Sensitivity of Glacier Runoff to Winter Snow Thickness Investigated for Vatnajökull Ice Cap, Iceland, Using Numerical Models and Observations
Several simulations of the surface climate and energy balance of Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland, are used to estimate the glacier runoff for the period 1980–2015 and the sensitivity of runoff to the spring conditions (e.g., snow thickness). The simulations are calculated using the snow pack scheme fro...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2073-4433/9/11/450/ 2023-08-20T04:06:42+02:00 Sensitivity of Glacier Runoff to Winter Snow Thickness Investigated for Vatnajökull Ice Cap, Iceland, Using Numerical Models and Observations Louise Steffensen Schmidt Peter L. Langen Guðfinna Aðalgeirsdóttir Finnur Pálsson Sverrir Guðmundsson Andri Gunnarsson agris 2018-11-15 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9110450 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Meteorology https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos9110450 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Atmosphere; Volume 9; Issue 11; Pages: 450 regional climate models glaciers snowfall snow-albedo feedback runoff sensitivity Text 2018 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9110450 2023-07-31T21:50:38Z Several simulations of the surface climate and energy balance of Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland, are used to estimate the glacier runoff for the period 1980–2015 and the sensitivity of runoff to the spring conditions (e.g., snow thickness). The simulations are calculated using the snow pack scheme from the regional climate model HIRHAM5, forced with incoming mass and energy fluxes from the numerical weather prediction model HARMONIE-AROME. The modeled runoff is compared to available observations from two outlet glaciers to assess the quality of the simulations. To test the sensitivity of the runoff to spring conditions, simulations are repeated for the spring conditions of each of the years 1980–2015, followed by the weather of all summers in the same period. We find that for the whole ice cap, the variability in runoff as a function of varying spring conditions was on average 31% of the variability due to changing summer weather. However, some outlet glaciers are very sensitive to the amount of snow in the spring, as e.g., the variation in runoff from Brúarjökull due to changing spring conditions was on average 50% of the variability due to varying summer weather. Text glacier Ice cap Iceland Vatnajökull MDPI Open Access Publishing Vatnajökull ENVELOPE(-16.823,-16.823,64.420,64.420) Brúarjökull ENVELOPE(-16.157,-16.157,64.682,64.682) Atmosphere 9 11 450 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
regional climate models glaciers snowfall snow-albedo feedback runoff sensitivity |
spellingShingle |
regional climate models glaciers snowfall snow-albedo feedback runoff sensitivity Louise Steffensen Schmidt Peter L. Langen Guðfinna Aðalgeirsdóttir Finnur Pálsson Sverrir Guðmundsson Andri Gunnarsson Sensitivity of Glacier Runoff to Winter Snow Thickness Investigated for Vatnajökull Ice Cap, Iceland, Using Numerical Models and Observations |
topic_facet |
regional climate models glaciers snowfall snow-albedo feedback runoff sensitivity |
description |
Several simulations of the surface climate and energy balance of Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland, are used to estimate the glacier runoff for the period 1980–2015 and the sensitivity of runoff to the spring conditions (e.g., snow thickness). The simulations are calculated using the snow pack scheme from the regional climate model HIRHAM5, forced with incoming mass and energy fluxes from the numerical weather prediction model HARMONIE-AROME. The modeled runoff is compared to available observations from two outlet glaciers to assess the quality of the simulations. To test the sensitivity of the runoff to spring conditions, simulations are repeated for the spring conditions of each of the years 1980–2015, followed by the weather of all summers in the same period. We find that for the whole ice cap, the variability in runoff as a function of varying spring conditions was on average 31% of the variability due to changing summer weather. However, some outlet glaciers are very sensitive to the amount of snow in the spring, as e.g., the variation in runoff from Brúarjökull due to changing spring conditions was on average 50% of the variability due to varying summer weather. |
format |
Text |
author |
Louise Steffensen Schmidt Peter L. Langen Guðfinna Aðalgeirsdóttir Finnur Pálsson Sverrir Guðmundsson Andri Gunnarsson |
author_facet |
Louise Steffensen Schmidt Peter L. Langen Guðfinna Aðalgeirsdóttir Finnur Pálsson Sverrir Guðmundsson Andri Gunnarsson |
author_sort |
Louise Steffensen Schmidt |
title |
Sensitivity of Glacier Runoff to Winter Snow Thickness Investigated for Vatnajökull Ice Cap, Iceland, Using Numerical Models and Observations |
title_short |
Sensitivity of Glacier Runoff to Winter Snow Thickness Investigated for Vatnajökull Ice Cap, Iceland, Using Numerical Models and Observations |
title_full |
Sensitivity of Glacier Runoff to Winter Snow Thickness Investigated for Vatnajökull Ice Cap, Iceland, Using Numerical Models and Observations |
title_fullStr |
Sensitivity of Glacier Runoff to Winter Snow Thickness Investigated for Vatnajökull Ice Cap, Iceland, Using Numerical Models and Observations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sensitivity of Glacier Runoff to Winter Snow Thickness Investigated for Vatnajökull Ice Cap, Iceland, Using Numerical Models and Observations |
title_sort |
sensitivity of glacier runoff to winter snow thickness investigated for vatnajökull ice cap, iceland, using numerical models and observations |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9110450 |
op_coverage |
agris |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-16.823,-16.823,64.420,64.420) ENVELOPE(-16.157,-16.157,64.682,64.682) |
geographic |
Vatnajökull Brúarjökull |
geographic_facet |
Vatnajökull Brúarjökull |
genre |
glacier Ice cap Iceland Vatnajökull |
genre_facet |
glacier Ice cap Iceland Vatnajökull |
op_source |
Atmosphere; Volume 9; Issue 11; Pages: 450 |
op_relation |
Meteorology https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos9110450 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9110450 |
container_title |
Atmosphere |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
450 |
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1774717990058590208 |