Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-285
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-285
14 Feb 2024
 | 14 Feb 2024

Modelling snowpack on ice surfaces with the ORCHIDEE land surface model: Application to the Greenland ice sheet

Sylvie Charbit, Christophe Dumas, Fabienne Maignan, Catherine Ottlé, Nina Raoult, and Xavier Fettweis

Abstract. Current climate warming is accelerating mass loss from glaciers and ice sheets. In Greenland, the rates of mass changes are now dominated by changes in surface mass balance (SMB) due to increased surface melting. To improve the future sea-level rise projections, it is therefore critical to have an accurate estimate of the SMB, which depends on the representation of the processes occurring within the snowpack. The snow scheme (ES) implemented in the land surface model ORCHIDEE has not yet been adapted to ice-covered areas. Here, we present the preliminary developments we made to apply the ES model to glaciers and ice sheets. Our analysis mainly concerns the model’s ability to represent ablation-related processes. At the regional scale, our results are compared to the MAR regional atmospheric model outputs and to MODIS albedo retrievals.

Using different albedo parameterizations, we performed offline ES simulations forced by the MAR model over the 2000–2019 period. Our results reveal a strong sensitivity of the modeled SMB components to the albedo parameterization. Results inferred with albedo parameters obtained with a manual tuning approach present a very good agreement with the MAR outputs. Conversely, with the albedo parameterization used in the standard ORCHIDEE version, runoff and sublimation were underestimated. We also tested parameters found from a previous data assimilation experiment calibrating the ablation processes using MODIS snow albedo. While these parameters greatly improve the modelled albedo over the entire ice sheet, they degrade the other model outputs compared to those obtained with the manually-tuned approach. This is likely due to the model overfitting to the calibration albedo dataset without any constraint applied to the other processes controlling the state of the snowpack. This underlines the need for performing a “multi-objective” optimisation using auxiliary observations related to snowpack internal processes. Although there is still room for further improvements, the developments reported in the present study constitute an important advance in assessing the Greenland SMB with possible extension to mountain glaciers or the Antarctic ice sheet.

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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

08 Nov 2024
Modelling snowpack on ice surfaces with the ORCHIDEE land surface model: application to the Greenland ice sheet
Sylvie Charbit, Christophe Dumas, Fabienne Maignan, Catherine Ottlé, Nina Raoult, Xavier Fettweis, and Philippe Conesa
The Cryosphere, 18, 5067–5099, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5067-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5067-2024, 2024
Short summary
Sylvie Charbit, Christophe Dumas, Fabienne Maignan, Catherine Ottlé, Nina Raoult, and Xavier Fettweis

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-285', Anonymous Referee #1, 05 Apr 2024
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-285', Anonymous Referee #2, 17 Apr 2024

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-285', Anonymous Referee #1, 05 Apr 2024
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-285', Anonymous Referee #2, 17 Apr 2024

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (19 Jun 2024) by Marie Dumont
AR by Sylvie Charbit on behalf of the Authors (29 Jul 2024)  Author's response   Author's tracked changes   Manuscript 
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (07 Aug 2024) by Marie Dumont
RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (20 Aug 2024)
ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (03 Sep 2024) by Marie Dumont
AR by Sylvie Charbit on behalf of the Authors (09 Sep 2024)  Author's response   Manuscript 
EF by Sarah Buchmann (16 Sep 2024)  Supplement 
EF by Sarah Buchmann (16 Sep 2024)  Author's tracked changes 
ED: Publish as is (19 Sep 2024) by Marie Dumont
AR by Sylvie Charbit on behalf of the Authors (19 Sep 2024)  Manuscript 

Journal article(s) based on this preprint

08 Nov 2024
Modelling snowpack on ice surfaces with the ORCHIDEE land surface model: application to the Greenland ice sheet
Sylvie Charbit, Christophe Dumas, Fabienne Maignan, Catherine Ottlé, Nina Raoult, Xavier Fettweis, and Philippe Conesa
The Cryosphere, 18, 5067–5099, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5067-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5067-2024, 2024
Short summary
Sylvie Charbit, Christophe Dumas, Fabienne Maignan, Catherine Ottlé, Nina Raoult, and Xavier Fettweis
Sylvie Charbit, Christophe Dumas, Fabienne Maignan, Catherine Ottlé, Nina Raoult, and Xavier Fettweis

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Latest update: 08 Nov 2024
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Short summary
The evolution of the Greenland ice sheet is highly dependent on surface melting and therefore on the processes operating at the snow-atmosphere interface and within the snow cover. Here we present new developments to apply a snow model to the Greenland ice sheet. The performance of this model is analysed in terms of its ability to simulate ablation processes. Our analysis shows that the model performs well when compared with the MAR regional polar atmospheric model.