Air Temperature Characteristics, Distribution, and Impact on Modeled Ablation for the South Patagonia Icefield

Bravo, Claudio, Quincey, D. J., Ross, A. N., Rivera, Andrés, Brock, Benjamin, Miles, E. and Silva, A. (2019) Air Temperature Characteristics, Distribution, and Impact on Modeled Ablation for the South Patagonia Icefield. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 124 (2). pp. 907-925. ISSN 2169-897X

[img]
Preview
Text
Bravo_et_al-2019-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Atmospheres.pdf - Published Version

Download (2MB) | Preview
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD028857

Abstract

The glaciers of Patagonia are the largest in South America and are shrinking rapidly, raising concerns about their contribution to sea level rise in the face of ongoing climatic change. However, modeling studies forecasting future glacier recession are limited by the scarcity of measured on‐glacier air temperatures and thus tend to use spatially and temporally constant lapse rates. This study presents 9 months of air temperature observations. The network consists of five automatic weather stations and three on‐glacier air temperature sensors installed on the South Patagonia Icefield along a transect at 48°45′S. Observed lapse rates are, overall, steeper on the east (−0.0072 °C/m) compared to the west (−0.0055 °C/m) and vary between the lower section (tongue, ablation zone) and the upper section (plateau, accumulation zone) of the glaciers. Warmer off‐glacier temperatures are found in the east compared to the west for similar elevations. However, on‐glacier observations suggest that the glacier cooling effect is higher in the east compared to the west. Through application of distributed temperature‐index and point‐scale energy balance models we show that modeled ablation rates vary by up to 60%, depending on the air temperature extrapolation method applied, and that melt is overestimated and sublimation is underestimated if the glacier cooling effect is not included in the distributed air temperature data. These results can improve current and future modeling efforts of the energy and mass balance of the whole South Patagonia Icefield.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: air temperature, lapse rate, glacier ablation, South Patagonia, Ice Field
Subjects: F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences
Department: Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Geography and Environmental Sciences
Depositing User: Elena Carlaw
Date Deposited: 19 Feb 2019 10:53
Last Modified: 01 Aug 2021 11:03
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/38107

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics