Brief communication: Impact of common ice mask in surface mass balance estimates over the Antarctic ice sheet

Abstract

Regional climate models compute ice sheet surface mass balance (SMB) over a mask that defines the area covered by glacier ice, but ice masks have not been harmonised between models. Intercomparison studies of modelled SMB therefore use a common ice mask. The SMB in areas outside the common ice mask, which are typically coastal and high-precipitation regions, is discarded. Ice mask differences change integrated SMB by between 40.5 and 140.6gGtgyr-1 (1.8g% to 6.0g% of ensemble mean SMB), equivalent to the entire Antarctic mass imbalance. We conclude there is a pressing need for a common ice mask protocol.