Evaluation of reconstructions of snow/ice melt in Greenland by regional atmospheric climate models using laser altimetry data

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Sutterley, T., Velicogna, I., Fettweis, Xavier, Rignot, E., Noël, Brice, van den Broeke, M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2018
• Subjects: Physical; chemical; mathematical & earth Sciences; Earth sciences & physical geography; Physique; chimie; mathématiques & sciences de la terre; Sciences de la terre & géographie physique; Airborne Topographic Mapper; Greenland; Ice Sheet; North Greenland
• Online Access: https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/226651; https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/226651/1/2018GL078645.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2018gl078645

peer reviewed he surface mass balance (SMB) of the Greenland Ice Sheet critically depend on the intensity of ice/snow melt in its ablation zone, but in‐situ data have been too limited to quantify the error of regional climate models. Here, we use 23 years of NASA satellite and airborne laser altimetry from the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM), Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor (LVIS) and Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) to generate time series of elevation change to compare with SMB products from the Regional Atmospheric Climate Model (RACMO2.3p2) and from the Modèle Atmosphérique Régional (MARv3.5.2). For 1994‐2016, the results agree at the 15‐26% level, with the largest discrepancy in north Greenland. During the cold summer 2015, the RMS discrepancy is 40% in the north, 30% in the southwest, and 18‐25% at low elevation. The difference drops to 23% in the southwest and 14% at low elevation during the 2016 warm summer.