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Abstract. The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) are home to a unique microbial ecosystem that is dependent on the availability of freshwater. This is a polar desert and freshwater originates almost entirely from surface and near-surface melt of the cold-based glaciers. Understanding the future evolution of these environments requires the simulation of the full chain of physical processes from net radiative forcing, surface energy balance, melt, runoff and transport of meltwater in stream channels from the glaciers to the terminal lakes where the microbial community resides. To establish a new framework to do this, we present the first application of WRF-Hydro/Glacier in the MDV, which as a fully distributed hydrological model has the capability to resolve the streams from the glaciers to the bare land that surround them. Given that meltwater generation in the MDV is almost entirely dependent on small changes in the energy balance of the glaciers, the aim of this study is to optimize the multi-layer snowpack scheme that is embedded in WRF-Hydro/Glacier to ensure that the feedbacks between albedo, snowfall and melt are fully resolved. To achieve this, WRF-Hydro/Glacier is implemented at a point scale using automatic weather station data on Commonwealth Glacier to physically model the onset, duration and end of melt over a 7-month period (1 August 2021 to 28 February 2022). To resolve the limited energetics controlling melt, it was necessary to (1) limit the percolation of meltwater through the ice layers in the multi-layer snowpack scheme and (2) optimize the parameters controlling the albedo of both snow and ice over the melt season based on observed spectral signatures of albedo. These modifications enabled the variability of broadband albedo over the melt season to be accurately simulated and ensured that modelled surface and near-surface temperatures, surface height change and runoff were fully resolved. By establishing a new framework that couples a detailed snowpack model to a fully distributed hydrological model, this work provides a stepping stone to model the spatial and temporal variability of melt and streamflow in the future, which will enable some of the unknown questions about the hydrological connectivity of the MDV to be answered.
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Meteorological drivers of melt at two nearby glaciers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica
Abstract We study the meteorological drivers of melt at two glaciers in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, using 22 years of weather station observations and surface energy fluxes. The glaciers are located only 30 km apart, but have different local climates; Taylor Glacier is generally drier and windier than Commonwealth Glacier, which receives more snowfall due to its proximity to the coast. Commonwealth Glacier shows more inter-annual melt variability, explained by variable albedo due to summer snowfall events. A significant increase in surface melt at Commonwealth Glacier is associated with a decrease in summer minimum albedo. Inter-annual variability in melt at both glaciers is linked to degree-days above freezing during föhn events, occurring more frequently at Taylor Glacier. At Taylor Glacier melt occurs most often with positive air temperatures, but föhn conditions also favour sublimation, which cools the surface and prevents melt for the majority of the positive air temperatures. At Commonwealth Glacier, most of the melt instead occurs with sub-zero air temperatures, driven by strong solar radiative heating. Future melt at Taylor Glacier will likely be more sensitive to changes in föhn events, while Commonwealth Glacier will be impacted more by changes in near coastal weather, where moisture inputs can drive cloud cover, snowfall and change albedo.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2224760
- PAR ID:
- 10538104
- Publisher / Repository:
- Cambridge University Press
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Glaciology
- ISSN:
- 0022-1430
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 13
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.98
