Estimation of the Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance contribution to future sea level rise using the regional climate model MAR

Conference (2013, April 10)

With the aim of estimating the sea level rise (SLR) coming from Surface Mass Balance (SMB) changes over the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS), we report future projections obtained with the regional climate ... [more ▼]

With the aim of estimating the sea level rise (SLR) coming from Surface Mass Balance (SMB) changes over the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS), we report future projections obtained with the regional climate model MAR, forced by outputs of three CMIP5 General Circulation Models (GCMs). Our results indicate that in warmer climates, the mass gained due to increased winter snowfall over GrIS does not compensate the mass lost through increased meltwater run-off in summer. All the MAR projections shows similar non-linear melt increases with rising temperatures as a result of the positive surface albedo feedback, because no change is projected in the general atmospheric circulation over Greenland. Nevertheless, MAR exhibits a large range in its future projections. By coarsely estimating the GrIS SMB changes from CMIP5 GCMs outputs, we show that the uncertainty coming from the GCM-based forcing represents about half of projected SMB changes. In 2100, the CMIP5 ensemble mean projects a SLR, resulting from a GrIS SMB decrease, estimated to be 4 2 cm and 9 4 cm for the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios, respectively. However, these future projections do not consider the positive melt-elevation feedback. Sensitivity MAR experiments using perturbed ice sheet topographies consistent with the projected SMB changes highlight the importance of coupling climate models to an ice sheet model. Such a coupling will allow to consider the future response of both surface processes and ice-dynamic changes, and their mutual feedbacks to rising temperatures. [less ▲]

Future projections of the Greenland ice sheet energy balance driving the surface melt

in Cryosphere (The) (2013), 7

In this study, simulations at 25 km resolution are performed over the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, using the regional climate model MAR forced by four RCP scenarios ... [more ▼]

In this study, simulations at 25 km resolution are performed over the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, using the regional climate model MAR forced by four RCP scenarios from three CMIP5 global circulation models (GCMs), in order to investigate the projected changes of the surface energy balance (SEB) components driving the surface melt. Analysis of 2000–2100 melt anomalies compared to melt results over 1980–1999 reveals an exponential relationship of the GrIS surface melt rate simulated by MAR to the near-surface air temperature (TAS) anomalies, mainly due to the surface albedo positive feedback associated with the extension of bare ice areas in summer. On the GrIS margins, the future melt anomalies are preferentially driven by stronger sensible heat fluxes, induced by enhanced warm air advection over the ice sheet. Over the central dry snow zone, the surface albedo positive feedback induced by the increase in summer melt exceeds the negative feedback of heavier snowfall for TAS anomalies higher than 4 °C. In addition to the incoming longwave flux increase associated with the atmosphere warming, GCM-forced MAR simulations project an increase of the cloud cover decreasing the ratio of the incoming shortwave versus longwave radiation and dampening the albedo feedback. However, it should be noted that this trend in the cloud cover is contrary to that simulated by ERA-Interim–forced MAR for recent climate conditions, where the observed melt increase since the 1990s seems mainly to be a consequence of more anticyclonic atmospheric conditions. Finally, no significant change is projected in the length of the melt season, which highlights the importance of solar radiation absorbed by the ice sheet surface in the melt SEB. [less ▲]

RECOURS À UNE CAMPAGNE DE MESURES TOPOCLIMATIQUES APPLIQUÉE POUR UNE ÉTUDE COMPARATIVE DE VARIABLES MÉTÉOROLOGIQUES CONCOMITANTES PROVENANT DES STATIONS MÉTÉOROLOGIQUES DE BRUGGE ET DU MONT RIGI EN BELGIQUE

Poster (2012, September 07)

Une station météorologique automatique munie d’un mât de 10 mètres a été installée à l’Ouest de l’agglomération urbaine de Brugge (Belgique) par le Laboratoire de Climatologie et Topoclimatologie de l’ULg ... [more ▼]

Une station météorologique automatique munie d’un mât de 10 mètres a été installée à l’Ouest de l’agglomération urbaine de Brugge (Belgique) par le Laboratoire de Climatologie et Topoclimatologie de l’ULg. Elle a été équipée afin de confirmer la bonne qualité des prévisions météorologiques du modèle WRF établies dans le cadre du projet européen TWENTIES. Les données récoltées de minute en minute par cette station météorologique offrent également l’opportunité de mettre en évidence le détail de situations météorologiques bien particulières comme celles correspondant aux passages de fronts. [less ▲]

ÉVOLUTION DU COMPORTEMENT DU VENT ET DE SON POTENTIEL POUR LA PRODUCTION D'ÉNERGIE ÉOLIENNE DURANT LES 30 DERNIÈRES ANNÉES : LE CAS DE LA BELGIQUE

in Bigot, Sylvain; Rome, Sandra (Eds.) Les climats régionaux : observation et modélisation. (Actes du colloque organisé à Grenoble du mercredi 5 au samedi 8 septembre 2012) (2012, September)

