Articles | Volume 15, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1259-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1259-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Geodetic point surface mass balances: a new approach to determine point surface mass balances on glaciers from remote sensing measurements
Christian Vincent
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
Diego Cusicanqui
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, Laboratoire EDyTEM, 73000
Chambery, France
Bruno Jourdain
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
Olivier Laarman
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
Delphine Six
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
Adrien Gilbert
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
Andrea Walpersdorf
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, ISTerre, Grenoble, France
Antoine Rabatel
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
Luc Piard
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
Florent Gimbert
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
Olivier Gagliardini
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
Vincent Peyaud
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
Laurent Arnaud
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
Emmanuel Thibert
Université Grenoble Alpes, INRAE, UR ETGR, Grenoble, France
Fanny Brun
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
Ugo Nanni
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, 38000 Grenoble,
France
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Avalanches are important for the mass balance of mountain glaciers, but few data exist on where and when they occur and which glaciers they affect the most. We developed an approach to map avalanches over large glaciated areas and long periods of time using satellite radar data. The application of this method to various regions in the Alps and High Mountain Asia reveals the variability of avalanches on these glaciers and provides key data to better represent these processes in glacier models.
Alexis Caro, Thomas Condom, Antoine Rabatel, Nicolas Champollion, Nicolás García, and Freddy Saavedra
The Cryosphere, 18, 2487–2507, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2487-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2487-2024, 2024
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Susanne Preunkert, Pascal Bohleber, Michel Legrand, Adrien Gilbert, Tobias Erhardt, Roland Purtschert, Lars Zipf, Astrid Waldner, Joseph R. McConnell, and Hubertus Fischer
The Cryosphere, 18, 2177–2194, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2177-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2177-2024, 2024
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Kévin Fourteau, Julien Brondex, Fanny Brun, and Marie Dumont
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1903–1929, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1903-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1903-2024, 2024
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In this paper, we provide a novel numerical implementation for solving the energy exchanges at the surface of snow and ice. By combining the strong points of previous models, our solution leads to more accurate and robust simulations of the energy exchanges, surface temperature, and melt while preserving a reasonable computation time.
Léo C. P. Martin, Sebastian Westermann, Michele Magni, Fanny Brun, Joel Fiddes, Yanbin Lei, Philip Kraaijenbrink, Tamara Mathys, Moritz Langer, Simon Allen, and Walter W. Immerzeel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 4409–4436, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4409-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4409-2023, 2023
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Across the Tibetan Plateau, many large lakes have been changing level during the last decades as a response to climate change. In high-mountain environments, water fluxes from the land to the lakes are linked to the ground temperature of the land and to the energy fluxes between the ground and the atmosphere, which are modified by climate change. With a numerical model, we test how these water and energy fluxes have changed over the last decades and how they influence the lake level variations.
Jean Emmanuel Sicart, Victor Ramseyer, Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, Catherine Coulaud, Guilhem Freche, Damien Soubeyrand, Yves Lejeune, Marie Dumont, Isabelle Gouttevin, Erwan Le Gac, Frédéric Berger, Jean-Matthieu Monnet, Laurent Borgniet, Éric Mermin, Nick Rutter, Clare Webster, and Richard Essery
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5121–5133, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5121-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5121-2023, 2023
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Forests strongly modify the accumulation, metamorphism and melting of snow in midlatitude and high-latitude regions. Two field campaigns during the winters 2016–17 and 2017–18 were conducted in a coniferous forest in the French Alps to study interactions between snow and vegetation. This paper presents the field site, instrumentation and collection methods. The observations include forest characteristics, meteorology, snow cover and snow interception by the canopy during precipitation events.
Emily A. Hill, Benoît Urruty, Ronja Reese, Julius Garbe, Olivier Gagliardini, Gaël Durand, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Ricarda Winkelmann, Mondher Chekki, David Chandler, and Petra M. Langebroek
The Cryosphere, 17, 3739–3759, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3739-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3739-2023, 2023
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The grounding lines of the Antarctic Ice Sheet could enter phases of irreversible retreat or advance. We use three ice sheet models to show that the present-day locations of Antarctic grounding lines are reversible with respect to a small perturbation away from their current position. This indicates that present-day retreat of the grounding lines is not yet irreversible or self-enhancing.
Ronja Reese, Julius Garbe, Emily A. Hill, Benoît Urruty, Kaitlin A. Naughten, Olivier Gagliardini, Gaël Durand, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, David Chandler, Petra M. Langebroek, and Ricarda Winkelmann
The Cryosphere, 17, 3761–3783, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3761-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3761-2023, 2023
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We use an ice sheet model to test where current climate conditions in Antarctica might lead. We find that present-day ocean and atmosphere conditions might commit an irreversible collapse of parts of West Antarctica which evolves over centuries to millennia. Importantly, this collapse is not irreversible yet.
Fanny Brun, Owen King, Marion Réveillet, Charles Amory, Anton Planchot, Etienne Berthier, Amaury Dehecq, Tobias Bolch, Kévin Fourteau, Julien Brondex, Marie Dumont, Christoph Mayer, Silvan Leinss, Romain Hugonnet, and Patrick Wagnon
The Cryosphere, 17, 3251–3268, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3251-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3251-2023, 2023
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The South Col Glacier is a small body of ice and snow located on the southern ridge of Mt. Everest. A recent study proposed that South Col Glacier is rapidly losing mass. In this study, we examined the glacier thickness change for the period 1984–2017 and found no thickness change. To reconcile these results, we investigate wind erosion and surface energy and mass balance and find that melt is unlikely a dominant process, contrary to previous findings.
Marie Dumont, Simon Gascoin, Marion Réveillet, Didier Voisin, François Tuzet, Laurent Arnaud, Mylène Bonnefoy, Montse Bacardit Peñarroya, Carlo Carmagnola, Alexandre Deguine, Aurélie Diacre, Lukas Dürr, Olivier Evrard, Firmin Fontaine, Amaury Frankl, Mathieu Fructus, Laure Gandois, Isabelle Gouttevin, Abdelfateh Gherab, Pascal Hagenmuller, Sophia Hansson, Hervé Herbin, Béatrice Josse, Bruno Jourdain, Irene Lefevre, Gaël Le Roux, Quentin Libois, Lucie Liger, Samuel Morin, Denis Petitprez, Alvaro Robledano, Martin Schneebeli, Pascal Salze, Delphine Six, Emmanuel Thibert, Jürg Trachsel, Matthieu Vernay, Léo Viallon-Galinier, and Céline Voiron
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3075–3094, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3075-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3075-2023, 2023
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Saharan dust outbreaks have profound effects on ecosystems, climate, health, and the cryosphere, but the spatial deposition pattern of Saharan dust is poorly known. Following the extreme dust deposition event of February 2021 across Europe, a citizen science campaign was launched to sample dust on snow over the Pyrenees and the European Alps. This campaign triggered wide interest and over 100 samples. The samples revealed the high variability of the dust properties within a single event.
Sara Arioli, Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, and Vincent Favier
The Cryosphere, 17, 2323–2342, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2323-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2323-2023, 2023
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To assess the drivers of the snow grain size evolution during snow drift, we exploit a 5-year time series of the snow grain size retrieved from spectral-albedo observations made with a new, autonomous, multi-band radiometer and compare it to observations of snow drift, snowfall and snowmelt at a windy location of coastal Antarctica. Our results highlight the complexity of the grain size evolution in the presence of snow drift and show an overall tendency of snow drift to limit its variations.
Christian Vincent and Emmanuel Thibert
The Cryosphere, 17, 1989–1995, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1989-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1989-2023, 2023
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Temperature-index models have been widely used for glacier mass projections in the future. The ability of these models to capture non-linear responses of glacier mass balance (MB) to high deviations in air temperature and solid precipitation has recently been questioned by mass balance simulations employing advanced machine-learning techniques. Here, we confirmed that temperature-index models are capable of detecting non-linear responses of glacier MB to temperature and precipitation changes.
Arthur Bayle, Bradley Z. Carlson, Anaïs Zimmer, Sophie Vallée, Antoine Rabatel, Edoardo Cremonese, Gianluca Filippa, Cédric Dentant, Christophe Randin, Andrea Mainetti, Erwan Roussel, Simon Gascoin, Dov Corenblit, and Philippe Choler
Biogeosciences, 20, 1649–1669, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1649-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1649-2023, 2023
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Glacier forefields have long provided ecologists with a model to study patterns of plant succession following glacier retreat. We used remote sensing approaches to study early succession dynamics as it allows to analyze the deglaciation, colonization, and vegetation growth within a single framework. We found that the heterogeneity of early succession dynamics is deterministic and can be explained well by local environmental context. This work has been done by an international consortium.
