The firn meltwater Retention Model Intercomparison Project (RetMIP): evaluation of nine firn models at four weather station sites on the Greenland ice sheet
<p>Perennial snow, or firn, covers 80 % of the Greenland ice sheet and has the capacity to retain surface meltwater, influencing the ice sheet mass balance and contribution to sea-level rise. Multilayer firn models are traditionally used to simulate firn processes and estimate meltw...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2020-11-01
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| Series: | The Cryosphere |
| Online Access: | https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/3785/2020/tc-14-3785-2020.pdf |
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Article |
| collection |
DOAJ |
| language |
English |
| format |
Article |
| sources |
DOAJ |
| author |
B. Vandecrux B. Vandecrux R. Mottram P. L. Langen P. L. Langen R. S. Fausto M. Olesen C. M. Stevens V. Verjans A. Leeson S. Ligtenberg S. Ligtenberg P. Kuipers Munneke S. Marchenko W. van Pelt C. R. Meyer S. B. Simonsen A. Heilig S. Samimi S. Marshall H. Machguth M. MacFerrin M. Niwano O. Miller C. I. Voss J. E. Box |
| spellingShingle |
B. Vandecrux B. Vandecrux R. Mottram P. L. Langen P. L. Langen R. S. Fausto M. Olesen C. M. Stevens V. Verjans A. Leeson S. Ligtenberg S. Ligtenberg P. Kuipers Munneke S. Marchenko W. van Pelt C. R. Meyer S. B. Simonsen A. Heilig S. Samimi S. Marshall H. Machguth M. MacFerrin M. Niwano O. Miller C. I. Voss J. E. Box The firn meltwater Retention Model Intercomparison Project (RetMIP): evaluation of nine firn models at four weather station sites on the Greenland ice sheet The Cryosphere |
| author_facet |
B. Vandecrux B. Vandecrux R. Mottram P. L. Langen P. L. Langen R. S. Fausto M. Olesen C. M. Stevens V. Verjans A. Leeson S. Ligtenberg S. Ligtenberg P. Kuipers Munneke S. Marchenko W. van Pelt C. R. Meyer S. B. Simonsen A. Heilig S. Samimi S. Marshall H. Machguth M. MacFerrin M. Niwano O. Miller C. I. Voss J. E. Box |
| author_sort |
B. Vandecrux |
| title |
The firn meltwater Retention Model Intercomparison Project (RetMIP): evaluation of nine firn models at four weather station sites on the Greenland ice sheet |
| title_short |
The firn meltwater Retention Model Intercomparison Project (RetMIP): evaluation of nine firn models at four weather station sites on the Greenland ice sheet |
| title_full |
The firn meltwater Retention Model Intercomparison Project (RetMIP): evaluation of nine firn models at four weather station sites on the Greenland ice sheet |
| title_fullStr |
The firn meltwater Retention Model Intercomparison Project (RetMIP): evaluation of nine firn models at four weather station sites on the Greenland ice sheet |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The firn meltwater Retention Model Intercomparison Project (RetMIP): evaluation of nine firn models at four weather station sites on the Greenland ice sheet |
| title_sort |
firn meltwater retention model intercomparison project (retmip): evaluation of nine firn models at four weather station sites on the greenland ice sheet |
| publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
| series |
The Cryosphere |
| issn |
1994-0416 1994-0424 |
| publishDate |
2020-11-01 |
| description |
<p>Perennial snow, or firn, covers 80 % of the Greenland ice sheet
and has the capacity to retain surface meltwater, influencing the ice sheet
mass balance and contribution to sea-level rise. Multilayer firn models are
traditionally used to simulate firn processes and estimate meltwater
retention. We present, intercompare and evaluate outputs from nine firn
models at four sites that represent the ice sheet's dry snow, percolation,
ice slab and firn aquifer areas. The models are forced by mass and energy
fluxes derived from automatic weather stations and compared to firn density,
temperature and meltwater percolation depth observations. Models agree
relatively well at the dry-snow site while elsewhere their meltwater
infiltration schemes lead to marked differences in simulated firn
characteristics. Models accounting for deep meltwater percolation overestimate percolation depth and firn temperature at the percolation and
ice slab sites but accurately simulate recharge of the firn aquifer. Models
using Darcy's law and bucket schemes compare favorably to observed firn
temperature and meltwater percolation depth at the percolation site, but
only the Darcy models accurately simulate firn temperature and percolation
at the ice slab site. Despite good performance at certain locations, no
single model currently simulates meltwater infiltration adequately at all
sites. The model spread in estimated meltwater<span id="page3786"/> retention and runoff
increases with increasing meltwater input. The highest runoff was calculated
at the KAN_U site in 2012, when average total runoff across
