High-resolution (1 km) Polar WRF output for 79° N Glacier and the Northeast of Greenland from 2014–2018

Abstract

Abstract. The northeast region of Greenland is of growing interest due to changes taking place on the large marine-terminating glaciers which drain the north east Greenland ice stream. Nioghalvfjerdsfjordern, or 79° N glacier, is one of these glaciers that is currently experiencing accelerated thinning, retreat and enhanced surface melt. Understanding both the influence of atmospheric processes on the glacier and the interactions between the atmosphere and the changing surface is crucial for our understanding of present stability and future change. However, relatively few studies have focused on the atmospheric processes in this region, and even fewer have used high-resolution modelling as a tool for these research questions. Here we present a high-resolution (1 km) atmospheric modelling dataset, NEGIS_WRF, for the 79° N and northeast Greenland region from 2014–2018, and an evaluation of the model’s success at representing daily near-surface meteorology compared with two automatic weather station records. The dataset, (Turton et al, 2019b: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/53E6Z), is now available for a wide variety of applications ranging from atmospheric dynamics, to input for hydrological and oceanic modelling studies.

A Detailed, Multi‐Scale Assessment of an Atmospheric River Event and Its Impact on Extreme Glacier Melt in the Southern Alps of New Zealand

“…For the high‐resolution domain (D2), topographic effects on radiation, including both topographic shading and slope effects, were accounted for and a cumulus parameterization was neglected since model simulations using a grid spacing smaller than 4 km are considered to resolve most convective processes explicitly (Weisman et al., 1997). Cloud microphysics were represented by the Morrison 2‐moment scheme, which we consider the most robust parametrization scheme for clouds and precipitation in high‐mountain and/or glacierized environments based on our previous modeling studies in different climatic zones (e.g., Collier et al., 2018; Mölg et al., 2017; Temme et al., 2020; Turton et al., 2020). Specifically, in the Himalayas, the Morrison 2‐moment scheme has been proven to produce the most accurate output (compared to other microphysics schemes) when evaluated against observational data and radar/lidar cloud products (Orr et al., 2017).…”

“…The physics and dynamics settings used in this study are based on our experience using WRF in diverse latitudinal, topographic and climatic environments (e.g., Collier & Immerzeel, 2015; Mölg & Kaser, 2011; Turton et al., 2020). We selected the best performing configuration (in terms of statistical performance metrics) out of a set of 45 sensitivity runs involving different combinations of physics und dynamics options as well as nudging techniques and time step settings.…”

The distribution and evolution of supraglacial lakes on 79° N Glacier (north-eastern Greenland) and interannual climatic controls

“…Archived model output from the PWRF model (v3.9.1.1) is analysed. Meteorological variables are available at daily temporal and 1 km spatial resolutions from Turton et al (2019b) at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/53E6Z. PWRF is a polaroptimised version of the WRF model to better account for sea ice and snowpack processes (Hines et al, 2015).…”

“…The majority of adjustments in PWRF compared to regular WRF are located in the Noah land surface module. The model output has been previously evaluated against the in situ PROMICE weather stations near 79 • N Glacier and can successfully represent a number of near-surface meteorological variables for both daily mean and sub-daily timescales (Turton et al, 2020). The full description and justification of the model setup are provided in Turton et al (2020) and the inner domain location is presented in Fig.…”

“…The background is the GIMP DEM of Howat et al (2014). (c) The inner domain of Polar Weather Research and Forecasting (PWRF) model simulations by Turton et al (2020), with the locations of the two AWSs (KPC_U and KPC_L) and the elevation of the glacier and ice sheet in colour. The dashed pink box highlights the floating portion of the glacier.…”