Calibration of a frontal ablation parameterisation applied to Greenland's peripheral calving glaciers

Beatriz Recinos*, Fabien Maussion, Brice Noël, Marco Möller, Ben Marzeion

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We calibrate the calving parameterisation implemented in the Open Global Glacier Model via two methods (velocity constraint and surface mass balance (SMB) constraint) and assess the impact of accounting for frontal ablation on the ice volume estimate of Greenland tidewater peripheral glaciers (PGs). We estimate an average regional frontal ablation flux of 7.38±3.45 Gta-1 after calibrating the model with two different satellite velocity products, and of 0.69±0.49 Gta-1 if the model is constrained using frontal ablation fluxes derived from independent modelled SMB averaged over an equilibrium reference period (1961-90). This second method makes the assumption that most PGs during that time have an equilibrium between mass gain via SMB and mass loss via frontal ablation. This assumption serves as a basis to assess the order of magnitude of dynamic mass loss of glaciers when compared to the SMB imbalance. The differences between results from both methods indicate how strong the dynamic imbalance might have been for PGs during that reference period. Including frontal ablation increases the estimated regional ice volume of PGs, from 14.47 to 14.64±0.12 mm sea level equivalent when using the SMB method and to 15.84±0.32 mm sea level equivalent when using the velocity method.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1177-1189
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of Glaciology
Volume67
Issue number266
Early online date7 Jun 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press.

Keywords

  • Glacier calving
  • glacier volume
  • ice dynamics

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