Greenland monthly surface mass balance 1840-2012

This surface mass balance (SMB) product is based on Box (2013), with refinements described by Schlegel et al. (2016), Appendix. It includes monthly estimates of accumulation and melt, as well as estimates for SMB error for the historical period (1960-2012). It is the results of a calibration of observational data to regional climate model (RCM) output, in this case RACMO2.3 (Noël et al., 2016). The calibration for temperature (T) and SMB components is based on a 53-year overlap period (1960-2012). Note that the overlap period for the calibration of snow accumulation rate is shorter, since ice core data availability drops after 1999. Calibration is made using linear regression coefficients for 5 km grid cells that match the average of the reconstruction to RACMO2.3. The RACMO2.3 output are resampled and reprojected from the native 0.1 deg (~10 km) grid to a 5 km grid better resolving areas where sharp gradients occur, especially near the ice margin where mass fluxes are largest.