Articles | Volume 15, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1065-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1065-2021
Research article
 | 
01 Mar 2021
Research article |  | 01 Mar 2021

Physics-based SNOWPACK model improves representation of near-surface Antarctic snow and firn density

Eric Keenan, Nander Wever, Marissa Dattler, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Brooke Medley, Peter Kuipers Munneke, and Carleen Reijmer

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Cited articles

Agosta, C., Amory, C., Kittel, C., Orsi, A., Favier, V., Gallée, H., van den Broeke, M. R., Lenaerts, J. T. M., van Wessem, J. M., van de Berg, W. J., and Fettweis, X.: Estimation of the Antarctic surface mass balance using the regional climate model MAR (1979–2015) and identification of dominant processes, The Cryosphere, 13, 281–296, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-281-2019, 2019. a
Albert, M.: Snow and Firn Permeability: Characteristics of Snow Megadunes and their Potential Effects on Ice Core Interpretation, type: dataset, https://doi.org/10.7265/N5639MPD, 2007. a
Alexander, P. M., Tedesco, M., Koenig, L., and Fettweis, X.: Evaluating a Regional Climate Model Simulation of Greenland Ice Sheet Snow and Firn Density for Improved Surface Mass Balance Estimates, Geophys. Res. Lett., 46, 12073–12082, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084101, 2019. a
Amory, C. and Kittel, C.: Brief communication: Rare ambient saturation during drifting snow occurrences at a coastal location of East Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 13, 3405–3412, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3405-2019, 2019. a
Amory, C., Gallée, H., Naaim-Bouvet, F., Favier, V., Vignon, E., Picard, G., Trouvilliez, A., Piard, L., Genthon, C., and Bellot, H.: Seasonal Variations in Drag Coefficient over a Sastrugi-Covered Snowfield in Coastal East Antarctica, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 164, 107–133, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-017-0242-5, 2017. a
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Short summary
Snow density is required to convert observed changes in ice sheet volume into mass, which ultimately drives ice sheet contribution to sea level rise. However, snow properties respond dynamically to wind-driven redistribution. Here we include a new wind-driven snow density scheme into an existing snow model. Our results demonstrate an improved representation of snow density when compared to observations and can therefore be used to improve retrievals of ice sheet mass balance.