Remapping of Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance anomalies for large ensemble sea-level change projections

• Main Authors: H. Goelzer, B. P. Y. Noël, T. L. Edwards, X. Fettweis, J. M. Gregory, W. H. Lipscomb, R. S. W. van de Wal, M. R. van den Broeke
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2020-06-01
• Series: The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/1747/2020/tc-14-1747-2020.pdf

<p>Future sea-level change projections with process-based stand-alone ice sheet models are typically driven with surface mass balance (SMB) forcing derived from climate models. In this work we address the problems arising from a mismatch of the modelled ice sheet geometry with the geometry used by the climate model. We present a method for applying SMB forcing from climate models to a wide range of Greenland ice sheet models with varying and temporally evolving geometries. In order to achieve that, we translate a given SMB anomaly field as a function of absolute location to a function of surface elevation for 25 regional drainage basins, which can then be applied to different modelled ice sheet geometries. The key feature of the approach is the non-locality of this remapping process. The method reproduces the original forcing data closely when remapped to the original geometry. When remapped to different modelled geometries it produces a physically meaningful forcing with smooth and continuous SMB anomalies across basin divides. The method considerably reduces non-physical biases that would arise by applying the SMB anomaly derived for the climate model geometry directly to a large range of modelled ice sheet model geometries.</p>