NASA GSFC Firn Densification Model version 1.2.1 (GSFC-FDMv1.2.1) for the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets: 1980-2022

Overview

The NASA GSFC-FDM v1.2.1 provides the evolution of firn air content (FAC), surface mass balance (SMB) (and its individual components), and total firn height change over the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets from January 1, 1980 to June 30, 2022 at 5-day temporal resolution.  The model uses atmospheric forcing from NASA GMAO's  Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) global atmospheric reanalysis, combined with a higher resolution replay (see Medley et al., 2022) as input into the Community Firn Model (CFMv1.1.6) to simulate the evolution of firn properties across the ice sheets.  The GSFC-FDMv1.2.1 is provided on a 12.5 km x 12.5 km North/South Polar Stereographic Grid, depending on the ice sheet.

For a thorough description of how the GSFC-FDMv1.2.1 was generated see Medley et al. (2022) in The Cryosphere.  Release 2 contains model output up through June 30, 2022, whereas the initial release only extended through September 30, 2021.  The model set up is identical between releases.