Sensitivity of Glacier Runoff to Winter Snow Thickness Investigated for Vatnajökull Ice Cap, Iceland, Using Numerical Models and Observations

Publisher's version (útgefin grein) 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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmosphere
Main Authors: Schmidt, Louise Steffensen, Langen, Peter, Adalgeirsdottir, Gudfinna, Pálsson, Finnur, Guðmundsson, Sverrir, Gunnarsson, Andri
Other Authors: Jarðvísindastofnun (HÍ), Institute of Earth Sciences (UI), Umhverfis- og byggingarverkfræðideild (HÍ), Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering (UI), Verkfræði- og náttúruvísindasvið (HÍ), School of Engineering and Natural Sciences (UI), Háskóli Íslands, University of Iceland
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018
Subjects:
Regional climate models
Glaciers
Snowfall
Snow-albedo feedback
Runoff sensitivity
Jöklar
Snjóalög
Líkön
Bráðnun (jöklafræði)
Brúarjökull
Vatnajökull
glacier
Ice cap
Iceland
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/1251
https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9110450
Description
Summary:Publisher's version (útgefin grein) 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. This research was funded by the Icelandic Research Fund (RANNIS, Grant no. 140920-051), as well as the National Power Company of Iceland (Landsvirkjun) and Eimskip University fund. Peer Reviewed

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