Articles | Volume 15, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4637-2021
© 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-15-4637-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
High-resolution inventory to capture glacier disintegration in the Austrian Silvretta
Andrea Fischer
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research, Austrian Academy
of Sciences, Innrain 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Gabriele Schwaizer
ENVEO GmbH, Fürstenweg 176, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Bernd Seiser
Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research, Austrian Academy
of Sciences, Innrain 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Kay Helfricht
Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research, Austrian Academy
of Sciences, Innrain 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Martin Stocker-Waldhuber
Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research, Austrian Academy
of Sciences, Innrain 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
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Lea Hartl, Bernd Seiser, Martin Stocker-Waldhuber, Anna Baldo, Marcela Violeta Lauria, and Andrea Fischer
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4077–4101, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4077-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4077-2024, 2024
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Glaciers in the Alps are receding at unprecedented rates. To understand how this affects the hydrology and ecosystems of the affected regions, it is important to measure glacier mass balance and ensure that records of field surveys are kept in standardized formats and well-documented. We describe glaciological measurements of ice ablation and snow accumulation gathered at Mullwitzkees and Venedigerkees, two glaciers in the Austrian Alps, since 2007 and 2012, respectively.
Azzurra Spagnesi, Pascal Bohleber, Elena Barbaro, Matteo Feltracco, Fabrizio De Blasi, Giuliano Dreossi, Martin Stocker-Waldhuber, Daniela Festi, Jacopo Gabrieli, Andrea Gambaro, Andrea Fischer, and Carlo Barbante
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1625, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1625, 2023
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We present new data from a 10 m ice core drilled in 2019 and a 8.4 m parallel ice core drilled in 2021 at the summit of Weißseespitze glacier. In a new combination of proxies, we discuss profiles of stable water isotopes, major ion chemistry as well as a full profile of microcharcoal and levoglucosan. We find that the chemical and isotopic signals are preserved, despite the ongoing surface mass loss. This is not be to expected considering what has been found at other glaciers at similar locations.
Lea Hartl, Lucia Felbauer, Gabriele Schwaizer, and Andrea Fischer
The Cryosphere, 14, 4063–4081, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4063-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4063-2020, 2020
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When glaciers become snow-free in summer, darker glacier ice is exposed. The ice surface is darker than snow and absorbs more radiation, which increases ice melt. We measured how much radiation is reflected at different wavelengths in the ablation zone of Jamtalferner, Austria. Due to impurities and water on the ice surface there are large variations in reflectance. Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 surface reflectance products do not capture the full range of reflectance found on the glacier.
Martin Stocker-Waldhuber, Andrea Fischer, Kay Helfricht, and Michael Kuhn
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 705–715, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-705-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-705-2019, 2019
Martin Stocker-Waldhuber, Andrea Fischer, Kay Helfricht, and Michael Kuhn
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2018-37, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2018-37, 2018
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
Pascal Bohleber, Helene Hoffmann, Johanna Kerch, Leo Sold, and Andrea Fischer
The Cryosphere, 12, 401–412, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-401-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-401-2018, 2018
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In this study we use an existing ice cave at Chli Titlis (3030 m, central Switzerland) to obtain direct access to ice at the glacier base. Using standard glaciological tools as well as the analysis of the isotopic and physical properties we demonstrate that stagnant cold ice conditions still exist fairly unchanged more than 25 years after a pioneering exploration. Our radiocarbon dating of the basal ice indicates that Chli Titlis has likely been ice-covered for about the last 5000 years.
Andrea Fischer, Kay Helfricht, and Martin Stocker-Waldhuber
The Cryosphere, 10, 2941–2952, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2941-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2941-2016, 2016
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In the Alps, glacier cover, snow farming and technical snow production were introduced as adaptation measures to climate change one decade ago. Comparing elevation changes in areas with and without mass balance management in five ski resorts showed that locally up to 20 m of ice thickness was preserved compared to non-maintained areas. The method can be applied to maintainance of skiing infrastructure but has also some potential for melt management at high and dry glaciers.
A. Fischer, B. Seiser, M. Stocker Waldhuber, C. Mitterer, and J. Abermann
The Cryosphere, 9, 753–766, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-753-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-753-2015, 2015
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A time series of four Austrian glacier inventories (GIs) from the LIA maximum state up to the year 2006 show a decrease of glacier area to 44% of the LIA area. The annual relative area losses are 0.3%/year for the period GI LIA to GI 1 (1969), with one period with major glacier advances in the 1920s. From GI 1 to GI 2 (1969-1998, one advance period of variable length in the 1980s) glacier area decreased by 0.6%/year, and from GI 2 to GI 3 (10 years, no advance period) by 1.2%/year.
