan, Eric Wever, Nander Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Medley, Brooke |
author_sort |
Keenan, Eric |
title |
A wind-driven snow redistribution module for Alpine3D v3.3.0: adaptations designed for downscaling ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_short |
A wind-driven snow redistribution module for Alpine3D v3.3.0: adaptations designed for downscaling ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_full |
A wind-driven snow redistribution module for Alpine3D v3.3.0: adaptations designed for downscaling ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_fullStr |
A wind-driven snow redistribution module for Alpine3D v3.3.0: adaptations designed for downscaling ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_full_unstemmed |
A wind-driven snow redistribution module for Alpine3D v3.3.0: adaptations designed for downscaling ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_sort |
wind-driven snow redistribution module for alpine3d v3.3.0: adaptations designed for downscaling ice sheet surface mass balance |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/16/3203/2023/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic West Antarctica Pine Island Glacier Merra |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic West Antarctica Pine Island Glacier Merra |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet Pine Island Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet Pine Island Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica |
op_source |
eISSN: 1991-9603 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/16/3203/2023/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 |
container_title |
Geoscientific Model Development |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
3203 |
op_container_end_page |
3219 |
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1770273208364171264 |