A 45-Y Hindcast of Antarctic Surface Mass Balance Using Polar MM5

This 3-year project (June 2004-May 2007) was funded by the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs (Glaciology). We employed the Polar MM5 to model variability and change in the surface mass balance (the net accumulation of moisture) over Antarctica in recent decades.

Available here are annually and seasonally resolved grids of atmospheric data simulated by Polar MM5 for the period Jan 1979-Aug 2002. The ERA-40 dataset provided the initial and boundary conditions for the simulations. The burden of validating the data provided is the responsibility of anyone choosing to download it.

MODEL CONFIGURATION: The Polar MM5 simulations were performed on a 121 x 121 polar stereographic grid covering the Antarctic and centered over the South Pole. The model resolution is 60-km in each horizontal direction. Vertically, the domain contains 32 sigma levels ranging from the surface to 10 hPa. Atmospheric data (U,V,T,Q,P) and sea surface temperatures were provided by ERA-40. 25-km resolution daily sea ice concentration grids were provided by the National Snow and Ice Data Center to determine fractional ice coverage over ocean gridpoints. The model topography was interpolated from the 1-km resolution digital elevation model of Liu et al. (2001). Images of the model domain, topography and land use specifications can be found here. More information on the physics in Polar MM5 can be found on the Polar MM5 Webpage, http://polarmet.mps.ohio-state.edu/PolarMet/pmm5.html

Please reference the following publication if you use the data in a publication:
Monaghan, A. J., D. H. Bromwich, and S.-H. Wang, 2006: Recent trends in Antarctic snow accumulation from Polar MM5. Philosophical Trans. Royal. Soc. A, 364, 1683-1708.