Glaciodyn (Canada) IPY Project: Weather station data collected on the Belcher Glacier, Devon Island Ice Cap, 2008-2009

Purpose: This project ultimately aimed to run a distributed surface energy balance model coupled with a sub-surface snow model to investigate spatial and temporal variations in surface melt water production on the Belcher Glacier. Detailed measurements of meteorological variables and snow surface properties were collected in the summer (June-September) of 2008 in order to initialize, force, and validate the model. The Belcher Glacier is a major outlet glacier of the Devon Island ice cap and accounts for approximately half of the iceberg calving loss from the ice cap (~15% of the total mass loss). This is a contribution to an International Polar Year (IPY) project, aiming to investigate the hypothesis that hydrologically driven changes in ice flow will increase the rate of mass loss by iceberg calving, and how these dynamics will respond to future climate warming.

研究目的：本项目最终旨在耦合运行次表层积雪模型（sub-surface snow model）与分布式地表能量平衡模型（distributed surface energy balance model），以探究贝尔彻冰川地表融水产生量的时空变化特征。为对模型进行初始化、强迫驱动与验证，研究团队于2008年夏季（6月至9月）采集了详尽的气象变量及积雪表面特性实测数据。贝尔彻冰川是德文岛冰盖的主要外流冰川，约占该冰盖冰山崩解损失总量的一半，约占冰盖总质量损失的15%。本项目作为国际极地年（International Polar Year, IPY）研究计划的一部分，旨在验证如下假说：由水文过程驱动的冰流变化将加快冰山崩解导致的质量损失速率，且此类冰流动力学过程将如何响应未来气候变暖。