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Title: Present-day and future Antarctic ice sheet climate and surface mass balance in the Community Earth System Model

Journal Article · · Climate Dynamics
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1]
  1. Utrecht Univ., Utrecht (The Netherlands)
  2. Delft Univ. of Technology, Delft (The Netherlands)
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Here, we present climate and surface mass balance (SMB) of the Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) as simulated by the global, coupled ocean–atmosphere–land Community Earth System Model (CESM) with a horizontal resolution of ~1° in the past, present and future (1850–2100). CESM correctly simulates present-day Antarctic sea ice extent, large-scale atmospheric circulation and near-surface climate, but fails to simulate the recent expansion of Antarctic sea ice. The present-day Antarctic ice sheet SMB equals 2280 ± 131Gtyear–1, which concurs with existing independent estimates of AIS SMB. When forced by two CMIP5 climate change scenarios (high mitigation scenario RCP2.6 and high-emission scenario RCP8.5), CESM projects an increase of Antarctic ice sheet SMB of about 70 Gtyear–1 per degree warming. This increase is driven by enhanced snowfall, which is partially counteracted by more surface melt and runoff along the ice sheet’s edges. This intensifying hydrological cycle is predominantly driven by atmospheric warming, which increases (1) the moisture-carrying capacity of the atmosphere, (2) oceanic source region evaporation, and (3) summer AIS cloud liquid water content.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1352361
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-15-21974
Journal Information:
Climate Dynamics, Vol. 47, Issue 5-6; ISSN 0930-7575
Publisher:
Springer-VerlagCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 91 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Antarctica-Regional Climate and Surface Mass Budget journal October 2017
A New Regional Climate Model for POLAR-CORDEX: Evaluation of a 30-Year Hindcast with COSMO-CLM 2 Over Antarctica journal February 2019
Meltwater produced by wind–albedo interaction stored in an East Antarctic ice shelf journal December 2016
January 2016 extensive summer melt in West Antarctica favoured by strong El Niño journal June 2017
Antarctic surface hydrology and impacts on ice-sheet mass balance journal November 2018
Lack of evidence for a substantial sea-level fluctuation within the Last Interglacial journal August 2018
Widespread distribution of supraglacial lakes around the margin of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet journal September 2019
Improved simulation of Antarctic sea ice due to the radiative effects of falling snow journal August 2017
Back to the Future: Using Long-Term Observational and Paleo-Proxy Reconstructions to Improve Model Projections of Antarctic Climate journal June 2019
Assessing bias-corrections of oceanic surface conditions for atmospheric models posted_content December 2017
Ice core evidence for a 20th century increase in surface mass balance in coastal Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica journal January 2016
Measurements of precipitation in Dumont d'Urville, Adélie Land, East Antarctica journal January 2017
Observationally constrained surface mass balance of Larsen C ice shelf, Antarctica journal January 2017
Basin-scale heterogeneity in Antarctic precipitation and its impact on surface mass variability journal January 2017
Modelling the climate and surface mass balance of polar ice sheets using RACMO2 – Part 2: Antarctica (1979–2016) journal January 2018
How does the ice sheet surface mass balance relate to snowfall? Insights from a ground-based precipitation radar in East Antarctica journal January 2018
Uncertainty quantification of the multi-centennial response of the Antarctic ice sheet to climate change journal January 2019
Regional grid refinement in an Earth system model: impacts on the simulated Greenland surface mass balance journal January 2019
Effect of prescribed sea surface conditions on the modern and future Antarctic surface climate simulated by the ARPEGE atmosphere general circulation model journal January 2019
Interannual variability of summer surface mass balance and surface melting in the Amundsen sector, West Antarctica journal January 2020
Influence of sea-ice anomalies on Antarctic precipitation using source attribution in the Community Earth System Model journal January 2020
Antarctic surface hydrology and impacts on ice-sheet mass balance text January 2018
Assessing bias corrections of oceanic surface conditions for atmospheric models journal January 2019
Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project (ISMIP6) contribution to CMIP6 journal January 2016
Observationally constrained surface mass balance of Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica posted_content March 2017
Experimental tests of sub-surface reflectors as an explanation for the ANITA anomalous events journal April 2021
How useful is snow accumulation in reconstructing surface air temperature in Antarctica? A study combining ice core records and climate models journal April 2020
Spatial probabilistic calibration of a high-resolution Amundsen Sea Embayment ice sheet model with satellite altimeter data journal May 2020
Future surface mass balance and surface melt in the Amundsen sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet journal February 2021