A comparison of simulated and measured lake ice thickness using a Shallow Water Ice Profiler

摘要

In northern regions where observational data is sparse, lake ice models are ideal tools as they can provide valuable informationon ice cover regimes. The Canadian Lake Ice Model was used to simulate ice cover for a lake near Churchill, Manitoba,Canada throughout the 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 ice covered seasons. To validate and improve the model results, in situmeasurements of the ice cover through both seasons were obtained using an upward-looking sonar device Shallow Water IceProfiler (SWIP) installed on the bottom of the lake. The SWIP identified the ice-on/off dates as well as collected ice thicknessmeasurements. In addition, a digital camera was installed on shore to capture images of the ice cover through the seasonsand field measurements were obtained of snow depth on the ice, and both the thickness of snow ice (if present) and total icecover. Altering the amounts of snow cover on the ice surface to represent potential snow redistribution affected simulatedfreeze-up dates by a maximum of 22 days and break-up dates by a maximum of 12 days, highlighting the importance ofaccurately representing the snowpack for lake ice modelling. The late season ice thickness tended to be under estimated bythe simulations with break-up occurring too early, however, the evolution of the ice cover was simulated to fall between therange of the full snow and no snow scenario, with the thickness being dependant on the amount of snow cover on the icesurface. Copyright  2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.