Physics-based SNOWPACK model improves representation of near-surface Antarctic snow and firn density
Estimates of snow and firn density are required for satellite-altimetry-based retrievals of ice sheet mass balance that rely on volume-to-mass conversions. Therefore, biases and errors in presently used density models confound assessments of ice sheet mass balance and by extension ice sheet contribu...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Copernicus Publications
2021
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ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00055776 2023-05-15T13:37:34+02:00 Physics-based SNOWPACK model improves representation of near-surface Antarctic snow and firn density Keenan, Eric Wever, Nander Dattler, Marissa Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Medley, Brooke Kuipers Munneke, Peter Reijmer, Carleen 2021-03 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1065-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00055776 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00055427/tc-15-1065-2021.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/1065/2021/tc-15-1065-2021.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1065-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00055776 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00055427/tc-15-1065-2021.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/1065/2021/tc-15-1065-2021.pdf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC-BY article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2021 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1065-2021 2022-02-08T22:34:23Z Estimates of snow and firn density are required for satellite-altimetry-based retrievals of ice sheet mass balance that rely on volume-to-mass conversions. Therefore, biases and errors in presently used density models confound assessments of ice sheet mass balance and by extension ice sheet contribution to sea level rise. Despite this importance, most contemporary firn densification models rely on simplified semi-empirical methods, which are partially reflected by significant modeled density errors when compared to observations. In this study, we present a new drifting-snow compaction scheme that we have implemented into SNOWPACK, a physics-based land surface snow model. We show that our new scheme improves existing versions of SNOWPACK by increasing simulated near-surface (defined as the top 10 m) density to be more in line with observations (near-surface bias reduction from −44.9 to −5.4 kg m−3). Furthermore, we demonstrate high-quality simulation of near-surface Antarctic snow and firn density at 122 observed density profiles across the Antarctic ice sheet, as indicated by reduced model biases throughout most of the near-surface firn column when compared to two semi-empirical firn densification models (SNOWPACK mean bias=-9.7 kg m−3, IMAU-FDM mean bias=-32.5 kg m−3, GSFC-FDM mean bias=15.5 kg m−3). Notably, our analysis is restricted to the near surface where firn density is most variable due to accumulation and compaction variability driven by synoptic weather and seasonal climate variability. Additionally, the GSFC-FDM exhibits lower mean density bias from 7–10 m (SNOWPACK bias=-22.5 kg m−3, GSFC-FDM bias=10.6 kg m−3) and throughout the entire near surface at high-accumulation sites (SNOWPACK bias=-31.4 kg m−3, GSFC-FDM bias=-4.7 kg m−3). However, we found that the performance of SNOWPACK did not degrade when applied to sites that were not included in the calibration of semi-empirical models. This suggests that SNOWPACK may possibly better represent firn properties in locations without extensive observations and under future climate scenarios, when firn properties are expected to diverge from their present state. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA Antarctic The Antarctic The Cryosphere 15 2 1065 1085 |
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Open Polar |
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Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA |
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ftnonlinearchiv |
language |
English |
topic |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
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article Verlagsveröffentlichung Keenan, Eric Wever, Nander Dattler, Marissa Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Medley, Brooke Kuipers Munneke, Peter Reijmer, Carleen Physics-based SNOWPACK model improves representation of near-surface Antarctic snow and firn density |
topic_facet |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
description |
Estimates of snow and firn density are required for satellite-altimetry-based retrievals of ice sheet mass balance that rely on volume-to-mass conversions. Therefore, biases and errors in presently used density models confound assessments of ice sheet mass balance and by extension ice sheet contribution to sea level rise. Despite this importance, most contemporary firn densification models rely on simplified semi-empirical methods, which are partially reflected by significant modeled density errors when compared to observations. In this study, we present a new drifting-snow compaction scheme that we have implemented into SNOWPACK, a physics-based land surface snow model. We show that our new scheme improves existing versions of SNOWPACK by increasing simulated near-surface (defined as the top 10 m) density to be more in line with observations (near-surface bias reduction from −44.9 to −5.4 kg m−3). Furthermore, we demonstrate high-quality simulation of near-surface Antarctic snow and firn density at 122 observed density profiles across the Antarctic ice sheet, as indicated by reduced model biases throughout most of the near-surface firn column when compared to two semi-empirical firn densification models (SNOWPACK mean bias=-9.7 kg m−3, IMAU-FDM mean bias=-32.5 kg m−3, GSFC-FDM mean bias=15.5 kg m−3). Notably, our analysis is restricted to the near surface where firn density is most variable due to accumulation and compaction variability driven by synoptic weather and seasonal climate variability. Additionally, the GSFC-FDM exhibits lower mean density bias from 7–10 m (SNOWPACK bias=-22.5 kg m−3, GSFC-FDM bias=10.6 kg m−3) and throughout the entire near surface at high-accumulation sites (SNOWPACK bias=-31.4 kg m−3, GSFC-FDM bias=-4.7 kg m−3). However, we found that the performance of SNOWPACK did not degrade when applied to sites that were not included in the calibration of semi-empirical models. This suggests that SNOWPACK may possibly better represent firn properties in locations without extensive observations and under future climate scenarios, when firn properties are expected to diverge from their present state. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Keenan, Eric Wever, Nander Dattler, Marissa Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Medley, Brooke Kuipers Munneke, Peter Reijmer, Carleen |
author_facet |
Keenan, Eric Wever, Nander Dattler, Marissa Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Medley, Brooke Kuipers Munneke, Peter Reijmer, Carleen |
author_sort |
Keenan, Eric |
title |
Physics-based SNOWPACK model improves representation of near-surface Antarctic snow and firn density |
title_short |
Physics-based SNOWPACK model improves representation of near-surface Antarctic snow and firn density |
title_full |
Physics-based SNOWPACK model improves representation of near-surface Antarctic snow and firn density |
title_fullStr |
Physics-based SNOWPACK model improves representation of near-surface Antarctic snow and firn density |
title_full_unstemmed |
Physics-based SNOWPACK model improves representation of near-surface Antarctic snow and firn density |
title_sort |
physics-based snowpack model improves representation of near-surface antarctic snow and firn density |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1065-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00055776 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00055427/tc-15-1065-2021.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/1065/2021/tc-15-1065-2021.pdf |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_relation |
The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1065-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00055776 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00055427/tc-15-1065-2021.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/1065/2021/tc-15-1065-2021.pdf |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1065-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
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15 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
1065 |
op_container_end_page |
1085 |
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1766094136481415168 |