Chaque année, le nombre d'éoliennes dans le monde augmente de façon significative suite notamment aux politiques encourageant les productions d'énergie verte afin d’atténuer le réchauffement climatique ... [more ▼]

Chaque année, le nombre d'éoliennes dans le monde augmente de façon significative suite notamment aux politiques encourageant les productions d'énergie verte afin d’atténuer le réchauffement climatique. Toutefois, ce type d'énergie est tributaire de la météo. Cela implique que la production d'énergie éolienne est irrégulière à courte échelle de temps. Cependant, la disponibilité d’électricité de courtes périodes de temps est très importante à connaitre pour les producteurs d'énergie ainsi que pour les gestionnaires de réseaux. Pour ces raisons, il nous parait primordial d’analyser l’évolution de l’intermittence de la vitesse du vent sur les 30 dernières années (1979-2009). Pour ce faire nous utilisons le modèle WRF forcé par les réanalyses ERA-Interim, les réanalyses NCEP2 et certains modèles du GIEC (base de données CMIP5). [less ▲]

Impact of spatial resolution on the modelling of the Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance between 1990–2010, using the regional climate model MAR

in Cryosphere (The) (2012), 6

With the aim to force an ice dynamical model, the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) surface mass balance (SMB) was modelled at different spatial resolutions (15-50 km) for the period 1990-2010, using the ... [more ▼]

With the aim to force an ice dynamical model, the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) surface mass balance (SMB) was modelled at different spatial resolutions (15-50 km) for the period 1990-2010, using the regional climate model MAR (Modèle Atmosphérique Régional) forced by the ERA-INTERIM reanalysis. This comparison revealed that (i) the inter-annual variability of the SMB components is consistent within the different spatial resolutions investigated, (ii) the MAR model simulates heavier precipitation on average over the GrIS with diminishing spatial resolution, and (iii) the SMB components (except precipitation) can be derived from a simulation at lower resolution with an intelligent interpolation. This interpolation can also be used to approximate the SMB components over another topography/ice sheet mask of the GrIS. These results are important for the forcing of an ice dynamical model, needed to enable future projections of the GrIS contribution to sea level rise over the coming centuries. [less ▲]

Are the CMIP5 GCMs able to simulate atmospheric blocking situations over Europe ?

Poster (2012, April 26)

Some studies show that most General Circulation Models (GCMs) have difficulties to simulate the main observed circulation patterns and their frequencies. However, this does not only impact the GCM based ... [more ▼]

Some studies show that most General Circulation Models (GCMs) have difficulties to simulate the main observed circulation patterns and their frequencies. However, this does not only impact the GCM based projections for future climate, but also the results of downscaling methods using the circulation simulated by GCMs as forcing. Indeed, the downscaling methods are not able to correct the biases introduced by the GCM simulations in the free atmosphere. Here, we focus on the anticyclonic blocking situations over western Europe for summer (June, July and August). Indeed, these blocking situations, which are often related to droughts and heat waves, could become more frequent due to global warming. Moreover, their frequency and persistence depend on the variability of the circulation, which is known to be difficult to reproduce by the GCMs. In order to evaluate the ability of the GCMs to reproduce the observed frequency and persistence of blocking situations, we compare them with two reanalysis datasets (NCEP-NCAR 1 and ECMWF ERA-40) by using an automatic circulation type classification. The daily geopotential height at 500 hPa over the last 30 years of the current climate simulation (Historical experiment, 1976-2005) of all available CMIP5 GCMs prepared for the upcoming IPCC report AR5 is used here. The circulation type classification groups similar daily circulation situations together on basis of a leader-algorithm to obtain a few homogeneous circulation types describing the general circulation of the region. Thus, the frequency and the persistence of each circulation type can be analysed on a daily timescale. We show that the ability of the GCMs to reproduce the observed frequency and persistence of blocking situations is influenced by the anomalies in their circulation type frequency repartition. So, the GCMs which underestimate the frequency of the anticyclonic types tend to simulate less and shorter blocking situations. The contrary is observed for GCMs that overestimate the frequency of these circulation types. This rises questions about the reliability of the future projections for events related to blocking situations. Indeed, when applying the same approach as for the current climate to the future projections (experiments RCP4.5 and RCP8.5), it seems that the blocking situations become more frequent and persistent. However, when considering only the circulation patterns by removing the mean geopotential height increase due to global warming, there is no significant circulation change till 2100. This means that the GCMs conserve their circulation biases in spite of climate change and so, the frequency and the persistence of the blocking situations are projected to remain almost the same as those simulated for the current climate. [less ▲]

