Snow Cover Dynamics and Mass Balance on Mountain Glaciers
Final Report Abstract
Glaciers contribute to sea level rise and to local and regional water supply. They are also very clear indicators of climate change. Mountain glaciers and their mass changes are particularly difficult to measure and capture, mostly due to unfavorable logistical circumstances. For example, annual mass balance data are only available from a few glaciers, from which researchers extrapolate to larger and unobserved regions with considerable uncertainties. This unsatisfactory situation can be significantly improved if the mass and energy fluxes driving glacier changes are analyzed with distributed models with high temporal resolution. The biggest unknown to overcome is the evolution of the snowpack from precipitation to wind-driven redistribution and compaction to its degradation. The seasonal duration of the snowpack depends on these processes and determines the well-being of a glacier through its high reflectivity to the sun. The theory and understanding of the processes are well advanced and the models can be tested and used, but suitable measurements are lacking. As part of the SCHISM project, the University of Innsbruck and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg have developed new modelling tools and calibrated them on the data-rich and wellequipped Hintereisferner in the Ötztal Alps, Austria. Among the newly developed tools is the open source COupled Snowpack and Ice surface energy and mass balance model in PYthon (COSIPY). COSIPY provides a lean, flexible, and user-friendly framework for modelling distributed snow and glacier mass changes. The model has an interface to the Weather and Research Forecast model, allowing a 2-way coupling between the atmospheric model and the surface energy and mass balance model. In addition, a snowdrift parameterization was added to WRF so that the model can be used at high latitudes and mountainous regions. The so-called WRF cryosphere suite (COSIPY + snow drift scheme) is a useful and important WRF extension that corrects mass and energy fluxes between the atmosphere and snow/ice surfaces. These newly developed modelling tools help to reduce uncertainties in estimates of sea-level rise and regional water supply and are an important research tool that allows us to understand the interactions between glaciers and climate in all the complexity of the world's different mountain glaciers.
Publications
- (2020). COSIPY v1. 3–an open-source coupled snowpack and ice surface energy and mass balance model. Geoscientific Model Development, 13(11), 5645-5662
Sauter, T., Arndt, A., & Schneider, C.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-5645-2020) - (2021). Surface mass balance and energy balance of the 79N Glacier (Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden, NE Greenland) modeled by linking COSIPY and Polar WRF. Journal of Glaciology, 67(266), 1093-1107
Blau, M. T., Turton, J. V., Sauter, T., & Mölg, T.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.56) - (2022). Large-eddy simulations of the atmospheric boundary layer over an Alpine glacier: Impact of synoptic flow direction and governing processes. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 148(744), 1319-1343
Goger, B., Stiperski, I., Nicholson, L., & Sauter, T.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4263)
