Polar clouds and radiation in satellite observations, reanalyses, and climate models

Clouds play a pivotal role in the surface energy budget of the polar regions. Here we use two largely independent data sets of cloud and surface downwelling radiation observations derived by satellite remote sensing (2007-2010) to evaluate simulated clouds and radiation over both polar ice sheets and oceans in state-of-the-art atmospheric reanalyses (ERA-Interim and Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications-2) and the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) climate model ensemble. First, we show that, compared to Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System-Energy Balanced and Filled, CloudSat-CALIPSO better represents cloud liquid and ice water path over high latitudes, owing to its recent explicit determination of cloud phase that will be part of its new R05 release. The reanalyses and climate models disagree widely on the amount of cloud liquid and ice in the polar regions. Compared to the observations, we find significant but inconsistent biases in the model simulations of cloud liquid and ice water, as well as in the downwelling radiation components. The CMIP5 models display a wide range of cloud characteristics of the polar regions, especially with regard to cloud liquid water, limiting the representativeness of the multimodel mean. A few CMIP5 models (CNRM, GISS, GFDL, and IPSL_CM5b) clearly outperform the others, which enhances credibility in their projected future cloud and radiation changes over high latitudes. Given the rapid changes in polar regions and global feedbacks involved, future climate model developments should target improved representation of polar clouds. To that end, remote sensing observations are crucial, in spite of large remaining observational uncertainties, which is evidenced by the substantial differences between the two data sets

Ice core evidence for a 20th century increase in surface mass balance in coastal Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica

Ice cores provide temporal records of surface mass balance (SMB). Coastal areas of Antarctica have relatively high and variable SMB, but are under-represented in records spanning more than 100 years. Here we present SMB reconstruction from a 120 m-long ice core drilled in 2012 on the Derwael Ice Rise, coastal Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. Water stable isotope (δ18O and δD) stratigraphy is supplemented by discontinuous major ion profiles and continuous electrical conductivity measurements. The base of the ice core is dated to AD 1759 ± 16, providing a climate proxy for the past  ∼ 250 years. The core's annual layer thickness history is combined with its gravimetric density profile to reconstruct the site's SMB history, corrected for the influence of ice deformation. The mean SMB for the core's entire history is 0.47 ± 0.02 m water equivalent (w.e.) a−1. The time series of reconstructed annual SMB shows high variability, but a general increase beginning in the 20th century. This increase is particularly marked during the last 50 years (1962–2011), which yields mean SMB of 0.61 ± 0.01 m w.e. a−1. This trend is compared with other reported SMB data in Antarctica, generally showing a high spatial variability. Output of the fully coupled Community Earth System Model (CESM) suggests that, although atmospheric circulation is the main factor influencing SMB, variability in sea surface temperatures and sea ice cover in the precipitation source region also explain part of the variability in SMB. Local snow redistribution can also influence interannual variability but is unlikely to influence long-term trends significantly. This is the first record from a coastal ice core in East Antarctica to show an increase in SMB beginning in the early 20th century and particularly marked during the last 50 years

Компонентный состав фразеологических единиц, мотивирующих слова (на материале немецкого языка)

Статья из специализированного выпуска научного журнала "Культура народов Причерноморья", материалы которого объединены общей темой "Язык и Мир" и посвящены общим вопросам Языкознания и приурочены к 80-летию со дня рождения Николая Александровича Рудякова.Стаття із спеціалізованого випуску наукового журналу "Культура народов Причерноморья", матеріали якого поєднані загальною темою "Мова і Світ" і присвячені загальним питанням мовознавства і приурочені до 80-річчя з дня народження Миколи Олександровича Рудякова

Drifting snow climate of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets

This study presents the drifting snow climate of the Earth's ice sheets, Antarctica and Greenland. For that purpose we use a regional atmospheric climate model, RACMO2. We included a routine that is able to calculate the drifting snow fluxes and accounts for the interaction between drifting snow on the one hand and the atmosphere and snow surface on the other. RACMO2 is run at 27 km resolution for Antarctica, and 11 km resolution for Greenland, and forced at its lateral boundaries by ECMWF reanalyses (32 years for Antarctica and 52 years for Greenland). Because direct evaluation for drifting snow is challenging due to sparseness of observational data, we focussed the model evaluation on the ability of RACMO2 to represent near-surface wind climate, temperature, surface mass balance, the extent of ablation areas and remote-sensed drifting snow frequency. We show that RACMO2 is very well able to represent the present-day near-surface climate of Antarctica and Greenland. Drifting snow occurs 20-80% of the time on Antarctica, depending on the local wind climate. Highest frequencies are found in the coastal areas, where drifting snow sublimation (SUds) removes up to 150 mm water equivalent of snow, whereas the high-elevation areas experience little or no SUds. Drifting snow erosion (ER­ds) can be negative (deposition) or positive (erosion), and varies generally between -50 and 50 mm in regions where the wind field convergences and diverges, respectively. Integrated over the ice sheet, SUds removes around 165 Gt of snow, which is equivalent to ~6% of the precipitated snow. The impact of ER­ds on the Antarctic ice sheet SMB is negligible . We found several feedbacks between SUds and the atmosphere. SUds moistens the near-surface atmosphere, limiting its own potential, but also enhancing precipitation in some coastal areas. By removing mass from the snow surface, drifting snow processes increase the top snow layer density, increasing the threshold wind speed for further drifting snow. Since the impacts of drifting snow are included, we are able to quantify all contributors to the Antarctic SMB. The SMB equals 2479 +/- 147 Gt/yr, and is largely determined by snowfall. It varies fro

