Spatial and temporal transferability of Degree-Day Model and Simplified Energy Balance Model:a case study

Glacier mass balance, the difference between accumulation and ablation at the glacier surface, is the direct reflection of the local climate regime. Under global warming, the simulation of glacier mass balance at the regional scale has attracted increasing interests. This study selects Urumqi Glacier No. 1 as the testbed for examining the transferability in space and time of two commonly used glacier mass balance simulation models: i.e., the Degree-Day Model(DDM) and the simplified Energy Balance Model(s EBM). Four experiments were carried out for assessing both models’ temporal and spatial transferability. The results show that the spatial transferability of both the DDM and s EBM is strong, whereas the temporal transferability of the DDM is relatively weak. For all four experiments, the overall simulation effect of the s EBM is better than that of the DDM. At the zone around Equilibrium Line Altitude(ELA), the DDM performed better than the s EBM.Also, the accuracy of parameters, including the lapse rate of air temperature and vertical gradient of precipitation at the glacier surface, is of great significance for improving the spatial transferability of both models.