Glacier Mass Balance Sensitivity

The glacier mass balance sensitivity subgroup is seeking to evaluate the performance of energy balance and temperature-index models on predicting historical and present-day mass change to determine if temperature-index models overpredict mass loss as has been implied by studies in the past. The subgroup will leverage existing modeling efforts as well as geodetic mass balance datasets to develop a standardized method for calibrating the models using historical mass balance data and then assessing performance by comparing to present-day mass change estimates (i.e., a completely independent dataset). If possible, we will use climate products developed from the HiMAT team to force the model runs. This is a collaborative effort that still requires a bit of development. The next subgroup meeting will be in Fall (September or October) 2022, where we will focus on identifying the locations of interest and the calibration framework that we can set to be consistent amongst modelers. We then intend to start testing the calibration framework over the Fall semester to identify any challenges prior to the development of the modeling framework and potential analyses that will be used to conduct the study.

Point of Contact: David Rounce