A local model of snow–firn dynamics and application to the Colle Gnifetti site

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: F. Banfi, C. De Michele
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2022
• Subjects: Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Geology; QE1-996.5; Monte Rosa; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1031-2022; https://doaj.org/article/315dbbf0eb4f431080a128e86ddfaed0

The regulating role of glaciers in catchment run-off is of fundamental importance in sustaining people living in low-lying areas. The reduction in glacierized areas under the effect of climate change disrupts the distribution and amount of run-off, threatening water supply, agriculture and hydropower. The prediction of these changes requires models that integrate hydrological, nivological and glaciological processes. In this work we propose a local model that combines the nivological and glaciological scales. The model describes the formation and evolution of the snowpack and the firn below it, under the influence of temperature, wind speed and precipitation. The model has been implemented in two versions: (1) a multi-layer one that considers separately each firn layer and (2) a single-layer one that models firn and underlying glacier ice as a single layer. The model was applied at the site of Colle Gnifetti (Monte Rosa massif, 4400–4550 <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow class="unit"><mi mathvariant="normal">m</mi><mspace width="0.125em" linebreak="nobreak"/><mi mathvariant="normal">a</mi><mo>.</mo><mi mathvariant="normal">s</mi><mo>.</mo><mi mathvariant="normal">l</mi><mo>.</mo></mrow></math> <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="36pt" height="10pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="c66ba9c58375fb02029941ba18d549da"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="tc-16-1031-2022-ie00001.svg" width="36pt" height="10pt" src="tc-16-1031-2022-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg> ). We obtained an average reduction in annual snow accumulation due to wind erosion of 2×10 3 <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow class="unit"><mi mathvariant="normal">kg</mi><mspace ...