Ugo Nanni, Dirk Scherler, Francois Ayoub, Romain Millan, Frederic Herman, and Jean-Philippe Avouac
The Cryosphere, 17, 1567–1583, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1567-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1567-2023, 2023
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Surface melt is a major factor driving glacier movement. Using satellite images, we have tracked the movements of 38 glaciers in the Pamirs over 7 years, capturing their responses to rapid meteorological changes with unprecedented resolution. We show that in spring, glacier accelerations propagate upglacier, while in autumn, they propagate downglacier – all resulting from changes in meltwater input. This provides critical insights into the interplay between surface melt and glacier movement.
Rubén Basantes-Serrano, Antoine Rabatel, Bernard Francou, Christian Vincent, Alvaro Soruco, Thomas Condom, and Jean Carlo Ruíz
The Cryosphere, 16, 4659–4677, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4659-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4659-2022, 2022
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We assessed the volume variation of 17 glaciers on the Antisana ice cap, near the Equator. We used aerial and satellite images for the period 1956–2016. We highlight very negative changes in 1956–1964 and 1979–1997 and slightly negative or even positive conditions in 1965–1978 and 1997–2016, the latter despite the recent increase in temperatures. Glaciers react according to regional climate variability, while local humidity and topography influence the specific behaviour of each glacier.
Suvrat Kaushik, Ludovic Ravanel, Florence Magnin, Yajing Yan, Emmanuel Trouve, and Diego Cusicanqui
The Cryosphere, 16, 4251–4271, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4251-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4251-2022, 2022
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Climate change impacts all parts of the cryosphere but most importantly the smaller ice bodies like ice aprons (IAs). This study is the first attempt on a regional scale to assess the impacts of the changing climate on these small but very important ice bodies. Our study shows that IAs have consistently lost mass over the past decades. The effects of climate variables, particularly temperature and precipitation and topographic factors, were analysed on the loss of IA area.
Gauthier Vérin, Florent Domine, Marcel Babin, Ghislain Picard, and Laurent Arnaud
The Cryosphere, 16, 3431–3449, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3431-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3431-2022, 2022
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Snow physical properties on Arctic sea ice are monitored during the melt season. As snow grains grow, and the snowpack thickness is reduced, the surface albedo decreases. The extra absorbed energy accelerates melting. Radiative transfer modeling shows that more radiation is then transmitted to the snow–sea-ice interface. A sharp increase in transmitted radiation takes place when the snowpack thins significantly, and this coincides with the initiation of the phytoplankton bloom in the seawater.
Benjamin Lehmann, Robert S. Anderson, Xavier Bodin, Diego Cusicanqui, Pierre G. Valla, and Julien Carcaillet
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 605–633, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-605-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-605-2022, 2022
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Rock glaciers are some of the most frequently occurring landforms containing ice in mountain environments. Here, we use field observations, analysis of aerial and satellite images, and dating methods to investigate the activity of the rock glacier of the Vallon de la Route in the French Alps. Our results suggest that the rock glacier is characterized by two major episodes of activity and that the rock glacier system promotes the maintenance of mountain erosion.
Małgorzata Chmiel, Maxime Godano, Marco Piantini, Pierre Brigode, Florent Gimbert, Maarten Bakker, Françoise Courboulex, Jean-Paul Ampuero, Diane Rivet, Anthony Sladen, David Ambrois, and Margot Chapuis
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1541–1558, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1541-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1541-2022, 2022
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On 2 October 2020, the French Maritime Alps were struck by an extreme rainfall event caused by Storm Alex. Here, we show that seismic data provide the timing and velocity of the propagation of flash-flood waves along the Vésubie River. We also detect 114 small local earthquakes triggered by the rainwater weight and/or its infiltration into the ground. This study paves the way for future works that can reveal further details of the impact of Storm Alex on the Earth’s surface and subsurface.
Christophe Genthon, Dana E. Veron, Etienne Vignon, Jean-Baptiste Madeleine, and Luc Piard
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1571–1580, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1571-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1571-2022, 2022
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The surface atmosphere of the high Antarctic Plateau is very cold and clean. Such conditions favor water vapor supersaturation. A 3-year quasi-continuous series of atmospheric moisture in a ~40 m atmospheric layer at Dome C is reported that documents time variability, vertical profiles and occurrences of supersaturation. Supersaturation with respect to ice is frequently observed throughout the column, with relative humidities occasionally reaching values near liquid water saturation.
