DCG-MIP: the Debris-Covered Glacier melt Model Intercomparison exPeriment

Pellicciotti, Francesca; Fontrodona-Bach, Adrià; Rounce, David R.; Fyffe, Catriona L.; Anderson, Leif S.; Ayala, Álvaro; Brock, Ben W.; Buri, Pascal; Fugger, Stefan; Fujita, Koji; Gantayat, Prateek; Groos, Alexander R.; Immerzeel, Walter; Kneib, Marin; Mayer, Christoph; MacDonell, Shelley; McCarthy, Michael; McPhee, James; Miles, Evan; Purdie, Heather; Rets, Ekaterina; Sakai, Akiko; Shaw, Thomas E.; Steiner, Jakob; Wagnon, Patrick; Winter-Billington, Alex

doi:10.5194/tc-20-1895-2026

Articles | Volume 20, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1895-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1895-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 3

Research article

|

02 Apr 2026

Research article |

| 02 Apr 2026

DCG-MIP: the Debris-Covered Glacier melt Model Intercomparison exPeriment

Francesca Pellicciotti, Adrià Fontrodona-Bach, David R. Rounce, Catriona L. Fyffe, Leif S. Anderson, Álvaro Ayala, Ben W. Brock, Pascal Buri, Stefan Fugger, Koji Fujita, Prateek Gantayat, Alexander R. Groos, Walter Immerzeel, Marin Kneib, Christoph Mayer, Shelley MacDonell, Michael McCarthy, James McPhee, Evan Miles, Heather Purdie, Ekaterina Rets, Akiko Sakai, Thomas E. Shaw, Jakob Steiner, Patrick Wagnon, and Alex Winter-Billington

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1895-2026-supplement

Data sets

Debris-Covered Glacier Melt Model Intercomparison Experiment: Model Outputs L. Anderson et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15754456

8_Tapado Data S. MacDonell et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3362402

5_Miage Data B. W. Brock https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3050557

7_Suldenferner Data L. Nicholson https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3056524

1_Arolla Data F. Pellicciotti et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3047649

4_Lirung Data F. Pellicciotti et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3050327

9_Tasman Data H. Purdie https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3354105

3_Djankuat Data E. Rets et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3049871

6_Pirámide Data J. McPhee et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3056072

2_Changri Nup Data P. Wagnon https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3048780

Short summary

Rock debris covers many of the world glaciers, modifying the transfer of atmospheric energy to the debris and into the ice. Models of different complexity simulate this process, and we compare 15 models at 9 sites to show that the most complex models at the debris-atmosphere interface have the highest performance. However, we lack debris properties and their derivation from measurements is ambiguous, hindering global modelling and calling for both model development and data collection.