The importance of accurate glacier albedo for estimates of surface mass balance on Vatnajökull: evaluating the surface energy budget in a regional climate model with automatic weather station observations

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: Schmidt, Louise Steffensen, Aðalgeirsdóttir, Guðfinna, Guðmundsson, Sverrir, Langen, Peter L., Pálsson, Finnur, Mottram, Ruth, Gascoin, Simon, Björnsson, Helgi
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Vatnajökull; glacier; Ice cap; Iceland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1665-2017; https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/11/1665/2017/

A simulation of the surface climate of Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland, carried out with the regional climate model HIRHAM5 for the period 1980–2014, is used to estimate the evolution of the glacier surface mass balance (SMB). This simulation uses a new snow albedo parameterization that allows albedo t...