Impact of the spatial resolution on the Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance modelling

Abstract

peer reviewedBy using the regional climate model MAR (Modèle Atmosphérique Régional), we have modelled the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) Surface Mass Balance (SMB) at 20, 25, 30, 40 and 50km resolution to assess the impact of the spatial resolution. As part of the ICE2SEA project, the 25km-resolution SMB outputs of the MAR model are used as forcing fields for ice sheet models, in order to produce projections of the GrIS contribution to sea-level rise over the next 200 years. However, the ice sheet models often run at a higher resolution (typically 5-10km) than the current MAR resolution (25km). Such higher-resolution runs of the MAR model on the same integration domain generate a significant additional computing time and are not doable until now. That is why several enhanced SMB interpolations are tested here in order to reduce biases when interpolating the MAR outputs onto higher resolution, in the framework of the ICE2SEA project