Estimation, prévision et contrôle du gisement solaire en région wallonne

Poster (2012, April 23)

Présentation des activités et des recherches du Laboratoire de Climatologie et Topoclimatologie de l'Université de Liège dans le domaine du rayonnement solaire

Current and future atmospheric circulation at 500 hPa over Greenland simulated by the CMIP3 and CMIP5 global models

in Climate Dynamics (2012)

The Greenland ice sheet is projected to be strongly affected by global warming. These projections are either issued from downscaling methods (such as Regional Climate Models) or they come directly from ... [more ▼]

The Greenland ice sheet is projected to be strongly affected by global warming. These projections are either issued from downscaling methods (such as Regional Climate Models) or they come directly from General Circulation Models (GCMs). In this context, it is necessary to evaluate the accuracy of the daily atmospheric circulation simulated by the GCMs, since it is used as forcing for downscaling methods. Thus, we use an automatic circulation type classification based on two indices (Euclidean distance and Spearman rank correlation using the daily 500 hPa geopotential height) to evaluate the ability of the GCMs from both CMIP3 and CMIP5 databases to simulate the main circulation types over Greenland during summer. For each circulation type, the GCMs are compared to three reanalysis datasets on the basis of their frequency and persistence differences. For the current climate (1961–1990), we show that most of the GCMs do not reproduce the expected frequency and the persistence of the circulation types and that they simulate poorly the observed daily variability of the general circulation. Only a few GCMs can be used as reliable forcings for downscaling methods over Greenland. Finally, when applying the same approach to the future projections of the GCMs, no significant change in the atmospheric circulation over Greenland is detected, besides a generalised increase of the geopotential height due to a uniform warming of the atmosphere. [less ▲]

Evolution of wind behaviour and of its potential for wind power production in Belgium during the last 22 years : a comparison between WRF forced by NCEP2 reanalysis and WRF forced by ERA-INTERIM reanalysis

Conference (2011, September 16)

The number of wind turbines in the world grows significantly every year due to politics proposing green energy productions as solutions to mitigate climate change effects. However, this kind of energy is ... [more ▼]

The number of wind turbines in the world grows significantly every year due to politics proposing green energy productions as solutions to mitigate climate change effects. However, this kind of energy is dependent on the weather. This implies that the wind production is irregular at a very short time scale. But the short time scale availability of the wind-based energy is important to the producers of energy as well as to the electric grid managers because the wind energy production can rise or fall rapidly which creates some financial and voltage variations. For these reasons, we study the past evolution of the availability of the wind quantity by analysing the intermittence of the wind speed in Belgium during the last 22 years (1989-2010). To reach this goal, we use the regional model WRF (Weather and Research Forecast model) developed by the UCAR community users. In a first time, the WRF model is forced by the NCEP2 reanalysis outputs to obtain a regionalisation of the weather conditions over a domain centred on Belgium at a resolution of 10 km. This resolution allows to capture the minute-based time scale variability of wind speed and consequently the irregular behaviour of the wind power production. In a second time, the WRF model is forced by the ERA-Interim reanalysis outputs with the same configuration. To obtain a value of the wind intermittence, we calculate the persistence of a wind blowing continuously with a minimum speed of 1 ms-1, then the persistence of a wind blowing continuously with a minimum speed of 2 ms-1, etc. The persistence of the wind speed and its evolution over 22 years are characterised by : (a) the mean wind speed over a fixed period (monthly, seasonally, … ), (b) the mean duration of a wind speed above x ms-1 over the same fixed period and (c) the evolution of (a) and (b) during the studied period. This analysis is made with the outputs of WRF-NCEP2 and with the outputs of WRF-Interim allowing to evaluate the impact of forcing fields into WRF-based wind climatology. [less ▲]

Influences de l'environnement d'un parc éolien sur la prévision de sa production électrique à l'aide des modèles GFS (50km/3h) et WRF (2km/15min) : Le cas du parc éolien d'Amel (Haute-Belgique)

in Fazzini, Massimiliano; Beltrando, Gérard (Eds.) Actes du XXIVème Colloque International AIC : Climat Montagnard et Risques (2011, September 06)

The economic and climate contexts require to use more electricity from wind farms. However this kind of production is intermittent, therefore it is necessary to forecast this resource at least 1 day ahead ... [more ▼]

The economic and climate contexts require to use more electricity from wind farms. However this kind of production is intermittent, therefore it is necessary to forecast this resource at least 1 day ahead. Our laboratory has developed a forecasting model of wind-based electricity generation based on a global meteorological model (GFS) with a resolution of 50 km and 3 h. But this model has a resolution too coarse for a wind farm. So we have configured the regional model WRF with resolution of 2 km and 15 min to obtain better forecasts. Finally, the WRF model provides better forecasts, but both must be adjusted to take into account the direct environment of the wind farm. [less ▲]