Abstract
Abstract. The dataset described in this paper (ALBMAP) has been created for the purposes of high-resolution numerical ice sheet modelling of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. It brings together data on the ice sheet configuration (e.g. ice surface and ice thickness) and boundary conditions, such as the surface air temperature, accumulation and geothermal heat flux. The ice thickness and basal topography is based on the BEDMAP dataset (Lythe et al., 2001), however, there are a number of inconsistencies within BEDMAP and, since its release, more data has become available. The dataset described here addresses these inconsistencies, including some novel interpolation schemes for sub ice-shelf cavities, and incorporates some major new datasets. The inclusion of new datasets is not exhaustive, this considerable task is left for the next release of BEDMAP, however, the data and procedure documented here provides another step forward and demonstrates the issues that need addressing in a continental scale dataset useful for high resolution ice sheet modelling. The dataset provides an initial condition that is as close as possible to present-day ice sheet configuration, aiding modelling of the response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to various forcings, which are, at present, not fully understood.
Highlights
There is a great deal of uncertainty over the potential contribution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to sea level rise over the century
This paper presents an improved version of the BEDMAP dataset for the purpose of high resolution ice sheet modelling, addressing the inconsistencies which make BEDMAP unsuitable for this purpose
This paper describes the data processing carried out to produce the final datasets: firstly, the masks and ice sheet configuration datasets are described (Sects. 2 and 3 respectively), the surface air temperature (Sect. 4), the accumulation (Sect. 5) and the geothermal heat flux (Sect. 6)
Summary
2007; Pollard and DeConto, 2009). the results from these models are only as good as the data that are input; in particular the elevation of the bed and bathymetry at the grounding line. Whilst the BEDMAP dataset (Lythe et al, 2001) was a step forward when it was created, providing data on ice thickness, surface and bed elevations, there are a number of inconsistencies within the dataset Since the release of BEDMAP, more data have become available regarding both the ice thickness and surface elevation. This paper presents an improved version of the BEDMAP dataset for the purpose of high resolution ice sheet modelling, addressing the inconsistencies which make BEDMAP unsuitable for this purpose. M. Le Brocq et al.: An improved Antarctic dataset for high resolution numerical ice sheet models (ALBMAP v1) Table 1.
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