models (<span class="inline-formula">±2<i>σ</i></span>) was <span class="inline-formula">353±610</span> mm w.e. (water equivalent), about <span class="inline-formula">27±48</span> % of the surface meltwater input. We identify potential causes for the
model spread and the mismatch with observations and provide recommendations
for future model development and firn investigation.</p> |
| url |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/3785/2020/tc-14-3785-2020.pdf |
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doaj-992d17a9d1f7468b8ece75cc0a5d41fe2020-11-25T03:59:47ZengCopernicus PublicationsThe Cryosphere1994-04161994-04242020-11-01143785381010.5194/tc-14-3785-2020The firn meltwater Retention Model Intercomparison Project (RetMIP): evaluation of nine firn models at four weather station sites on the Greenland ice sheetB. Vandecrux0B. Vandecrux1R. Mottram2P. L. Langen3P. L. Langen4R. S. Fausto5M. Olesen6C. M. Stevens7V. Verjans8A. Leeson9S. Ligtenberg10S. Ligtenberg11P. Kuipers Munneke12S. Marchenko13W. van Pelt14C. R. Meyer15S. B. Simonsen16A. Heilig17S. Samimi18S. Marshall19H. Machguth20M. MacFerrin21M. Niwano22O. Miller23C. I. Voss24J. E. Box25Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, DenmarkDepartment of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, DenmarkDanish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkDanish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkDepartment of Environmental Science, iClimate, Aarhus University, Roskilde, DenmarkGeological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, DenmarkDanish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkDepartment of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USALancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UKLancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UKInstitute for Marine and Atmospheric research, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the NetherlandsWeather Impact, Amersfoort, the NetherlandsInstitute for Marine and Atmospheric research, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the NetherlandsDepartment of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SwedenDepartment of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SwedenThayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USANational Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, DenmarkDepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Geography, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, CanadaDepartment of Geography, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, CanadaDepartment of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, SwitzerlandCooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USAMeteorological Research Institute, Japan Meteorological Agency, Tsukuba, 305-0052 JapanUS Geological Survey, Utah Water Science Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USAUS Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA, USAGeological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark<p>Perennial snow, or firn, covers 80 % of the Greenland ice sheet and has the capacity to retain surface meltwater, influencing the ice sheet mass balance and contribution to sea-level rise. Multilayer firn models are traditionally used to simulate firn processes and estimate meltwater retention. We present, intercompare and evaluate outputs from nine firn models at four sites that represent the ice sheet's dry snow, percolation, ice slab and firn aquifer areas. The models are forced by mass and energy fluxes derived from automatic weather stations and compared to firn density, temperature and meltwater percolation depth observations. Models agree relatively well at the dry-snow site while elsewhere their meltwater infiltration schemes lead to marked differences in simulated firn characteristics. Models accounting for deep meltwater percolation overestimate percolation depth and firn temperature at the percolation and ice slab sites but accurately simulate recharge of the firn aquifer. Models using Darcy's law and bucket schemes compare favorably to observed firn temperature and meltwater percolation depth at the percolation site, but only the Darcy models accurately simulate firn temperature and percolation at the ice slab site. Despite good performance at certain locations, no single model currently simulates meltwater infiltration adequately at all sites. The model spread in estimated meltwater<span id="page3786"/> retention and runoff increases with increasing meltwater input. The highest runoff was calculated at the KAN_U site in 2012, when average total runoff across models (<span class="inline-formula">±2<i>σ</i></span>) was <span class="inline-formula">353±610</span> mm w.e. (water equivalent), about <span class="inline-formula">27±48</span> % of the surface meltwater input. We identify potential causes for the model spread and the mismatch with observations and provide recommendations for future model development and firn investigation.</p>https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/3785/2020/tc-14-3785-2020.pdf |