A local model of snow–firn dynamics and application to the Colle Gnifetti site

Banfi, Fabiola; De Michele, Carlo

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1031-2022

Articles | Volume 16, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1031-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1031-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 3

Research article

|

16 Mar 2022

Research article |

| 16 Mar 2022

A local model of snow–firn dynamics and application to the Colle Gnifetti site

Fabiola Banfi and Carlo De Michele

Data sets

Global Surface Hourly [station used: ID 06717099999] NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/metadata/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/gov.noaa.ncdc:C00532/html

Record of black carbon (rBC), bismuth, lead and others from 1741 to 2015 AD from Colle Gnifetti ice cores GC15 and GC03B (Swiss/Italian Alps) Michael Sigl, Nerilie J. Abram, Jacopo Gabrieli, Theo M. Jenk, Dimitri Osmont, and Margit Schwikowski https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.894787

Short summary

Climate changes require a dynamic description of glaciers in hydrological models. In this study we focus on the local modelling of snow and firn. We tested our model at the site of Colle Gnifetti, 4400–4550 m a.s.l. The model shows that wind erodes all the precipitation of the cold months, while snow is in part conserved between April and September since higher temperatures protect snow from erosion. We also compared modelled and observed firn density, obtaining a satisfying agreement.