Articles | Volume 19, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3033-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3033-2025
Research article
 | 
13 Aug 2025
Research article |  | 13 Aug 2025

Investigating the impact of reanalysis snow input on an observationally calibrated snow-on-sea-ice reconstruction

Alex Cabaj, Paul J. Kushner, and Alek A. Petty

Data sets

NESOSIM-MCMC Multi-Reanalysis-Average Product With Uncertainty Estimates Alex Cabaj et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13307800

Global Low Resolution Sea Ice Drift EUMETSAT Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility https://doi.org/10.15770/EUM_SAF_OSI_NRT_2007

MERRA-2 tavg1_2d_flx_Nx: 2d,1-Hourly,Time-Averaged,Single-Level,Assimilation,Surface Flux Diagnostics V5.12.4 Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) https://doi.org/10.5067/7MCPBJ41Y0K6

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present Hans Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

Magnaprobe snow and melt pond depth measurements from the 2019-2020 MOSAiC expedition Polona Itkin et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.937781

JRA-55: Japanese 55-year Reanalysis, Daily 3-Hourly and 6-Hourly Data Japan Meteorological Agency https://doi.org/10.5065/D6HH6H41

Airborne sea ice parameters during aircraft flight P6_217_ICEBIRD_2019_1904051001 Arttu Jutila et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.966059

Airborne sea ice parameters during the PAMARCMIP2017 campaign in the Arctic Ocean Arttu Jutila et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.966009

Lagrangian Snow Distributions for Sea-Ice Applications G. E. Liston et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/27A0P5M6LZBI

Snowpit snow density cutter profiles measured during the MOSAiC expedition Amy R. Macfarlane et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.940214

NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration W. Meier et al. https://doi.org/10.7265/EFMZ-2T65

NASA Eulerian Snow On Sea Ice Model Version 1.1 (NESOSIMv1.1) data: 1980 - 2022 Alek Petty https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7051062

Polar Pathfinder Daily 25 km EASE-Grid Sea Ice Motion Vectors Mark Tschudi et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/INAWUWO7QH7B

Model code and software

NESOSIM with MCMC calibration Alex Cabaj and Alek A. Petty https://zenodo.org/records/7644948

akpetty/NESOSIM Alek Petty and Alex Cabaj https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6342069

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Short summary
The output of snow-on-sea-ice models is influenced by the choice of snowfall input used. We ran such a model with different snowfall inputs and calibrated it to observations, produced a new calibrated snow product, and regionally compared the model outputs to outputs from another snow-on-sea-ice model. The two models agree best on the seasonal cycle of snow in the central Arctic Ocean. Observational comparisons highlight ongoing challenges in estimating the depth and density of snow on Arctic sea ice.
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