Climate and surface mass balance of coastal West Antarctica resolved by regional climate modelling
West Antarctic climate and surface mass balance (SMB) records are sparse. To fill this gap, regional atmospheric climate modelling is useful, providing that such models are employed at sufficiently high horizontal resolution and coupled with a snow model. Here we present the results of a high-resolu...
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ftunivutrecht:oai:dspace.library.uu.nl:1874/377544 2023-11-12T04:04:54+01:00 Climate and surface mass balance of coastal West Antarctica resolved by regional climate modelling Lenaerts, Jan T.M. Ligtenberg, Stefan R.M. Medley, Brooke Van De Berg, Willem Jan Konrad, Hannes Nicolas, Julien P. Van Wessem, J. Melchior Trusel, Luke D. Mulvaney, Robert Tuckwell, Rebecca J. Hogg, Anna E. Thomas, Elizabeth R. Sub Dynamics Meteorology Marine and Atmospheric Research 2018-07-01 image/pdf https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/377544 en eng 0260-3055 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/377544 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess accumulation Antarctic glaciology ice/atmosphere interactions snow/ice surface processes surface mass budget Earth-Surface Processes Article 2018 ftunivutrecht 2023-11-01T23:20:10Z West Antarctic climate and surface mass balance (SMB) records are sparse. To fill this gap, regional atmospheric climate modelling is useful, providing that such models are employed at sufficiently high horizontal resolution and coupled with a snow model. Here we present the results of a high-resolution (5.5 km) regional atmospheric climate model (RACMO2) simulation of coastal West Antarctica for the period 1979-2015. We evaluate the results with available in situ weather observations, remote-sensing estimates of surface melt, and SMB estimates derived from radar and firn cores. Moreover, results are compared with those from a lower-resolution version, to assess the added value of the resolution. The high-resolution model resolves small-scale climate variability invoked by topography, such as the relatively warm conditions over ice-shelf grounding zones, and local wind speed accelerations. Surface melt and SMB are well reproduced by RACMO2. This dataset will prove useful for picking ice core locations, converting elevation changes to mass changes, for driving ocean, ice-sheet and coupled models, and for attributing changes in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and shelves to changes in atmospheric forcing. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet Ice Shelf West Antarctica Utrecht University Repository Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet West Antarctica |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Utrecht University Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivutrecht |
language |
English |
topic |
accumulation Antarctic glaciology ice/atmosphere interactions snow/ice surface processes surface mass budget Earth-Surface Processes |
spellingShingle |
accumulation Antarctic glaciology ice/atmosphere interactions snow/ice surface processes surface mass budget Earth-Surface Processes Lenaerts, Jan T.M. Ligtenberg, Stefan R.M. Medley, Brooke Van De Berg, Willem Jan Konrad, Hannes Nicolas, Julien P. Van Wessem, J. Melchior Trusel, Luke D. Mulvaney, Robert Tuckwell, Rebecca J. Hogg, Anna E. Thomas, Elizabeth R. Climate and surface mass balance of coastal West Antarctica resolved by regional climate modelling |
topic_facet |
accumulation Antarctic glaciology ice/atmosphere interactions snow/ice surface processes surface mass budget Earth-Surface Processes |
description |
West Antarctic climate and surface mass balance (SMB) records are sparse. To fill this gap, regional atmospheric climate modelling is useful, providing that such models are employed at sufficiently high horizontal resolution and coupled with a snow model. Here we present the results of a high-resolution (5.5 km) regional atmospheric climate model (RACMO2) simulation of coastal West Antarctica for the period 1979-2015. We evaluate the results with available in situ weather observations, remote-sensing estimates of surface melt, and SMB estimates derived from radar and firn cores. Moreover, results are compared with those from a lower-resolution version, to assess the added value of the resolution. The high-resolution model resolves small-scale climate variability invoked by topography, such as the relatively warm conditions over ice-shelf grounding zones, and local wind speed accelerations. Surface melt and SMB are well reproduced by RACMO2. This dataset will prove useful for picking ice core locations, converting elevation changes to mass changes, for driving ocean, ice-sheet and coupled models, and for attributing changes in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and shelves to changes in atmospheric forcing. |
author2 |
Sub Dynamics Meteorology Marine and Atmospheric Research |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lenaerts, Jan T.M. Ligtenberg, Stefan R.M. Medley, Brooke Van De Berg, Willem Jan Konrad, Hannes Nicolas, Julien P. Van Wessem, J. Melchior Trusel, Luke D. Mulvaney, Robert Tuckwell, Rebecca J. Hogg, Anna E. Thomas, Elizabeth R. |
author_facet |
Lenaerts, Jan T.M. Ligtenberg, Stefan R.M. Medley, Brooke Van De Berg, Willem Jan Konrad, Hannes Nicolas, Julien P. Van Wessem, J. Melchior Trusel, Luke D. Mulvaney, Robert Tuckwell, Rebecca J. Hogg, Anna E. Thomas, Elizabeth R. |
author_sort |
Lenaerts, Jan T.M. |
title |
Climate and surface mass balance of coastal West Antarctica resolved by regional climate modelling |
title_short |
Climate and surface mass balance of coastal West Antarctica resolved by regional climate modelling |
title_full |
Climate and surface mass balance of coastal West Antarctica resolved by regional climate modelling |
title_fullStr |
Climate and surface mass balance of coastal West Antarctica resolved by regional climate modelling |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate and surface mass balance of coastal West Antarctica resolved by regional climate modelling |
title_sort |
climate and surface mass balance of coastal west antarctica resolved by regional climate modelling |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/377544 |
geographic |
Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet West Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet Ice Shelf West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica ice core Ice Sheet Ice Shelf West Antarctica |
op_relation |
0260-3055 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/377544 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
_version_ |
1782341806035304448 |