Articles | Volume 9, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1831-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1831-2015
Research article
 | 
18 Sep 2015
Research article |  | 18 Sep 2015

Evaluation of the updated regional climate model RACMO2.3: summer snowfall impact on the Greenland Ice Sheet

B. Noël, W. J. van de Berg, E. van Meijgaard, P. Kuipers Munneke, R. S. W. van de Wal, and M. R. van den Broeke

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AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment
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AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision
AR by Brice Noël on behalf of the Authors (18 Jul 2015)  Manuscript 
ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (Editor review) (23 Jul 2015) by Martin Sharp
AR by Brice Noël on behalf of the Authors (29 Jul 2015)  Author's response   Manuscript 
ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (18 Aug 2015) by Martin Sharp
AR by Brice Noël on behalf of the Authors (19 Aug 2015)  Manuscript 
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Short summary
We compare Greenland Ice Sheet surface mass balance (SMB) from the updated polar version of the regional climate model RACMO2.3 and the previous version 2.1. RACMO2.3 has an adjusted rainfall-to-snowfall conversion favouring summer snowfall over rainfall. Enhanced summer snowfall reduce melt rates in the ablation zone by covering dark ice with highly reflective fresh snow. This improves the modelled SMB-elevation gradient and surface energy balance compared to observations in west Greenland.