Understanding two key processes associated with alpine lake ice phenology using a coupled atmosphere-lake model

Abstract

Study regionLake Nam-Co, a typical deep alpine lake in the central of Tibetan Plateau. Study focusThis study investigates the role of surface turbulent fluxes in simulating lake freeze-up and the role of solar radiation transfer (when lake ice exists) in simulating the lake ice break-up. New hydrological insightsIn the coupled model, the realistic representation of surface turbulent heat fluxes is crucial to simulate the lake freeze-up. This is because turbulent heat fluxes, especially the latent heat, directly controlling the lake water temperature through energy exchange between water and atmosphere. Additionally, the partitioning of solar radiation transfers when lake ice exist is crucial in simulating lake ice break-up. The proportion absorbed by the ice surface will be released associated with upward longwave radiation and turbulent heat fluxes, and only a fraction is used for surface ice-water phase change. The proportion absorbed by the subsurface layer ice is directly used for ice-water phase changes. The proportion absorbed by the water, through ice penetration, is temporarily stored and used for ice melting through heat exchange between the ice and water. The offline FLake model is much less sensitive to the above two processes, implying the importance and necessity in improving the model physics in coupled model.