Meteorological conditions and surface mass and energy fluxes on Lewis Glacier, Mt Kenya
‒ in comparison to Kilimanjaro
1 Center for Climate and Cryosphere, Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Innsbruck, Austria
2 Chair of Climatology, Institute of Ecology, Technical University Berlin, Germany
15. Österreichischer Klimatag, Innsbruck, 04 April 2014
Rainer Prinz1, Lindsey Nicholson1, Thomas Mölg2, Georg Kaser1
• Motivation
• Methods
• Results
Why the tropics?
1. Motivation
Why the tropics?
1. Motivation
Where is Mt Kenya?
1. Motivation
What do we need?
• meteorological data
• Physical, process-based model
(e.g. Mölg et al. 2008, Int.J.Clim)
• (Historic glacier extents)
Oerlemans, Glaciers and Climate, 2001
Prinz et al. 2011, GRL
2. Methods
mean daily meteorological conditions
Nicholson et al. 2013, TC 2. Methods
mass/energy balance model performance
Nicholson et al. 2013, TC 2. Methods
mass/energy balance for selected periods
3. Results
mass/energy balance for selected periods
3. Results
Mt Kenya vs Kilimanjaro
Kaser & Osmaston, 2002 3. Results
Mt Kenya vs Kilimanjaro: meteorology
3. Results
Lewis Kersten
Mt Kenya vs Kilimanjaro: SWI and cloudiness
2. Methods
Mt Kenya vs Kilimanjaro: energy balance
2. Methods
oct09 nov09 dec09 jan10 feb10
-100 -50 0 50 100 150
SW LW QS QL QG
oct09 nov09 dec09 jan10 feb10
-100 -50 0 50 100 150
Energy flux density (Wm-2 )
Mt Kenya Kilimanjaro
conclusions
• Mt. Kenya:
– no distinctive accumulation periods but concurrently efficient ablation – cloud cover reduces net radiation flux
• Mt. Kenya vs Kilimanjaro:
– more frequent cloud cover and more accumulation on Mt Kenya
Nicholson, L. I., R. Prinz, T. Mölg, and G. Kaser (2013), Micrometeorological conditions and surface mass and energy fluxes on Lewis Glacier, Mt Kenya, in relation to
other tropical glaciers, The Cryosphere, 7(4), 1205–1225, doi:10.5194/tc-7- 1205- 2013.
rainer.prinz@uibk.ac.at