Lea Hartl, Bernd Seiser, Martin Stocker-Waldhuber, Anna Baldo, Marcela Violeta Lauria, and Andrea Fischer
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4077–4101, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4077-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4077-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Glaciers in the Alps are receding at unprecedented rates. To understand how this affects the hydrology and ecosystems of the affected regions, it is important to measure glacier mass balance and ensure that records of field surveys are kept in standardized formats and well-documented. We describe glaciological measurements of ice ablation and snow accumulation gathered at Mullwitzkees and Venedigerkees, two glaciers in the Austrian Alps, since 2007 and 2012, respectively.
Azzurra Spagnesi, Pascal Bohleber, Elena Barbaro, Matteo Feltracco, Fabrizio De Blasi, Giuliano Dreossi, Martin Stocker-Waldhuber, Daniela Festi, Jacopo Gabrieli, Andrea Gambaro, Andrea Fischer, and Carlo Barbante
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1625, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1625, 2023
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
We present new data from a 10 m ice core drilled in 2019 and a 8.4 m parallel ice core drilled in 2021 at the summit of Weißseespitze glacier. In a new combination of proxies, we discuss profiles of stable water isotopes, major ion chemistry as well as a full profile of microcharcoal and levoglucosan. We find that the chemical and isotopic signals are preserved, despite the ongoing surface mass loss. This is not be to expected considering what has been found at other glaciers at similar locations.
Lea Hartl, Thomas Zieher, Magnus Bremer, Martin Stocker-Waldhuber, Vivien Zahs, Bernhard Höfle, Christoph Klug, and Alessandro Cicoira
Earth Surf. Dynam., 11, 117–147, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-117-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-117-2023, 2023
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The rock glacier in Äußeres Hochebenkar (Austria) moved faster in 2021–2022 than it has in about 70 years of monitoring. It is currently destabilizing. Using a combination of different data types and methods, we show that there have been two cycles of destabilization at Hochebenkar and provide a detailed analysis of velocity and surface changes. Because our time series are very long and show repeated destabilization, this helps us better understand the processes of rock glacier destabilization.
Lea Hartl, Lucia Felbauer, Gabriele Schwaizer, and Andrea Fischer
The Cryosphere, 14, 4063–4081, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4063-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4063-2020, 2020
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When glaciers become snow-free in summer, darker glacier ice is exposed. The ice surface is darker than snow and absorbs more radiation, which increases ice melt. We measured how much radiation is reflected at different wavelengths in the ablation zone of Jamtalferner, Austria. Due to impurities and water on the ice surface there are large variations in reflectance. Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 surface reflectance products do not capture the full range of reflectance found on the glacier.
Frank Paul, Philipp Rastner, Roberto Sergio Azzoni, Guglielmina Diolaiuti, Davide Fugazza, Raymond Le Bris, Johanna Nemec, Antoine Rabatel, Mélanie Ramusovic, Gabriele Schwaizer, and Claudio Smiraglia
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 1805–1821, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1805-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1805-2020, 2020
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We have used Sentinel-2 satellite data from 2015 and 2016 to create a new glacier inventory for the European Alps. Outlines from earlier national inventories were used to guide manual corrections (e.g. ice in shadow or under debris cover) of the automatically mapped clean ice. We mapped 4395 glaciers, covering 1806 km2, an area loss of about 14 % (or −1.2 % per year) compared to the last inventory of 2003. We conclude that glacier shrinkage in the Alps has continued unabated since the mid-1980s.
Martin Stocker-Waldhuber, Andrea Fischer, Kay Helfricht, and Michael Kuhn
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 705–715, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-705-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-705-2019, 2019
Kay Helfricht, Lea Hartl, Roland Koch, Christoph Marty, and Marc Olefs
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2655–2668, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2655-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2655-2018, 2018
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We calculated hourly new snow densities from automated measurements. This time interval reduces the influence of settling of the freshly deposited snow. We found an average new snow density of 68 kg m−3. The observed variability could not be described using different parameterizations, but a relationship to temperature is partly visible at hourly intervals. Wind speed is a crucial parameter for the inter-station variability. Our findings are relevant for snow models working on hourly timescales.
Martin Stocker-Waldhuber, Andrea Fischer, Kay Helfricht, and Michael Kuhn
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2018-37, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2018-37, 2018
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
Pascal Bohleber, Helene Hoffmann, Johanna Kerch, Leo Sold, and Andrea Fischer
The Cryosphere, 12, 401–412, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-401-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-401-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we use an existing ice cave at Chli Titlis (3030 m, central Switzerland) to obtain direct access to ice at the glacier base. Using standard glaciological tools as well as the analysis of the isotopic and physical properties we demonstrate that stagnant cold ice conditions still exist fairly unchanged more than 25 years after a pioneering exploration. Our radiocarbon dating of the basal ice indicates that Chli Titlis has likely been ice-covered for about the last 5000 years.
