Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950–2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance
We present a reconstruction of historical (1950–2014) surface mass balance (SMB) of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) using a high-resolution regional climate model (RACMO2; ∼11 km ) to dynamically downscale the climate of the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2; ∼111 km ). After further stat...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc79942 2023-05-15T16:27:41+02:00 Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950–2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance Noël, Brice Kampenhout, Leonardus Berg, Willem Jan Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Wouters, Bert Broeke, Michiel R. 2020-04-30 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1425-2020 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/1425/2020/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-14-1425-2020 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/1425/2020/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2020 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1425-2020 2020-07-20T16:22:13Z We present a reconstruction of historical (1950–2014) surface mass balance (SMB) of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) using a high-resolution regional climate model (RACMO2; ∼11 km ) to dynamically downscale the climate of the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2; ∼111 km ). After further statistical downscaling to 1 km spatial resolution, evaluation using in situ SMB measurements and remotely sensed GrIS mass change shows good agreement. Comparison with an ensemble of previously conducted RACMO2 simulations forced by climate reanalysis demonstrates that the current product realistically represents the long-term average and variability of individual SMB components and captures the recent increase in meltwater runoff that accelerated GrIS mass loss. This means that, for the first time, climate forcing from an Earth system model (CESM2), which assimilates no observations, can be used without additional corrections to reconstruct the historical GrIS SMB and its recent decline that initiated mass loss in the 1990s. This paves the way for attribution studies of future GrIS mass loss projections and contribution to sea level rise. Text Greenland Ice Sheet Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Greenland The Cryosphere 14 4 1425 1435 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
We present a reconstruction of historical (1950–2014) surface mass balance (SMB) of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) using a high-resolution regional climate model (RACMO2; ∼11 km ) to dynamically downscale the climate of the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2; ∼111 km ). After further statistical downscaling to 1 km spatial resolution, evaluation using in situ SMB measurements and remotely sensed GrIS mass change shows good agreement. Comparison with an ensemble of previously conducted RACMO2 simulations forced by climate reanalysis demonstrates that the current product realistically represents the long-term average and variability of individual SMB components and captures the recent increase in meltwater runoff that accelerated GrIS mass loss. This means that, for the first time, climate forcing from an Earth system model (CESM2), which assimilates no observations, can be used without additional corrections to reconstruct the historical GrIS SMB and its recent decline that initiated mass loss in the 1990s. This paves the way for attribution studies of future GrIS mass loss projections and contribution to sea level rise. |
format |
Text |
author |
Noël, Brice Kampenhout, Leonardus Berg, Willem Jan Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Wouters, Bert Broeke, Michiel R. |
spellingShingle |
Noël, Brice Kampenhout, Leonardus Berg, Willem Jan Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Wouters, Bert Broeke, Michiel R. Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950–2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
author_facet |
Noël, Brice Kampenhout, Leonardus Berg, Willem Jan Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Wouters, Bert Broeke, Michiel R. |
author_sort |
Noël, Brice |
title |
Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950–2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_short |
Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950–2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_full |
Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950–2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_fullStr |
Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950–2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_full_unstemmed |
Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950–2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_sort |
brief communication: cesm2 climate forcing (1950–2014) yields realistic greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1425-2020 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/1425/2020/ |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-14-1425-2020 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/1425/2020/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1425-2020 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
1425 |
op_container_end_page |
1435 |
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1766017136124231680 |