SIMULATION OF THE ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION NEAR THE GREENLAND ICE-SHEET MARGIN

A two-dimensional mesoscale atmospheric model, which has been developed to simulate the air circulation at the margin of the Greenland ice sheet, is described. The model contains a detailed multi-level parameterisation of the surface of the ice sheet and the tundra. Model results for 12 July 1991, a day with calm and stationary large-scale weather, are described, and compared to the GIMEX measurements for that day. The agreement between observations and simulation is on the whole satisfactory. Above the ice sheet, good results are obtained for the temperature and wind in the (shallow) boundary layer, except at its top. At the ice margin, there is agreement concerning the temperature. The simulated wind is acceptable as a grid-point average, though the resolution is too small to reproduce some observed small-scale features. The latter is expected from the heterogeneity of the terrain.