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Exercises: Glacier Meteorology / Energy Balance: Including Answers
Exercises: Glacier Meteorology / Energy Balance: Including Answers
Including answers
Answer: Energy available for melt converted to melt (m w.e.): 129 W/m2 / (334000 J/kg x
1000 kg/m3) = 3.862 x 10-7 m per second. Convert to per day (x 60 x 60 x 24) and cm = 3.3
cm.
Answer: Ablation is melt (computed above plus any losses by sublimation). Because there is
no sublimation but condensation (the latent heat flux is positive) ablation = melt = 3.3 cm
d) Assume the latent heat flux switches sign but all other components remain equal.
How much melt occurs during that day (cm) ?
Answer: If the latent heat flux switches sign, it is 20 W/m2, i.e. the energy available for melt
is only 129 -40 = 89 W/m2 and melt is 2.3 cm.
Sublimation is 20 W/m2 / (2830000 x 1000) x 3600 x 24 =0.06 cm
Answer: Sublimation is 20 W/m2 / (2830000 x 1000) x 3600 x 24 =0.06 cm. Total ablation
is 2.3+0.06= 2.4 cm.
Hence melt is much reduced if the latent heat flux switches sign because it takes 7.5 times
more energy to sublimate than melt ice, i.e. for the same meteorological conditions
otherwise less ice is removed if there is sublimation.
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2.) TIME SERIES
Figure 1 shows hourly time series of meteorological observations and energy balance components
at a weather station on a glacier.
a) Label what is what on the figure.
Shown are air temperature (K), global radiation, latent heat flux, longwave incoming and
outgoing radiation, net radiation, rain heat flux, sensible heat flux, relative humidity (%), and
wind speed (ms-1). All energy fluxes in W/m2.
Answer: from above: net radiation, sensible, latent, rain, air temp, humidity, wind speed,
global, longwave in, longwave out.
Answer: foggy: very low global radiation, high humidity, high longwave incoming; clear-
sky: the opposite
c) Identify a period of surface melting and a period with surface temperatures below freezing.
Answer: by row: direct, diffuse, global, long in, long out, net, sensible, latent, melt
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Answer: Rough overview calculation: Cold content = (14 (K) x 1.6 (m))/2 x 2009 J/kg/K x
400 kg/m3 =9 x106 J/m2.
Divide by density of water and latent heat of fusion to compute how much water needed to
eliminate this cold content by re-freezing.
/1000/340000 = 2.7 cm.
Hence a uniform layer of 2.7 cm rain is enough to make this snowpack temperature (i.e. 0ºC)
Answer: Depends on albedo. If albedo is high the effect on short-wave radiation is not very
large because much is reflected anyway. In that case the increase in longwave radiation may
dominate and net radiation may actually increase despite more clouds. If albedo is low, i.e.
much energy is absorbed by the surface, the decrease in solar energy will be larger than the
increase in longwave radiation and net radiatio will decrease.
QR = wc w R(Tr Ts )
cp=specific heat of air, 1005 J kg-1 K-1 cw specific heat of water, 4180 J kg-1 K-
rain intensity, R, and rain temperature, Tr.
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Figure 1. Meteorological observations and energy balance components on a glacier. Tics every 10
days.
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Figure 2. Energy fluxes on Storglaciären, Sweden, averaged over the period 7 June to 17
September 1993.