Applying the Energy- and Water Balance Model for Incorporation of the Cryospheric Component into a Climate Model. Part III. Modeling Mass Balance on the Surface of the Antarctic Ice Sheet

Abstract

The Earth system models have been actively developed during recent decades. They integrate the blocks describing the dynamics of the atmosphere, the ocean and the cryosphere. The Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) is one of the most important components of the Earth’s cryosphere. Therefore, the incorporation of the AIS model into the Earth system model will significantly improve the accuracy of reconstructions of climate parameters for paleoclimate studies and for climate predictions. This paper presents a description of the energy balance block of the AIS model. This is a continuation of our recent work on integration of the cryosphere block to the climate model. The testing of the block (the EWBM-A buffer model) was carried out using the climate data generated by the INMCM model developed in the Institute of Numerical Mathematics of RAS. The results of the calculations of the surface mass balance components of the Antarctic ice sheet are presented for the 30-year pre-industrial period and are compared with the recent results obtained in the literature.