Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950-2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance
We present a reconstruction of historical (1950–2014) surface mass balance (SMB) of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) using a high-resolution regional climate model (RACMO2; ∼11 km) to dynamically downscale the climate of the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2; ∼111 km). After further statis...
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ftunivutrecht:oai:dspace.library.uu.nl:1874/396876 2023-12-03T10:23:25+01:00 Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950-2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance Noel, Brice van Kampenhout, Leonardus van de Berg, Willem Jan Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Wouters, Bert van den Broeke, Michiel R. Sub Dynamics Meteorology Marine and Atmospheric Research 2020-04-30 image/pdf https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/396876 en eng 1994-0416 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/396876 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess Article 2020 ftunivutrecht 2023-11-08T23:17:56Z We present a reconstruction of historical (1950–2014) surface mass balance (SMB) of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) using a high-resolution regional climate model (RACMO2; ∼11 km) to dynamically downscale the climate of the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2; ∼111 km). After further statistical downscaling to 1 km spatial resolution, evaluation using in situ SMB measurements and remotely sensed GrIS mass change shows good agreement. Comparison with an ensemble of previously conducted RACMO2 simulations forced by climate reanalysis demonstrates that the current product realistically represents the long-term average and variability of individual SMB components and captures the recent increase in meltwater runoff that accelerated GrIS mass loss. This means that, for the first time, climate forcing from an Earth system model (CESM2), which assimilates no observations, can be used without additional corrections to reconstruct the historical GrIS SMB and its recent decline that initiated mass loss in the 1990s. This paves the way for attribution studies of future GrIS mass loss projections and contribution to sea level rise. 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 |
We present a reconstruction of historical (1950–2014) surface mass balance (SMB) of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) using a high-resolution regional climate model (RACMO2; ∼11 km) to dynamically downscale the climate of the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2; ∼111 km). After further statistical downscaling to 1 km spatial resolution, evaluation using in situ SMB measurements and remotely sensed GrIS mass change shows good agreement. Comparison with an ensemble of previously conducted RACMO2 simulations forced by climate reanalysis demonstrates that the current product realistically represents the long-term average and variability of individual SMB components and captures the recent increase in meltwater runoff that accelerated GrIS mass loss. This means that, for the first time, climate forcing from an Earth system model (CESM2), which assimilates no observations, can be used without additional corrections to reconstruct the historical GrIS SMB and its recent decline that initiated mass loss in the 1990s. This paves the way for attribution studies of future GrIS mass loss projections and contribution to sea level rise. |
author2 |
Sub Dynamics Meteorology Marine and Atmospheric Research |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Noel, Brice van Kampenhout, Leonardus van de Berg, Willem Jan Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Wouters, Bert van den Broeke, Michiel R. |
spellingShingle |
Noel, Brice van Kampenhout, Leonardus van de Berg, Willem Jan Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Wouters, Bert van den Broeke, Michiel R. Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950-2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
author_facet |
Noel, Brice van Kampenhout, Leonardus van de Berg, Willem Jan Lenaerts, Jan T. M. Wouters, Bert van den Broeke, Michiel R. |
author_sort |
Noel, Brice |
title |
Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950-2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_short |
Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950-2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_full |
Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950-2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_fullStr |
Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950-2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_full_unstemmed |
Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950-2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
title_sort |
brief communication: cesm2 climate forcing (1950-2014) yields realistic greenland ice sheet surface mass balance |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/396876 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
1994-0416 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/396876 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
_version_ |
1784271552217350144 |