The surface energy balance of Austre Lovénbreen, Svalbard, during the ablation period in 2014

• Published in: Polar Research
• Main Authors: Zou, Xiaowei, Ding, Minghu, Sun, Weijun, Yang, Diyi, Liu, Weigang, Huai, Baojuan, Jin, Shuang, Xiao, Cunde
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 2021
• Subjects: High Arctic; Svalbard; snow/ice–air interaction; glacier; radiative fluxes; turbulent fluxes; Arctic; Ny-Ålesund; albedo; Ny Ålesund; Polar Research
• Online Access: https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/5318; https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v40.5318

The ability to simulate the surface energy balance is key to studying land–atmosphere interactions; however, it remains a weakness in Arctic polar sciences. Based on the analysis of meteorological data from 1 June to 30 September 2014 from an automatic weather station on the glacier Austre Lovénbreen, near Ny–Ålesund, Svalbard, we established a surface energy balance model to simulate surface melt. The results reveal that the net shortwave radiation accounts for 87% (39 W m–2) of the energy sources, and is controlled by cloud cover and surface albedo. The sensible heat equals 6 W m–2and is a continuous energy source at the glacier surface. Net longwave radiation and latent heat account for 31% and 5% of heat sinks, respectively. The simulated summer mass balance equals –793 mm w.e., agreeing well with the observation by an ultrasonic ranger.