Modeling drifting snow in Antarctica with a regional climate model: 2. Results

This paper presents a model study of the impact of drifting snow on the lower atmosphere, surface snow characteristics, and surface mass balance of Antarctica. We use the regional atmospheric climate model RACMO2.1/ANT with a high horizontal resolution (27 km), equipped with a drifting snow routine and forced by ERA-Interim (1989–2009) at its lateral and ocean boundaries. Drifting snow sublimation (SUds) is significant in Antarctica, especially in the coastal regions (>150 mm water equivalent yr!1). Integrated over the ice sheet, SUds removes "6% of the annually precipitated snow. Drifting snow interacts with the atmosphere, as it increases the lower atmospheric moisture content and reduces surface sublimation (SUs), and leads to increased snowfall in regions where the atmosphere usually is close to saturation. Drifting snow sublimation (SUds) is smallest in summer, when katabatic wind speeds are lower and melting and surface sublimation consolidate the snow surface. Compared to a simulation without drifting snow, total sublimation (SUds + SUs) doubles on the grounded ice sheet if drifting snow is considered. Drifting snow erosion is locally significant, but can be neglected on a continent-wide scale

Drifting snow climate of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets

This study presents the drifting snow climate of the Earth's ice sheets, Antarctica and Greenland. For that purpose we use a regional atmospheric climate model, RACMO2. We included a routine that is able to calculate the drifting snow fluxes and accounts for the interaction between drifting snow on the one hand and the atmosphere and snow surface on the other. RACMO2 is run at 27 km resolution for Antarctica, and 11 km resolution for Greenland, and forced at its lateral boundaries by ECMWF reanalyses (32 years for Antarctica and 52 years for Greenland). Because direct evaluation for drifting snow is challenging due to sparseness of observational data, we focussed the model evaluation on the ability of RACMO2 to represent near-surface wind climate, temperature, surface mass balance, the extent of ablation areas and remote-sensed drifting snow frequency. We show that RACMO2 is very well able to represent the present-day near-surface climate of Antarctica and Greenland. Drifting snow occurs 20-80% of the time on Antarctica, depending on the local wind climate. Highest frequencies are found in the coastal areas, where drifting snow sublimation (SUds) removes up to 150 mm water equivalent of snow, whereas the high-elevation areas experience little or no SUds. Drifting snow erosion (ER­ds) can be negative (deposition) or positive (erosion), and varies generally between -50 and 50 mm in regions where the wind field convergences and diverges, respectively. Integrated over the ice sheet, SUds removes around 165 Gt of snow, which is equivalent to ~6% of the precipitated snow. The impact of ER­ds on the Antarctic ice sheet SMB is negligible . We found several feedbacks between SUds and the atmosphere. SUds moistens the near-surface atmosphere, limiting its own potential, but also enhancing precipitation in some coastal areas. By removing mass from the snow surface, drifting snow processes increase the top snow layer density, increasing the threshold wind speed for further drifting snow. Since the impacts of drifting snow are included, we are able to quantify all contributors to the Antarctic SMB. The SMB equals 2479 +/- 147 Gt/yr, and is largely determined by snowfall. It varies fro

Ice sheets and sea level: thinking outside the box

Until quite recently, the mass balance (MB) of the great ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica was poorly known and often treated as a residual in the budget of oceanic mass and sea level change. Recent developments in regional climate modelling and remote sensing, especially altimetry, gravimetry and InSAR feature tracking, have enabled us to specifically resolve the ice sheet mass balance components at a near-annual timescale. The results reveal significant mass losses for both ice sheets, caused by the acceleration of marine-terminating glaciers in southeast, west and northwest Greenland and coastal West Antarctica, and increased run-off in Greenland. At the same time, the data show that interannual variability is very significant, masking the underlying trends