Alvaro Robledano, Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, Fanny Larue, and Inès Ollivier
The Cryosphere, 16, 559–579, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-559-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-559-2022, 2022
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Topography controls the surface temperature of snow-covered, mountainous areas. We developed a modelling chain that uses ray-tracing methods to quantify the impact of a few topographic effects on snow surface temperature at high spatial resolution. Its large spatial and temporal variations are correctly simulated over a 50 km2 area in the French Alps, and our results show that excluding a single topographic effect results in cooling (or warming) effects on the order of 1 °C.
Christophe Genthon, Dana Veron, Etienne Vignon, Delphine Six, Jean-Louis Dufresne, Jean-Baptiste Madeleine, Emmanuelle Sultan, and François Forget
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5731–5746, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5731-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5731-2021, 2021
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A 10-year dataset of observation in the atmospheric boundary layer at Dome C on the high Antarctic plateau is presented. This is obtained with sensors at six levels along a tower higher than 40 m. The temperature inversion can reach more than 25 °C along the tower in winter, while full mixing by convection can occur in summer. Different amplitudes of variability for wind and temperature at the different levels reflect different signatures of solar vs. synoptic forcing of the boundary layer.
Marco Piantini, Florent Gimbert, Hervé Bellot, and Alain Recking
Earth Surf. Dynam., 9, 1423–1439, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1423-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1423-2021, 2021
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We carry out laboratory experiments to investigate the formation and propagation dynamics of exogenous sediment pulses in mountain rivers. We show that the ability of a self-formed deposit to destabilize and generate sediment pulses depends on the sand content of the mixture, while each pulse turns out to be formed by a front, a body, and a tail. Seismic measurements reveal a complex and non-unique dependency between seismic power and sediment pulse transport characteristics.
Maria Belke-Brea, Florent Domine, Ghislain Picard, Mathieu Barrere, and Laurent Arnaud
Biogeosciences, 18, 5851–5869, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5851-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5851-2021, 2021
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Expanding shrubs in the Arctic change snowpacks into a mix of snow, impurities and buried branches. Snow is a translucent medium into which light penetrates and gets partly absorbed by branches or impurities. Measurements of light attenuation in snow in Northern Quebec, Canada, showed (1) black-carbon-dominated light attenuation in snowpacks without shrubs and (2) buried branches influence radiation attenuation in snow locally, leading to melting and pockets of large crystals close to branches.
Marguerite Mathey, Christian Sue, Colin Pagani, Stéphane Baize, Andrea Walpersdorf, Thomas Bodin, Laurent Husson, Estelle Hannouz, and Bertrand Potin
Solid Earth, 12, 1661–1681, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1661-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1661-2021, 2021
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This work features the highest-resolution seismic stress and strain fields available at the present time for the analysis of the active crustal deformation of the Western Alps. In this paper, we address a large dataset of newly computed focal mechanisms from a statistical standpoint, which allows us to suggest a joint control from far-field forces and from buoyancy forces on the present-day deformation of the Western Alps.
S. Kaushik, L. Ravanel, F. Magnin, Y. Yan, E. Trouve, and D. Cusicanqui
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLIII-B3-2021, 469–475, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B3-2021-469-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B3-2021-469-2021, 2021
Chloé Scholzen, Thomas V. Schuler, and Adrien Gilbert
The Cryosphere, 15, 2719–2738, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2719-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2719-2021, 2021
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We use a two-dimensional model of water flow below the glaciers in Kongsfjord, Svalbard, to investigate how different processes of surface-to-bed meltwater transfer affect subglacial hydraulic conditions. The latter are important for the sliding motion of glaciers, which in some cases exhibit huge variations. Our findings indicate that the glaciers in our study area undergo substantial sliding because water is poorly evacuated from their base, with limited influence from the surface hydrology.
Andreas Kääb, Mylène Jacquemart, Adrien Gilbert, Silvan Leinss, Luc Girod, Christian Huggel, Daniel Falaschi, Felipe Ugalde, Dmitry Petrakov, Sergey Chernomorets, Mikhail Dokukin, Frank Paul, Simon Gascoin, Etienne Berthier, and Jeffrey S. Kargel
The Cryosphere, 15, 1751–1785, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1751-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1751-2021, 2021
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Hardly recognized so far, giant catastrophic detachments of glaciers are a rare but great potential for loss of lives and massive damage in mountain regions. Several of the events compiled in our study involve volumes (up to 100 million m3 and more), avalanche speeds (up to 300 km/h), and reaches (tens of kilometres) that are hard to imagine. We show that current climate change is able to enhance associated hazards. For the first time, we elaborate a set of factors that could cause these events.
