The Cryosphere Discussions www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net 1994-0432 1994-0440 6 1 2012 10.5194/tcd-6-211-2012 http://www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/6/211/2012/ http://www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/6/211/2012/tcd-6-211-2012.html http://www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/6/211/2012/tcd-6-211-2012.pdf 211 266 2012-01-20 Simulating melt, runoff and refreezing on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard, using a coupled snow and energy balance model W. J. J. van Pelt w.j.j.vanpelt@uu.nl J. Oerlemans C. H. Reijmer V. A. Pohjola R. Pettersson J. H. van Angelen Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden A distributed energy balance model is coupled to a multi-layer snow model in order to study the mass balance evolution and the impact of refreezing on the mass budget of Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard. The model is forced with output of a regional climate model (RACMO) and meteorological data from Svalbard Airport. Extensive calibration and initialisation are performed to increase the model accuracy. For the period 1989–2010, we find a mean net mass balance of −0.39 m w.e. a⁻¹. Refreezing contributes on average 0.27 m w.e. a⁻¹ to the mass budget and is most pronounced in the accumulation zone. The simulated mass balance, radiative fluxes and subsurface profiles are validated against observations and are generally in good agreement. Climate sensitivity experiments reveal a non-linear, seasonally dependent response of the mass balance, refreezing and runoff to changes in temperature and precipitation. Output of the climate sensitivity experiments is used in combination with temperature and precipitation time-series to extend mass balance time-series in the past and the future to obtain estimates for the period 1912–2085. 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