Adjustment of regional climate model output for modeling the climatic mass balance of all glaciers on Svalbard
Large-scale modeling of glacier mass balance relies often on the output from regional climate models (RCMs). However, the limited accuracy and spatial resolution of RCM output pose limitations on mass balance simulations at subregional or local scales. Moreover, RCM output is still rarely available...
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Uppsala universitet, Luft-, vatten- och landskapslära
2016
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Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-303139 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD024380 |
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ftuppsalauniv:oai:DiVA.org:uu-303139 2023-05-15T16:22:13+02:00 Adjustment of regional climate model output for modeling the climatic mass balance of all glaciers on Svalbard Moeller, Marco Obleitner, Friedrich Reijmer, Carleen H. Pohjola, Veijo A. Glowacki, Piotr Kohler, Jack 2016 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-303139 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD024380 eng eng Uppsala universitet, Luft-, vatten- och landskapslära Rhein Westfal TH Aachen, Dept Geog, Aachen, Germany.;Univ Innsbruck, Inst Atmospher & Cryospher Sci, Innsbruck, Austria. Univ Innsbruck, Inst Atmospher & Cryospher Sci, Innsbruck, Austria. Univ Utrecht, Inst Marine & Atmospher Res Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands. Polish Acad Sci, Inst Geophys, Warsaw, Poland. Norwegian Polar Res Inst, Fram Ctr, Tromso, Norway. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 2169-897X, 2016, 121:10, s. 5411-5429 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-303139 doi:10.1002/2015JD024380 ISI:000381629900018 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2016 ftuppsalauniv https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD024380 2023-02-23T21:52:10Z Large-scale modeling of glacier mass balance relies often on the output from regional climate models (RCMs). However, the limited accuracy and spatial resolution of RCM output pose limitations on mass balance simulations at subregional or local scales. Moreover, RCM output is still rarely available over larger regions or for longer time periods. This study evaluates the extent to which it is possible to derive reliable region-wide glacier mass balance estimates, using coarse resolution (10 km) RCM output for model forcing. Our data cover the entire Svalbard archipelago over one decade. To calculate mass balance, we use an index-based model. Model parameters are not calibrated, but the RCM air temperature and precipitation fields are adjusted using in situ mass balance measurements as reference. We compare two different calibration methods: root mean square error minimization and regression optimization. The obtained air temperature shifts (+1.43 degrees C versus +2.22 degrees C) and precipitation scaling factors (1.23 versus 1.86) differ considerably between the two methods, which we attribute to inhomogeneities in the spatiotemporal distribution of the reference data. Our modeling suggests a mean annual climatic mass balance of -0.05 +/- 0.40 mw.e.a(-1) for Svalbard over 2000-2011 and a mean equilibrium line altitude of 452 +/- 200m above sea level. We find that the limited spatial resolution of the RCM forcing with respect to real surface topography and the usage of spatially homogeneous RCM output adjustments and mass balance model parameters are responsible for much of the modeling uncertainty. Sensitivity of the results to model parameter uncertainty is comparably small and of minor importance. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Svalbard Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 121 10 5411 5429 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftuppsalauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap |
spellingShingle |
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap Moeller, Marco Obleitner, Friedrich Reijmer, Carleen H. Pohjola, Veijo A. Glowacki, Piotr Kohler, Jack Adjustment of regional climate model output for modeling the climatic mass balance of all glaciers on Svalbard |
topic_facet |
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap |
description |
Large-scale modeling of glacier mass balance relies often on the output from regional climate models (RCMs). However, the limited accuracy and spatial resolution of RCM output pose limitations on mass balance simulations at subregional or local scales. Moreover, RCM output is still rarely available over larger regions or for longer time periods. This study evaluates the extent to which it is possible to derive reliable region-wide glacier mass balance estimates, using coarse resolution (10 km) RCM output for model forcing. Our data cover the entire Svalbard archipelago over one decade. To calculate mass balance, we use an index-based model. Model parameters are not calibrated, but the RCM air temperature and precipitation fields are adjusted using in situ mass balance measurements as reference. We compare two different calibration methods: root mean square error minimization and regression optimization. The obtained air temperature shifts (+1.43 degrees C versus +2.22 degrees C) and precipitation scaling factors (1.23 versus 1.86) differ considerably between the two methods, which we attribute to inhomogeneities in the spatiotemporal distribution of the reference data. Our modeling suggests a mean annual climatic mass balance of -0.05 +/- 0.40 mw.e.a(-1) for Svalbard over 2000-2011 and a mean equilibrium line altitude of 452 +/- 200m above sea level. We find that the limited spatial resolution of the RCM forcing with respect to real surface topography and the usage of spatially homogeneous RCM output adjustments and mass balance model parameters are responsible for much of the modeling uncertainty. Sensitivity of the results to model parameter uncertainty is comparably small and of minor importance. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Moeller, Marco Obleitner, Friedrich Reijmer, Carleen H. Pohjola, Veijo A. Glowacki, Piotr Kohler, Jack |
author_facet |
Moeller, Marco Obleitner, Friedrich Reijmer, Carleen H. Pohjola, Veijo A. Glowacki, Piotr Kohler, Jack |
author_sort |
Moeller, Marco |
title |
Adjustment of regional climate model output for modeling the climatic mass balance of all glaciers on Svalbard |
title_short |
Adjustment of regional climate model output for modeling the climatic mass balance of all glaciers on Svalbard |
title_full |
Adjustment of regional climate model output for modeling the climatic mass balance of all glaciers on Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Adjustment of regional climate model output for modeling the climatic mass balance of all glaciers on Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Adjustment of regional climate model output for modeling the climatic mass balance of all glaciers on Svalbard |
title_sort |
adjustment of regional climate model output for modeling the climatic mass balance of all glaciers on svalbard |
publisher |
Uppsala universitet, Luft-, vatten- och landskapslära |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-303139 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD024380 |
geographic |
Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
genre |
glacier Svalbard |
genre_facet |
glacier Svalbard |
op_relation |
Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 2169-897X, 2016, 121:10, s. 5411-5429 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-303139 doi:10.1002/2015JD024380 ISI:000381629900018 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD024380 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
container_volume |
121 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
5411 |
op_container_end_page |
5429 |
_version_ |
1766010183353368576 |