Comparison of snow accumulation events on two High-Arctic glaciers to model-derived and observed precipitation
We evaluate how precipitation forcing data used in glacier mass balance models characterize snow accumulation events on synoptic timescales for two glaciers in north-western Svalbard (Kongsvegen and Holtedahlfonna). Using sonic ranger (snow depth) and wind speed data from automatic weather stations...
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Norwegian Polar Institute
2019
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ftjpolarres:oai:journals.openacademia.net:article/3364 2024-09-09T19:26:24+00:00 Comparison of snow accumulation events on two High-Arctic glaciers to model-derived and observed precipitation Pramanik, Ankit Kohler, Jack Schuler, Thomas V. van Pelt, Ward Cohen, Lana 2019-08-30 application/pdf text/html application/epub+zip application/xml https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3364 https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3364 eng eng Norwegian Polar Institute https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3364/9367 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3364/9369 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3364/9370 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3364/9371 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3364 doi:10.33265/polar.v38.3364 Polar Research; Vol 38 (2019) 1751-8369 Sonic ranger accumulation precipitation mass balance calm snowfall high wind accumulation info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2019 ftjpolarres https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3364 2024-06-20T23:33:17Z We evaluate how precipitation forcing data used in glacier mass balance models characterize snow accumulation events on synoptic timescales for two glaciers in north-western Svalbard (Kongsvegen and Holtedahlfonna). Using sonic ranger (snow depth) and wind speed data from automatic weather stations located on the glaciers, we distinguish accumulation events occurring under either calm or windy conditions. We show clear differences in the timing and magnitude of snow accumulation events between the two neighbouring glaciers, illustrating the spatial heterogeneity of snow accumulation in this region. The accumulation measurements show that at equivalent elevations, Kongsvegen receives more snowfall than neighbouring Holtedahlfonna, and that Kongsvegen is more affected by wind-driven snow redistribution than Holtedahlfonna. This is consistent with the synoptically-driven precipitation patterns in the region. Accumulation events are then compared to precipitation data from the nearest meteorological station in Ny-Ålesund (ca. 30 km distant) and to a downscaled snowfall data product based on the ERA-Interim reanalysis (nearest gridpoint ca. 300 m distant). Evaluation of the synchrony of observed events at the glacier sites and the precipitation products shows that the ERA-Interim precipitation data reproduce more snowfall events than the Ny-Ålesund station data, suggesting that the precipitation fields from distributed reanalysis data provide a more reasonable representation of accumulation on the study glaciers, even over short timescales. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic glacier Ny Ålesund Ny-Ålesund Polar Research Svalbard Polar Research Arctic Holtedahlfonna ENVELOPE(13.730,13.730,79.011,79.011) Kongsvegen ENVELOPE(12.657,12.657,78.854,78.854) Ny-Ålesund Svalbard Polar Research 38 0 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Polar Research |
op_collection_id |
ftjpolarres |
language |
English |
topic |
Sonic ranger accumulation precipitation mass balance calm snowfall high wind accumulation |
spellingShingle |
Sonic ranger accumulation precipitation mass balance calm snowfall high wind accumulation Pramanik, Ankit Kohler, Jack Schuler, Thomas V. van Pelt, Ward Cohen, Lana Comparison of snow accumulation events on two High-Arctic glaciers to model-derived and observed precipitation |
topic_facet |
Sonic ranger accumulation precipitation mass balance calm snowfall high wind accumulation |
description |
We evaluate how precipitation forcing data used in glacier mass balance models characterize snow accumulation events on synoptic timescales for two glaciers in north-western Svalbard (Kongsvegen and Holtedahlfonna). Using sonic ranger (snow depth) and wind speed data from automatic weather stations located on the glaciers, we distinguish accumulation events occurring under either calm or windy conditions. We show clear differences in the timing and magnitude of snow accumulation events between the two neighbouring glaciers, illustrating the spatial heterogeneity of snow accumulation in this region. The accumulation measurements show that at equivalent elevations, Kongsvegen receives more snowfall than neighbouring Holtedahlfonna, and that Kongsvegen is more affected by wind-driven snow redistribution than Holtedahlfonna. This is consistent with the synoptically-driven precipitation patterns in the region. Accumulation events are then compared to precipitation data from the nearest meteorological station in Ny-Ålesund (ca. 30 km distant) and to a downscaled snowfall data product based on the ERA-Interim reanalysis (nearest gridpoint ca. 300 m distant). Evaluation of the synchrony of observed events at the glacier sites and the precipitation products shows that the ERA-Interim precipitation data reproduce more snowfall events than the Ny-Ålesund station data, suggesting that the precipitation fields from distributed reanalysis data provide a more reasonable representation of accumulation on the study glaciers, even over short timescales. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pramanik, Ankit Kohler, Jack Schuler, Thomas V. van Pelt, Ward Cohen, Lana |
author_facet |
Pramanik, Ankit Kohler, Jack Schuler, Thomas V. van Pelt, Ward Cohen, Lana |
author_sort |
Pramanik, Ankit |
title |
Comparison of snow accumulation events on two High-Arctic glaciers to model-derived and observed precipitation |
title_short |
Comparison of snow accumulation events on two High-Arctic glaciers to model-derived and observed precipitation |
title_full |
Comparison of snow accumulation events on two High-Arctic glaciers to model-derived and observed precipitation |
title_fullStr |
Comparison of snow accumulation events on two High-Arctic glaciers to model-derived and observed precipitation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Comparison of snow accumulation events on two High-Arctic glaciers to model-derived and observed precipitation |
title_sort |
comparison of snow accumulation events on two high-arctic glaciers to model-derived and observed precipitation |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3364 https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3364 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(13.730,13.730,79.011,79.011) ENVELOPE(12.657,12.657,78.854,78.854) |
geographic |
Arctic Holtedahlfonna Kongsvegen Ny-Ålesund Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Holtedahlfonna Kongsvegen Ny-Ålesund Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic glacier Ny Ålesund Ny-Ålesund Polar Research Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic glacier Ny Ålesund Ny-Ålesund Polar Research Svalbard |
op_source |
Polar Research; Vol 38 (2019) 1751-8369 |
op_relation |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3364/9367 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3364/9369 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3364/9370 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3364/9371 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3364 doi:10.33265/polar.v38.3364 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3364 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
38 |
container_issue |
0 |
_version_ |
1809896024456560640 |