Drifting snow climate of the Greenland ice sheet: a study with a regional climate model
This paper presents the drifting snow climate of the Greenland ice sheet, using output from a high-resolution ( 11 km) regional climate model. Because reliable direct observations of drifting snow do not exist, we evaluate the modeled near-surface climate instead, using automatic weather station (AW...
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ftunivutrecht:oai:dspace.library.uu.nl:1874/257541 2023-07-23T04:19:32+02:00 Drifting snow climate of the Greenland ice sheet: a study with a regional climate model Lenaerts, J.T.M. van den Broeke, M.R. van Angelen, J.H. van Meijgaard, E. Déry, S.J. Marine and Atmospheric Research Sub Dynamics Meteorology Sub Physical Oceanography 2012 text/plain https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/257541 en eng 1994-0416 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/257541 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess Article 2012 ftunivutrecht 2023-07-02T00:33:59Z This paper presents the drifting snow climate of the Greenland ice sheet, using output from a high-resolution ( 11 km) regional climate model. Because reliable direct observations of drifting snow do not exist, we evaluate the modeled near-surface climate instead, using automatic weather station (AWS) observations from the K-transect and find that RACMO2 realistically simulates near-surface wind speed and relative humidity, two variables that are important for drifting snow. Integrated over the ice sheet, drifting snow sublimation (SUds) equals 24±3 Gt yr−1, and is significantly larger than surface sublimation (SUs, 16±2 Gt yr−1). SUds strongly varies between seasons, and is only important in winter, when surface sublimation and runoff are small. A rapid transition exists between the winter season, when snowfall and SUds are important, and the summer season, when snowmelt is significant, which increases surface snow density and thereby limits drifting snow processes. Drifting snow erosion (ERds) is only important on a regional scale. In recent decades, following decreasing wind speed and rising near-surface temperatures, SUds exhibits a negative trend (0.1±0.1 Gt yr−1), which is compensated by an increase in SUs of similar magnitude. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet Utrecht University Repository Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Utrecht University Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivutrecht |
language |
English |
description |
This paper presents the drifting snow climate of the Greenland ice sheet, using output from a high-resolution ( 11 km) regional climate model. Because reliable direct observations of drifting snow do not exist, we evaluate the modeled near-surface climate instead, using automatic weather station (AWS) observations from the K-transect and find that RACMO2 realistically simulates near-surface wind speed and relative humidity, two variables that are important for drifting snow. Integrated over the ice sheet, drifting snow sublimation (SUds) equals 24±3 Gt yr−1, and is significantly larger than surface sublimation (SUs, 16±2 Gt yr−1). SUds strongly varies between seasons, and is only important in winter, when surface sublimation and runoff are small. A rapid transition exists between the winter season, when snowfall and SUds are important, and the summer season, when snowmelt is significant, which increases surface snow density and thereby limits drifting snow processes. Drifting snow erosion (ERds) is only important on a regional scale. In recent decades, following decreasing wind speed and rising near-surface temperatures, SUds exhibits a negative trend (0.1±0.1 Gt yr−1), which is compensated by an increase in SUs of similar magnitude. |
author2 |
Marine and Atmospheric Research Sub Dynamics Meteorology Sub Physical Oceanography |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lenaerts, J.T.M. van den Broeke, M.R. van Angelen, J.H. van Meijgaard, E. Déry, S.J. |
spellingShingle |
Lenaerts, J.T.M. van den Broeke, M.R. van Angelen, J.H. van Meijgaard, E. Déry, S.J. Drifting snow climate of the Greenland ice sheet: a study with a regional climate model |
author_facet |
Lenaerts, J.T.M. van den Broeke, M.R. van Angelen, J.H. van Meijgaard, E. Déry, S.J. |
author_sort |
Lenaerts, J.T.M. |
title |
Drifting snow climate of the Greenland ice sheet: a study with a regional climate model |
title_short |
Drifting snow climate of the Greenland ice sheet: a study with a regional climate model |
title_full |
Drifting snow climate of the Greenland ice sheet: a study with a regional climate model |
title_fullStr |
Drifting snow climate of the Greenland ice sheet: a study with a regional climate model |
title_full_unstemmed |
Drifting snow climate of the Greenland ice sheet: a study with a regional climate model |
title_sort |
drifting snow climate of the greenland ice sheet: a study with a regional climate model |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/257541 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
1994-0416 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/257541 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
_version_ |
1772182720719355904 |