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A comparison of simulated and measured lake ice thickness using a Shallow Water Ice Profiler
Author(s) -
Brown Laura C.,
Duguay Claude R.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
hydrological processes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.222
H-Index - 161
eISSN - 1099-1085
pISSN - 0885-6087
DOI - 10.1002/hyp.8087
Subject(s) - snow , shelf ice , snowpack , melt pond , sea ice , geology , sea ice thickness , antarctic sea ice , arctic ice pack , snow field , environmental science , climatology , snow cover , geomorphology
In northern regions where observational data is sparse, lake ice models are ideal tools as they can provide valuable information on ice cover regimes. The Canadian Lake Ice Model was used to simulate ice cover for a lake near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada throughout the 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 ice covered seasons. To validate and improve the model results, in situ measurements of the ice cover through both seasons were obtained using an upward‐looking sonar device Shallow Water Ice Profiler (SWIP) installed on the bottom of the lake. The SWIP identified the ice‐on/off dates as well as collected ice thickness measurements. In addition, a digital camera was installed on shore to capture images of the ice cover through the seasons and field measurements were obtained of snow depth on the ice, and both the thickness of snow ice (if present) and total ice cover. Altering the amounts of snow cover on the ice surface to represent potential snow redistribution affected simulated freeze‐up dates by a maximum of 22 days and break‐up dates by a maximum of 12 days, highlighting the importance of accurately representing the snowpack for lake ice modelling. The late season ice thickness tended to be under estimated by the simulations with break‐up occurring too early, however, the evolution of the ice cover was simulated to fall between the range of the full snow and no snow scenario, with the thickness being dependant on the amount of snow cover on the ice surface. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.