Nathan Maier, Florent Gimbert, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, and Adrien Gilbert
The Cryosphere, 15, 1435–1451, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1435-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1435-2021, 2021
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In Greenland, ice motion and the surface geometry depend on the friction at the bed. We use satellite measurements and modeling to determine how ice speeds and friction are related across the ice sheet. The relationships indicate that ice flowing over bed bumps sets the friction across most of the ice sheet's on-land regions. This result helps simplify and improve our understanding of how ice motion will change in the future.
Yanbin Lei, Tandong Yao, Lide Tian, Yongwei Sheng, Lazhu, Jingjuan Liao, Huabiao Zhao, Wei Yang, Kun Yang, Etienne Berthier, Fanny Brun, Yang Gao, Meilin Zhu, and Guangjian Wu
The Cryosphere, 15, 199–214, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-199-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-199-2021, 2021
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Two glaciers in the Aru range, western Tibetan Plateau (TP), collapsed suddenly on 17 July and 21 September 2016, respectively, causing fatal damage to local people and their livestock. The impact of the glacier collapses on the two downstream lakes (i.e., Aru Co and Memar Co) is investigated in terms of lake morphology, water level and water temperature. Our results provide a baseline in understanding the future lake response to glacier melting on the TP under a warming climate.
François Tuzet, Marie Dumont, Ghislain Picard, Maxim Lamare, Didier Voisin, Pierre Nabat, Mathieu Lafaysse, Fanny Larue, Jesus Revuelto, and Laurent Arnaud
The Cryosphere, 14, 4553–4579, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4553-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4553-2020, 2020
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This study presents a field dataset collected over 30 d from two snow seasons at a Col du Lautaret site (French Alps). The dataset compares different measurements or estimates of light-absorbing particle (LAP) concentrations in snow, highlighting a gap in the current understanding of the measurement of these quantities. An ensemble snowpack model is then evaluated for this dataset estimating that LAPs shorten each snow season by around 10 d despite contrasting meteorological conditions.
Maxim Lamare, Marie Dumont, Ghislain Picard, Fanny Larue, François Tuzet, Clément Delcourt, and Laurent Arnaud
The Cryosphere, 14, 3995–4020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3995-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3995-2020, 2020
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Terrain features found in mountainous regions introduce large errors into the calculation of the physical properties of snow using optical satellite images. We present a new model performing rapid calculations of solar radiation over snow-covered rugged terrain that we tested over a site in the French Alps. The results of the study show that all the interactions between sunlight and the terrain should be accounted for over snow-covered surfaces to correctly estimate snow properties from space.
Vincent Peyaud, Coline Bouchayer, Olivier Gagliardini, Christian Vincent, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Delphine Six, and Olivier Laarman
The Cryosphere, 14, 3979–3994, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3979-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3979-2020, 2020
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Alpine glaciers are retreating at an accelerating rate in a warming climate. Numerical models allow us to study and anticipate these changes, but the performance of a model is difficult to evaluate. So we compared an ice flow model with the long dataset of observations obtained between 1979 and 2015 on Mer de Glace (Mont Blanc area). The model accurately reconstructs the past evolution of the glacier. We simulate the future evolution of Mer de Glace; it could retreat by 2 to 6 km by 2050.
Jordi Bolibar, Antoine Rabatel, Isabelle Gouttevin, and Clovis Galiez
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 1973–1983, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1973-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1973-2020, 2020
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We present a dataset of annual glacier mass changes for all the 661 glaciers in the French Alps for the 1967–2015 period, reconstructed using deep learning (i.e. artificial intelligence). We estimate an average annual mass loss of –0.69 ± 0.21 m w.e., the highest being in the Chablais, Ubaye and Champsaur massifs and the lowest in the Mont Blanc, Oisans and Haute Tarentaise ranges. This dataset can be of interest to hydrology and ecology studies on glacierized catchments in the French Alps.
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Short summary
In situ glacier point mass balance data are crucial to assess climate change in different regions of the world. Unfortunately, these data are rare because huge efforts are required to conduct in situ measurements on glaciers. Here, we propose a new approach from remote sensing observations. The method has been tested on the Argentière and Mer de Glace glaciers (France). It should be possible to apply this method to high-spatial-resolution satellite images and on numerous glaciers in the world.
In situ glacier point mass balance data are crucial to assess climate change in different...