GEMB Model Output: Antarctic Firn Air Content and Surface Mass Balance, 1992-2019

1992-2019 monthly model outputs of firn air content and surface mass balance for Antarctica, gridded at 5km resolution. The data is generated by the Glacier Energy and Mass Balance model forced with 3-hourly ERA5 reanalysis fields. Nicole‐Jeanne Schlegel of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory produced this output using the open-source Ice-Sheet and Sea-level System Model.

Use Cases

• Calibrating ice sheet models based on modeled firn air content and surface mass balance.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal trends in Antarctic surface mass balance from 1992 to 2019.
• Validating satellite-derived ice sheet mass change estimates using modeled firn state variables.
• Studying the impact of atmospheric forcing from ERA5 reanalysis on simulated glacier energy and mass exchange.

Strengths

• Data covers a 28-year period (1992-2019) for long-term trend analysis.
• Output is provided on a consistent 5km grid across Antarctica, facilitating spatial analysis.
• Model is forced with high-temporal-resolution (3-hourly) ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis data.
• The underlying GEMB model is integrated into a major open-source ice-sheet modeling framework (ISSM).

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Collection Method

Model output from the Glacier Energy and Mass Balance (GEMB) model forced with ERA5 data and interpolated to a 5km grid.

Time Range

1992-2019

Geography

Antarctica