RACMO2.3p2: Antarctic Climate Model Variables and Melt Pond Volume, 1950-2100

Yearly data from 1979-2021 and projections from 1950-2100, generated by the regional atmospheric climate model RACMO2.3p2 over Antarctica at 27 km resolution. The dataset, created by JM Van Wessem of Utrecht University, includes yearly averages of precipitation, snowfall, snowmelt, sublimation, and 2m temperature, forced by ERA5 and CESM2 data, and is used to calculate melt-over-accumulation sensitivity and compare with Sentinel-2 melt pond observations.

Use Cases

• Projecting future Antarctic surface melt and rainfall based on CMIP6 SSP scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP5-8.5).
• Calculating melt-over-accumulation (MoA) sensitivity as a function of annual average 2m temperature.
• Validating regional climate model outputs against Sentinel-2 derived melt pond volume observations.
• Analyzing threshold temperatures for ice shelf stability across 56 selected Antarctic ice shelves.

Strengths

• Includes multiple temporal periods: a historical reanalysis (1979-2021), a past simulation (1950-2014), and future projections (2015-2100).
• Covers three distinct future emission scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP5-8.5) from CMIP6.
• Provides derived products like threshold temperatures and their uncertainty for the Antarctic ice sheet and 56 specific ice shelves.
• Incorporates observational data from Sentinel-2 for melt pond volume comparison.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Utrecht University

Collection Method

Dynamical downscaling of ERA5 and CESM2 data using the RACMO2.3p2 regional climate model.

Time Range

1950-2100 (with core reanalysis from 1979-2021)

Geography

Antarctic ice sheet