Evolution of Antarctic surface mass balance by high-resolution downscaling and impact on sea-level changes
type: Dataset
description: The Antarctic Surface Mass Balance (SMB, i.e. the snow accumulation from which we subtract ablation by sublimation, run-off or erosion) is a major yet badly known contribution to changes in the present-day sea level. Water storage by snow accumulation on the Antarctic continent is expected to increase in the 21st century, which would moderate the rise in sea level and impact the ice dynamic response of the ice sheet. Three-quarters of the Antarctic SMB are concentrated below 2000 m above sea level whereas this area represents only 40% of the grounded ice sheet area. Orographic precipitation is a major contributor to snow accumulation in this region, which is why a better estimation of this term is important. The representation of this process by models depends to a great extent on the resolution of the model, since precipitation amounts depend on the ice sheet slopes. Sublimation and snowmelt also depend on elevation, and although they are presently minor contributors to the Antarctic SMB, their role is expected to become more important in the coming centuries. Global and regional atmospheric climate models are unable to achieve a 40-km resolution over Antarctica at a century time scale, due to their computing cost. At this resolution, the Antarctic coastal area is still badly represented. This is why we developed the downscaling model SMHiL (Surface mass balance high-resolution downscaling) to estimate the Antarctic SMB components at a high resolution (~15 km) from large-scale atmospheric forcings. We computed the impact of the high-resolution topography on orographic precipitation amounts and the boundary layer processes that lead to sublimation, melting and refreezing. SMHiL has been validated for the present period with a dataset composed of more than 2700 quality-controlled observations. However, very few of these observations are representative of the Antarctic coastal area. In this context, we show that the GLACIOCLIM-SAMBA stake lines located on the ice shee…
identifier: NNT: 2012GRENU023
issued: 2026-05-09T05:25:35.288245
language: fr
modified: 2026-05-09T05:25:35.288249
contact point: Organization
  fn: CCSD
keyword: antarctic
keyword: antarctique
keyword: bilan-de-masse-de-surface
keyword: bilan-denergie-de-surface
keyword: climat-polaire
keyword: climate-modelling
keyword: downscaling
keyword: infoeu-reposemanticsdoctoralthesis
keyword: modele-de-climat
keyword: polar-climate
keyword: regionalisation
keyword: sdustusciences-of-the-universe-physicsearth-sciences
keyword: surface-energy-balance
keyword: surface-mass-balance
keyword: theses
landing page: https://theses.hal.science/tel-00877881

Evolution of Antarctic surface mass balance by high-resolution downscaling and impact on sea-level changes
type: Distribution
format: HTML
issued: 2026-05-09T05:25:35.310251
modified: 2026-05-09T05:25:35.266107
access URL: https://theses.hal.science/tel-00877881

test_moissonnage_selune
type: Agent