A distributed energy-balance melt model of an alpine debris-covered glacier
Distributed energy-balance melt models have rarely been applied to glaciers with extensive supraglacial debris cover. This paper describes the development of a distributed melt model and its application to the debris-covered Miage glacier, western Italian Alps, over two summer seasons. Sub-debris me...
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ftunivdundeepure:oai:discovery.dundee.ac.uk:publications/5e7ad2e1-d6db-4752-a607-1ed0d06bac0c 2024-06-23T07:54:16+00:00 A distributed energy-balance melt model of an alpine debris-covered glacier Fyffe, Catriona L Reid, Tim D. Brock, Ben W. Kirkbride, Martin P. Diolaiuti, Guglielmina Smiraglia, Claudio Diotri, Fabrizio 2014-06-01 https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/5e7ad2e1-d6db-4752-a607-1ed0d06bac0c https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J148 http://www.igsoc.org/journal/ eng eng https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/5e7ad2e1-d6db-4752-a607-1ed0d06bac0c info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Fyffe , C L , Reid , T D , Brock , B W , Kirkbride , M P , Diolaiuti , G , Smiraglia , C & Diotri , F 2014 , ' A distributed energy-balance melt model of an alpine debris-covered glacier ' , Journal of Glaciology , vol. 60 , no. 221 , pp. 587–602 . https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J148 Debris-covered glaciers Energy balance Surface melt article 2014 ftunivdundeepure https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J148 2024-06-11T14:46:23Z Distributed energy-balance melt models have rarely been applied to glaciers with extensive supraglacial debris cover. This paper describes the development of a distributed melt model and its application to the debris-covered Miage glacier, western Italian Alps, over two summer seasons. Sub-debris melt rates are calculated using an existing debris energy-balance model (DEB-Model), and melt rates for clean ice, snow and partially debris-covered ice are calculated using standard energy-balance equations. Simulated sub-debris melt rates compare well to ablation stake observations. Melt rates are highest, and most sensitive to air temperature, on areas of dirty, crevassed ice on the middle glacier. Here melt rates are highly spatially variable because the debris thickness and surface type varies markedly. Melt rates are lowest, and least sensitive to air temperature, beneath the thickest debris on the lower glacier. Debris delays and attenuates the melt signal compared to clean ice, with peak melt occurring later in the day with increasing debris thickness. The continuously debris-covered zone consistently provides ~30% of total melt throughout the ablation season, with the proportion increasing during cold weather. Sensitivity experiments show that an increase in debris thickness of 0.035 m would offset 1°C of atmospheric warming Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Discovery - University of Dundee Online Publications Journal of Glaciology 60 221 587 602 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Discovery - University of Dundee Online Publications |
op_collection_id |
ftunivdundeepure |
language |
English |
topic |
Debris-covered glaciers Energy balance Surface melt |
spellingShingle |
Debris-covered glaciers Energy balance Surface melt Fyffe, Catriona L Reid, Tim D. Brock, Ben W. Kirkbride, Martin P. Diolaiuti, Guglielmina Smiraglia, Claudio Diotri, Fabrizio A distributed energy-balance melt model of an alpine debris-covered glacier |
topic_facet |
Debris-covered glaciers Energy balance Surface melt |
description |
Distributed energy-balance melt models have rarely been applied to glaciers with extensive supraglacial debris cover. This paper describes the development of a distributed melt model and its application to the debris-covered Miage glacier, western Italian Alps, over two summer seasons. Sub-debris melt rates are calculated using an existing debris energy-balance model (DEB-Model), and melt rates for clean ice, snow and partially debris-covered ice are calculated using standard energy-balance equations. Simulated sub-debris melt rates compare well to ablation stake observations. Melt rates are highest, and most sensitive to air temperature, on areas of dirty, crevassed ice on the middle glacier. Here melt rates are highly spatially variable because the debris thickness and surface type varies markedly. Melt rates are lowest, and least sensitive to air temperature, beneath the thickest debris on the lower glacier. Debris delays and attenuates the melt signal compared to clean ice, with peak melt occurring later in the day with increasing debris thickness. The continuously debris-covered zone consistently provides ~30% of total melt throughout the ablation season, with the proportion increasing during cold weather. Sensitivity experiments show that an increase in debris thickness of 0.035 m would offset 1°C of atmospheric warming |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fyffe, Catriona L Reid, Tim D. Brock, Ben W. Kirkbride, Martin P. Diolaiuti, Guglielmina Smiraglia, Claudio Diotri, Fabrizio |
author_facet |
Fyffe, Catriona L Reid, Tim D. Brock, Ben W. Kirkbride, Martin P. Diolaiuti, Guglielmina Smiraglia, Claudio Diotri, Fabrizio |
author_sort |
Fyffe, Catriona L |
title |
A distributed energy-balance melt model of an alpine debris-covered glacier |
title_short |
A distributed energy-balance melt model of an alpine debris-covered glacier |
title_full |
A distributed energy-balance melt model of an alpine debris-covered glacier |
title_fullStr |
A distributed energy-balance melt model of an alpine debris-covered glacier |
title_full_unstemmed |
A distributed energy-balance melt model of an alpine debris-covered glacier |
title_sort |
distributed energy-balance melt model of an alpine debris-covered glacier |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/5e7ad2e1-d6db-4752-a607-1ed0d06bac0c https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J148 http://www.igsoc.org/journal/ |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Fyffe , C L , Reid , T D , Brock , B W , Kirkbride , M P , Diolaiuti , G , Smiraglia , C & Diotri , F 2014 , ' A distributed energy-balance melt model of an alpine debris-covered glacier ' , Journal of Glaciology , vol. 60 , no. 221 , pp. 587–602 . https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J148 |
op_relation |
https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/5e7ad2e1-d6db-4752-a607-1ed0d06bac0c |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J148 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
60 |
container_issue |
221 |
container_start_page |
587 |
op_container_end_page |
602 |
_version_ |
1802646379134189568 |