Comparison of Melt Energy Computations and Ablatometer Measurements on Melting Ice and Snow

Abstract

Micrometeorological techniques were used to compute hourly melt energy for ablating ice and snow surfaces on Peyto Glacier, Alberta, Canada. The computations were compared with measurements taken from electronic ablatometers which directly monitored surface lowering. Agreement between daily totals obtained from the two methods was found to be excellent for ice and reasonably good for snow. Hourly differences between computed and measured values tended to exhibit a diurnal pattern wherein ablation lags the energy input to the surface. Thus the delay in runoff from melting ice and snow is linked to diurnal changes in surface water storage.