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...
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Copernicus Publications
2023
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 https://doaj.org/article/29e00abc2cbb452b92106044cd08718a |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:29e00abc2cbb452b92106044cd08718a 2023-07-02T03:30:43+02:00 A wind-driven snow redistribution module for Alpine3D v3.3.0: adaptations designed for downscaling ice sheet surface mass balance E. Keenan N. Wever J. T. M. Lenaerts B. Medley 2023-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 https://doaj.org/article/29e00abc2cbb452b92106044cd08718a EN eng Copernicus Publications https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/16/3203/2023/gmd-16-3203-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1991-959X https://doaj.org/toc/1991-9603 doi:10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 1991-959X 1991-9603 https://doaj.org/article/29e00abc2cbb452b92106044cd08718a Geoscientific Model Development, Vol 16, Pp 3203-3219 (2023) Geology QE1-996.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 2023-06-11T00:35:09Z 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 ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet Pine Island Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Merra ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816) Pine Island Glacier ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) The Antarctic West Antarctica Geoscientific Model Development 16 11 3203 3219 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Geology QE1-996.5 E. Keenan N. Wever J. T. M. Lenaerts B. Medley A wind-driven snow redistribution module for Alpine3D v3.3.0: adaptations designed for downscaling ice sheet surface mass balance |
topic_facet |
Geology QE1-996.5 |
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 |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
E. Keenan N. Wever J. T. M. Lenaerts B. Medley |
author_facet |
E. Keenan N. Wever J. T. M. Lenaerts B. Medley |
author_sort |
E. Keenan |
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 |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 https://doaj.org/article/29e00abc2cbb452b92106044cd08718a |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816) ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) |
geographic |
Antarctic Merra Pine Island Glacier The Antarctic West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Merra Pine Island Glacier The Antarctic West Antarctica |
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 |
Geoscientific Model Development, Vol 16, Pp 3203-3219 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/16/3203/2023/gmd-16-3203-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1991-959X https://doaj.org/toc/1991-9603 doi:10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 1991-959X 1991-9603 https://doaj.org/article/29e00abc2cbb452b92106044cd08718a |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3203-2023 |
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Geoscientific Model Development |
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16 |
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11 |
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3203 |
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3219 |
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