Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance using Polar WRF

The Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) model has been optimized for the polar environment by the Polar Meteorology Group at The Ohio State University. A 16 km resolution year 2007 run has been made for Greenland initialized using ERA-Interim data. Surface variables are compared with 1.) limited time surface energy balance experiment data from sites around the ice sheet and 2.) Greenland Climate Network automatic weather station data also from sites distributed around the ice sheet. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedo data are assimilated in the model runs. Default WRF terrain biases over Greenland are largely compensated using the Bamber et al. (2001) terrain replaces the standard WRF terrain. The modeled surface energy budget is evaluated. Preliminary surface mass balance results are presented.