Characteristics of extreme accumulation events in West Antarctica

• Main Authors: Gilbert, E., Orr, A., Pishniak, D., Kristiina, V., van de Berg, W., Mottram, R.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Antarctic; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica; Pine Island
• Online Access: https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5016786

>Glaciers in West Antarctica are accelerating extremely rapidly and discharging enormous quantities of ice into the ocean, adding to global sea level. However, while ice loss factors in this region are important to consider, the other side of the mass balance equation – accumulation - also has a strong bearing on overall ice mass. In this study, we examine extreme accumulation events over the West Antarctic region focusing on the Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers. Several regional climate models (MetUM, HCLIM and Polar-WRF) are used to dynamically downscale ERA5 reanalysis to 12 km, 3 km and 1 km resolution and we compare against AMIGOS snow accumulation data to validate and add value to the model simulations. In this work we will explore the characteristics of extreme precipitation events and evaluate how enhanced resolution impacts the quality of simulations.