Posts tagged mass balance
COSIPY - COupled Snowpack and Ice surface energy and mass balance model in PYthon (COSIPY)
- 21 May 2024
COSIPY is a flexible and user friendly coupled snowpack and ice surface energy and mass balance model written in Python. COSIPY is based on COSIMA, a ‘COupled Snowpack and Ice surface energy and MAss balance model’, translating the code into Python, and developing further the initial concepts. It combines a surface energy balance (SEB) with a multi-layer subsurface snow and ice model to compute the glacier mass balance (MB). The calculated surface melt water serves as input for the subsurface model. The two models are directly coupled in order to account for melt water percolation, retention and refreezing within the snow pack under consideration of latent heat release and resulting subsurface melt as well as the effects on subsurface temperature, snow density and ground heat flux. All subsurface processes are resolved in a vertical layer structure. COSIPY consists of several modules for solving the heat equation, calculating percolation and refreezing and calculating densification. The modular model setup allows replacing single parameterizations.