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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Cited articles

Bales, R. C., McConnell, J. R., Mosley-Thompson, E., and Csatho, B.: Accumulation over the Greenland ice sheet from historcal and recent records, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 33813–33825, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JD900153, 2001.
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Bougamont, M., Bamber, J. L., and Greuell, W.: A surface mass balance model for the Greenland Ice Sheet, J. Geophys. Res., 110, F04018, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JF000348, 2005.
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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.
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