Centreline and cross-glacier air temperature variability on an Alpine glacier: assessing temperature distribution methods and their influence on melt model calculations

Thomas E. Shaw*, Ben W. Brock, Álvaro Ayala, Nick Rutter, Francesca Pellicciotti

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)
37 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The spatio-temporal distribution of air temperature over mountain glaciers can demonstrate complex patterns, yet it is often represented simplistically using linear vertical temperature gradients (VTGs) extrapolated from off-glacier locations. We analyse a network of centreline and lateral air temperature observations at Tsanteleina Glacier, Italy, during summer 2015. On average, VTGs are steep (<−0.0065 °C m−1), but they are shallow under warm ambient conditions when the correlation between air temperature and elevation becomes weaker. Published along-flowline temperature distribution methods explain centreline observations well, including warming on the lower glacier tongue, but cannot estimate lateral temperature variability. Application of temperature distribution methods improves simulation of melt rates (RMSE) in an energy-balance model by up to 36% compared to the environmental lapse rate extrapolated from an off-glacier station. However, results suggest that model parameters are not easily transferable to glaciers with a small fetch without recalibration. Such methods have potential to improve estimates of temperature across a glacier, but their parameter transferability should be further linked to the glacier and atmospheric characteristics. Furthermore, ‘cold spots’, which can be >2°C cooler than expected for their elevation, whose occurrence is not predicted by the temperature distribution models, are identified at one-quarter of the measurement sites.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)973-988
JournalJournal of Glaciology
Volume63
Issue number242
Early online date30 Oct 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2017

Keywords

  • Energy balance
  • glacier mass balance
  • glacier meteorology
  • glacier modelling

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