Methodological aspects of heat balance components estimation on mountain glaciers

Abstract

In this paper we present estimations of heat balance components (primarily, turbulent heat transfer) on the mountain glacier Djankuat calculated using different methods. The estimations are compared with the observations of turbulent fluctuations of wind speed and air temperature derived from sonic anemometer, as well as the automatic meteorological, actinometric and glaciological measurements in the ablation zone of the glacier. It is shown that the method of aerodynamic formulas is the most adequate method for estimating turbulent fluxes over mountain glacier. An attempt was also made to physically interpret a systematic overestimation of the calculated ablation.