Parameterizing Deep Water Percolation Improves Subsurface Temperature Simulations by a Multilayer Firn Model
Deep preferential percolation of melt water in snow and firn brings water lower along the vertical profile than a laterally homogeneous wetting front. This widely recognized process is an important source of uncertainty in simulations of subsurface temperature, density, and water content in seasonal...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:fa48635311454e7186a720694b9b8230 2023-05-15T18:29:46+02:00 Parameterizing Deep Water Percolation Improves Subsurface Temperature Simulations by a Multilayer Firn Model Sergey Marchenko Ward J. J. van Pelt Björn Claremar Veijo Pohjola Rickard Pettersson Horst Machguth Carleen Reijmer 2017-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2017.00016 https://doaj.org/article/fa48635311454e7186a720694b9b8230 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feart.2017.00016/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2017.00016 https://doaj.org/article/fa48635311454e7186a720694b9b8230 Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 5 (2017) firn firn modeling preferential flow internal accumulation Lomonosovfonna Svalbard Science Q article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2017.00016 2022-12-31T01:28:35Z Deep preferential percolation of melt water in snow and firn brings water lower along the vertical profile than a laterally homogeneous wetting front. This widely recognized process is an important source of uncertainty in simulations of subsurface temperature, density, and water content in seasonal snow and in firn packs on glaciers and ice sheets. However, observation and quantification of preferential flow is challenging and therefore it is not accounted for by most of the contemporary snow/firn models. Here we use temperature measurements in the accumulation zone of Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, done in April 2012–2015 using multiple thermistor strings to describe the process of water percolation in snow and firn. Effects of water flow through the snow and firn profile are further explored using a coupled surface energy balance - firn model forced by the output of the regional climate model WRF. In situ air temperature, radiation, and surface height change measurements are used to constrain the surface energy and mass fluxes. To account for the effects of preferential water flow in snow and firn we test a set of depth-dependent functions allocating a certain fraction of the melt water available at the surface to each snow/firn layer. Experiments are performed for a range of characteristic percolation depths and results indicate a reduction in root mean square difference between the modeled and measured temperature by up to a factor of two compared to the results from the default water infiltration scheme. This illustrates the significance of accounting for preferential water percolation to simulate subsurface conditions. The suggested approach to parameterization of the preferential water flow requires low additional computational cost and can be implemented in layered snow/firn models applied both at local and regional scales, for distributed domains with multiple mesh points. Article in Journal/Newspaper Svalbard Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Svalbard Lomonosovfonna ENVELOPE(17.663,17.663,78.774,78.774) Frontiers in Earth Science 5 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
firn firn modeling preferential flow internal accumulation Lomonosovfonna Svalbard Science Q |
spellingShingle |
firn firn modeling preferential flow internal accumulation Lomonosovfonna Svalbard Science Q Sergey Marchenko Ward J. J. van Pelt Björn Claremar Veijo Pohjola Rickard Pettersson Horst Machguth Carleen Reijmer Parameterizing Deep Water Percolation Improves Subsurface Temperature Simulations by a Multilayer Firn Model |
topic_facet |
firn firn modeling preferential flow internal accumulation Lomonosovfonna Svalbard Science Q |
description |
Deep preferential percolation of melt water in snow and firn brings water lower along the vertical profile than a laterally homogeneous wetting front. This widely recognized process is an important source of uncertainty in simulations of subsurface temperature, density, and water content in seasonal snow and in firn packs on glaciers and ice sheets. However, observation and quantification of preferential flow is challenging and therefore it is not accounted for by most of the contemporary snow/firn models. Here we use temperature measurements in the accumulation zone of Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, done in April 2012–2015 using multiple thermistor strings to describe the process of water percolation in snow and firn. Effects of water flow through the snow and firn profile are further explored using a coupled surface energy balance - firn model forced by the output of the regional climate model WRF. In situ air temperature, radiation, and surface height change measurements are used to constrain the surface energy and mass fluxes. To account for the effects of preferential water flow in snow and firn we test a set of depth-dependent functions allocating a certain fraction of the melt water available at the surface to each snow/firn layer. Experiments are performed for a range of characteristic percolation depths and results indicate a reduction in root mean square difference between the modeled and measured temperature by up to a factor of two compared to the results from the default water infiltration scheme. This illustrates the significance of accounting for preferential water percolation to simulate subsurface conditions. The suggested approach to parameterization of the preferential water flow requires low additional computational cost and can be implemented in layered snow/firn models applied both at local and regional scales, for distributed domains with multiple mesh points. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sergey Marchenko Ward J. J. van Pelt Björn Claremar Veijo Pohjola Rickard Pettersson Horst Machguth Carleen Reijmer |
author_facet |
Sergey Marchenko Ward J. J. van Pelt Björn Claremar Veijo Pohjola Rickard Pettersson Horst Machguth Carleen Reijmer |
author_sort |
Sergey Marchenko |
title |
Parameterizing Deep Water Percolation Improves Subsurface Temperature Simulations by a Multilayer Firn Model |
title_short |
Parameterizing Deep Water Percolation Improves Subsurface Temperature Simulations by a Multilayer Firn Model |
title_full |
Parameterizing Deep Water Percolation Improves Subsurface Temperature Simulations by a Multilayer Firn Model |
title_fullStr |
Parameterizing Deep Water Percolation Improves Subsurface Temperature Simulations by a Multilayer Firn Model |
title_full_unstemmed |
Parameterizing Deep Water Percolation Improves Subsurface Temperature Simulations by a Multilayer Firn Model |
title_sort |
parameterizing deep water percolation improves subsurface temperature simulations by a multilayer firn model |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2017.00016 https://doaj.org/article/fa48635311454e7186a720694b9b8230 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(17.663,17.663,78.774,78.774) |
geographic |
Svalbard Lomonosovfonna |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard Lomonosovfonna |
genre |
Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Svalbard |
op_source |
Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 5 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feart.2017.00016/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2017.00016 https://doaj.org/article/fa48635311454e7186a720694b9b8230 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2017.00016 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Earth Science |
container_volume |
5 |
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1766213137914134528 |