Brief Communication: Upper-air relaxation in RACMO2 significantly improves modelled interannual surface mass balance variability in Antarctica
The Regional Atmospheric Climate Model (RACMO2) has been a powerful tool for improving surface mass balance (SMB) estimates from GCMs or reanalyses. However, new yearly SMB observations for West Antarctica show that the modelled interannual variability in SMB is poorly simulated by RACMO2, in contra...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc31703 2023-05-15T13:54:27+02:00 Brief Communication: Upper-air relaxation in RACMO2 significantly improves modelled interannual surface mass balance variability in Antarctica van de Berg, Willem Jan Medley, Brooke 2018-09-27 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-459-2016 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/10/459/2016/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-10-459-2016 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/10/459/2016/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2018 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-459-2016 2020-07-20T16:24:15Z The Regional Atmospheric Climate Model (RACMO2) has been a powerful tool for improving surface mass balance (SMB) estimates from GCMs or reanalyses. However, new yearly SMB observations for West Antarctica show that the modelled interannual variability in SMB is poorly simulated by RACMO2, in contrast to ERA-Interim, which resolves this variability well. In an attempt to remedy RACMO2 performance, we included additional upper-air relaxation (UAR) in RACMO2. With UAR, the correlation to observations is similar for RACMO2 and ERA-Interim. The spatial SMB patterns and ice-sheet-integrated SMB modelled using UAR remain very similar to the estimates of RACMO2 without UAR. We only observe an upstream smoothing of precipitation in regions with very steep topography like the Antarctic Peninsula. We conclude that UAR is a useful improvement for regional climate model simulations, although results in regions with steep topography should be treated with care. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet West Antarctica Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic West Antarctica The Cryosphere 10 1 459 463 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
The Regional Atmospheric Climate Model (RACMO2) has been a powerful tool for improving surface mass balance (SMB) estimates from GCMs or reanalyses. However, new yearly SMB observations for West Antarctica show that the modelled interannual variability in SMB is poorly simulated by RACMO2, in contrast to ERA-Interim, which resolves this variability well. In an attempt to remedy RACMO2 performance, we included additional upper-air relaxation (UAR) in RACMO2. With UAR, the correlation to observations is similar for RACMO2 and ERA-Interim. The spatial SMB patterns and ice-sheet-integrated SMB modelled using UAR remain very similar to the estimates of RACMO2 without UAR. We only observe an upstream smoothing of precipitation in regions with very steep topography like the Antarctic Peninsula. We conclude that UAR is a useful improvement for regional climate model simulations, although results in regions with steep topography should be treated with care. |
format |
Text |
author |
van de Berg, Willem Jan Medley, Brooke |
spellingShingle |
van de Berg, Willem Jan Medley, Brooke Brief Communication: Upper-air relaxation in RACMO2 significantly improves modelled interannual surface mass balance variability in Antarctica |
author_facet |
van de Berg, Willem Jan Medley, Brooke |
author_sort |
van de Berg, Willem Jan |
title |
Brief Communication: Upper-air relaxation in RACMO2 significantly improves modelled interannual surface mass balance variability in Antarctica |
title_short |
Brief Communication: Upper-air relaxation in RACMO2 significantly improves modelled interannual surface mass balance variability in Antarctica |
title_full |
Brief Communication: Upper-air relaxation in RACMO2 significantly improves modelled interannual surface mass balance variability in Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Brief Communication: Upper-air relaxation in RACMO2 significantly improves modelled interannual surface mass balance variability in Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Brief Communication: Upper-air relaxation in RACMO2 significantly improves modelled interannual surface mass balance variability in Antarctica |
title_sort |
brief communication: upper-air relaxation in racmo2 significantly improves modelled interannual surface mass balance variability in antarctica |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-459-2016 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/10/459/2016/ |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic West Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet West Antarctica |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-10-459-2016 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/10/459/2016/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-459-2016 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
10 |
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1 |
container_start_page |
459 |
op_container_end_page |
463 |
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1766260343663755264 |