A new, high-resolution surface mass balance map of Antarctica (1979-2010) based on regional atmospheric climate modeling

A new, high resolution (27 km) surface mass balance (SMB) map of the Antarctic ice sheet is presented, based on output of a regional atmospheric climate model that includes snowdrift physics and is forced by the most recent reanalysis data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), ERA-Interim (1979-2010). The SMB map confirms high accumulation zones in the western Antarctic Peninsula (>1500 mm y(-1)) and coastal West Antarctica (>1000 mm y(-1)), and shows low SMB values in large parts of the interior ice sheet (<25 mm y(-1)). The location and extent of ablation areas are modeled realistically. The modeled SMB is in good agreement with +/-750 in-situ SMB measurements (R = 0.88), without a need for post-calibration. The average ice sheet-integrated SMB (including ice shelves) is estimated at 2418 +/- 181 Gt y(-1). Snowfall shows modest interannual variability (sigma = 114 Gt y(-1)), but a pronounced seasonal cycle (sigma = 30 Gt mo(-1)), with a winter maximum. The main ablation process is drifting snow sublimation, which also peaks in winter but with little interannual variability (sigma = 9 Gt y(-1)). Citation: Lenaerts, J. T. M., M. R. van den Broeke, W. J. van de Berg, E. van Meijgaard, and P. Kuipers Munneke (2012), A new, high-resolution surface mass balance map of Antarctica (1979-2010) based on regional atmospheric climate modeling, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L04501, doi:10.1029/2011GL050713.