Articles | Volume 11, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1665-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1665-2017
Research article
 | 
14 Jul 2017
Research article |  | 14 Jul 2017

The importance of accurate glacier albedo for estimates of surface mass balance on Vatnajökull: evaluating the surface energy budget in a regional climate model with automatic weather station observations

Louise Steffensen Schmidt, Guðfinna Aðalgeirsdóttir, Sverrir Guðmundsson, Peter L. Langen, Finnur Pálsson, Ruth Mottram, Simon Gascoin, and Helgi Björnsson

Related authors

Multi-scale variations of subglacial hydro-mechanical conditions at Kongsvegen glacier, Svalbard
Coline Bouchayer, Ugo Nanni, Pierre-Marie Lefeuvre, John Hult, Louise Steffensen Schmidt, Jack Kohler, François Renard, and Thomas V. Schuler
The Cryosphere, 18, 2939–2968, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2939-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2939-2024, 2024
Short summary
Climate change is rapidly deteriorating the climatic signal in Svalbard glaciers
Andrea Spolaor, Federico Scoto, Catherine Larose, Elena Barbaro, Francois Burgay, Mats P. Bjorkman, David Cappelletti, Federico Dallo, Fabrizio de Blasi, Dmitry Divine, Giuliano Dreossi, Jacopo Gabrieli, Elisabeth Isaksson, Jack Kohler, Tonu Martma, Louise S. Schmidt, Thomas V. Schuler, Barbara Stenni, Clara Turetta, Bartłomiej Luks, Mathieu Casado, and Jean-Charles Gallet
The Cryosphere, 18, 307–320, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-307-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-307-2024, 2024
Short summary
Meltwater runoff and glacier mass balance in the high Arctic: 1991–2022 simulations for Svalbard
Louise Steffensen Schmidt, Thomas Vikhamar Schuler, Erin Emily Thomas, and Sebastian Westermann
The Cryosphere, 17, 2941–2963, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2941-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2941-2023, 2023
Short summary
The CryoGrid community model (version 1.0) – a multi-physics toolbox for climate-driven simulations in the terrestrial cryosphere
Sebastian Westermann, Thomas Ingeman-Nielsen, Johanna Scheer, Kristoffer Aalstad, Juditha Aga, Nitin Chaudhary, Bernd Etzelmüller, Simon Filhol, Andreas Kääb, Cas Renette, Louise Steffensen Schmidt, Thomas Vikhamar Schuler, Robin B. Zweigel, Léo Martin, Sarah Morard, Matan Ben-Asher, Michael Angelopoulos, Julia Boike, Brian Groenke, Frederieke Miesner, Jan Nitzbon, Paul Overduin, Simone M. Stuenzi, and Moritz Langer
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 2607–2647, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-2607-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-2607-2023, 2023
Short summary
Insensitivity of mass loss of Icelandic Vatnajökull ice cap to solar geoengineering
Chao Yue, Louise Steffensen Schmidt, Liyun Zhao, Michael Wolovick, and John C. Moore
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-318,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-318, 2021
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary

Related subject area

Energy Balance Obs/Modelling
Surface heat fluxes at coarse blocky Murtèl rock glacier (Engadine, eastern Swiss Alps)
Dominik Amschwand, Martin Scherler, Martin Hoelzle, Bernhard Krummenacher, Anna Haberkorn, Christian Kienholz, and Hansueli Gubler
The Cryosphere, 18, 2103–2139, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2103-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2103-2024, 2024
Short summary
Modeling snowpack dynamics and surface energy budget in boreal and subarctic peatlands and forests
Jari-Pekka Nousu, Matthieu Lafaysse, Giulia Mazzotti, Pertti Ala-aho, Hannu Marttila, Bertrand Cluzet, Mika Aurela, Annalea Lohila, Pasi Kolari, Aaron Boone, Mathieu Fructus, and Samuli Launiainen
The Cryosphere, 18, 231–263, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-231-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-231-2024, 2024
Short summary
Evaluation of reanalysis data and dynamical downscaling for surface energy balance modeling at mountain glaciers in western Canada
Christina Draeger, Valentina Radić, Rachel H. White, and Mekdes Ayalew Tessema
The Cryosphere, 18, 17–42, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-17-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-17-2024, 2024
Short summary
Brief communication: Surface energy balance differences over Greenland between ERA5 and ERA-Interim
Uta Krebs-Kanzow, Christian B. Rodehacke, and Gerrit Lohmann
The Cryosphere, 17, 5131–5136, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5131-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5131-2023, 2023
Short summary
A computationally efficient statistically downscaled 100 m resolution Greenland product from the regional climate model MAR
Marco Tedesco, Paolo Colosio, Xavier Fettweis, and Guido Cervone
The Cryosphere, 17, 5061–5074, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5061-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5061-2023, 2023
Short summary

Cited articles

Agosta, C., Fettweis, X., and Datta, R.: Evaluation of the CMIP5 models in the aim of regional modelling of the Antarctic surface mass balance, The Cryosphere, 9, 2311–2321, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2311-2015, 2015.
Ágústsson, H., Hannesdóttir, H., Thorsteinsson, T., Pálsson, F., and Oddsson, B.: Mass balance of Mýrdalsjökull ice cap accumulation area and comparison of observed winter balance with simulated precipitation, JÖKULL, 63, 91–104, 2013.
Andreas, E. L.: A theory for the scalar roughness and the scalar transfer coefficients over snow and sea ice, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 38, 159–184, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00121562, 1987.
Björnsson, H.: Bægisárjökull, North Iceland. result of glaciological investigations 1967-1968. Part II. The energy balance, Jökull, 22, 44–61, 1972.
Björnsson, H. and Pálsson, F.: Icelandic glaciers, Jökull, 58, 365–386, 2008.
Download
Short summary
The regional climate model HIRHAM5 is evaluated over Vatnajökull, Iceland, using automatic weather stations and mass balance observations from 1995 to 2014. From this we asses whether the model can be used to reconstruct the mass balance of the glacier. We find that the simulated energy balance is underestimated overall, but it has been improved by using a new albedo scheme. The specific mass balance is reconstructed back to 1980, thus expanding on the observational records of the mass balance.