Surface ablation and its drivers along a west–east transect of the Southern Patagonia Icefield. Issue 268 (9th April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bravo, Claudio; Ross, Andrew N.; Quincey, Duncan J.; Cisternas, Sebastián; Rivera, Andrés
• Is Part Of: Journal of Glaciology. Volume 68:Issue 268(2022)
• Page Start: 305
• Page End: 318
• Publication Date: 2022-04-09
• Subjects: Energy balance -- glacier modelling -- melt–surface
• DOI: 10.1017/jog.2021.92
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-1430

Abstract

Abstract: Glaciers in the Southern Patagonia Icefield (SPI) have been shrinking in recent decades, but due to a lack of field observations, understanding of the drivers of ablation is limited. We present a distributed surface energy balance model, forced with meteorological observations from a west–east transect located in the north of the SPI. Between October 2015 and June 2016, humid and warm on-glacier conditions prevailed on the western side compared to dry and cold conditions on the eastern side. Controls of ablation differ along the transect, although at glacier-wide scale sensible heat (mean of 72 W m −2 to the west and 51 W m −2 to the east) and net shortwave radiation (mean of 54 W m −2 to the west and 52 W m −2 to the east) provided the main energy sources. Net longwave radiation was an energy sink, while latent heat was the most spatially variable flux, being an energy sink in the east (−4 W m −2 ) and a source in the west (20 W m −2 ). Ablation was high, but at comparable elevations, it was greater to the west. These results provide new insights into the spatial variability of energy-balance fluxes and their control over the ablation of Patagonian glaciers.