Daniel Farinotti, Douglas J. Brinkerhoff, Garry K. C. Clarke, Johannes J. Fürst, Holger Frey, Prateek Gantayat, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Claire Girard, Matthias Huss, Paul W. Leclercq, Andreas Linsbauer, Horst Machguth, Carlos Martin, Fabien Maussion, Mathieu Morlighem, Cyrille Mosbeux, Ankur Pandit, Andrea Portmann, Antoine Rabatel, RAAJ Ramsankaran, Thomas J. Reerink, Olivier Sanchez, Peter A. Stentoft, Sangita Singh Kumari, Ward J. J. van Pelt, Brian Anderson, Toby Benham, Daniel Binder, Julian A. Dowdeswell, Andrea Fischer, Kay Helfricht, Stanislav Kutuzov, Ivan Lavrentiev, Robert McNabb, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Huilin Li, and Liss M. Andreassen
The Cryosphere, 11, 949–970, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-949-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-949-2017, 2017
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ITMIX – the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment – was the first coordinated performance assessment for models inferring glacier ice thickness from surface characteristics. Considering 17 different models and 21 different test cases, we show that although solutions of individual models can differ considerably, an ensemble average can yield uncertainties in the order of 10 ± 24 % the mean ice thickness. Ways forward for improving such estimates are sketched.
Andrea Fischer, Kay Helfricht, and Martin Stocker-Waldhuber
The Cryosphere, 10, 2941–2952, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2941-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2941-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
In the Alps, glacier cover, snow farming and technical snow production were introduced as adaptation measures to climate change one decade ago. Comparing elevation changes in areas with and without mass balance management in five ski resorts showed that locally up to 20 m of ice thickness was preserved compared to non-maintained areas. The method can be applied to maintainance of skiing infrastructure but has also some potential for melt management at high and dry glaciers.
Florian Hanzer, Kay Helfricht, Thomas Marke, and Ulrich Strasser
The Cryosphere, 10, 1859–1881, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1859-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1859-2016, 2016
Short summary
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The hydroclimatological model AMUNDSEN is set up to simulate snow and ice accumulation, ablation, and runoff for a study region in the Ötztal Alps (Austria) in the period 1997–2013. A new validation concept is introduced and demonstrated by evaluating the model performance using several independent data sets, e.g. snow depth measurements, satellite-derived snow maps, lidar data, glacier mass balances, and runoff measurements.
A. Fischer, B. Seiser, M. Stocker Waldhuber, C. Mitterer, and J. Abermann
The Cryosphere, 9, 753–766, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-753-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-753-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
A time series of four Austrian glacier inventories (GIs) from the LIA maximum state up to the year 2006 show a decrease of glacier area to 44% of the LIA area. The annual relative area losses are 0.3%/year for the period GI LIA to GI 1 (1969), with one period with major glacier advances in the 1920s. From GI 1 to GI 2 (1969-1998, one advance period of variable length in the 1980s) glacier area decreased by 0.6%/year, and from GI 2 to GI 3 (10 years, no advance period) by 1.2%/year.
K. Helfricht, M. Kuhn, M. Keuschnig, and A. Heilig
The Cryosphere, 8, 41–57, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-41-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-41-2014, 2014
Related subject area
Discipline: Glaciers | Subject: Geomorphology
In situ 10Be modeling and terrain analysis constrain subglacial quarrying and abrasion rates at Sermeq Kujalleq (Jakobshavn Isbræ), Greenland
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Comment on “Ice content and interannual water storage changes of an active rock glacier in the dry Andes of Argentina” by Halla et al. (2021)
Formation of glacier tables caused by differential ice melting: field observation and modelling
Glacial and geomorphic effects of a supraglacial lake drainage and outburst event, Everest region, Nepal Himalaya
Brandon L. Graham, Jason P. Briner, Nicolás E. Young, Allie Balter-Kennedy, Michele Koppes, Joerg M. Schaefer, Kristin Poinar, and Elizabeth K. Thomas
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Glacial erosion is a fundamental process operating on Earth's surface. Two processes of glacial erosion, abrasion and plucking, are poorly understood. We reconstructed rates of abrasion and quarrying in Greenland. We derive a total glacial erosion rate of 0.26 ± 0.16 mm per year. We also learned that erosion via these two processes is about equal. Because the site is similar to many other areas covered by continental ice sheets, these results may be applied to many places on Earth.
Purevmaa Khandsuren, Yeong Bae Seong, Hyun Hee Rhee, Cho-Hee Lee, Mehmet Akif Sarikaya, Jeong-Sik Oh, Khadbaatar Sandag, and Byung Yong Yu
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Moraine is an awe-inspiring landscape in alpine areas and stores information on past climate. We measured the timing of moraine formation on the Ih Bogd Massif, southern Mongolia. Here, glaciers move synchronously as a response to changing climate; however, our glacier on the northern slope reached its maximum extent 3 millennia after the southern one. We ran a 2D ice surface model and found that the diachronous behavior of glaciers was real. Aspect also controls the mass of alpine glaciers.
W. Brian Whalley
The Cryosphere, 17, 699–700, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-699-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-699-2023, 2023
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Examination of recent Google Earth images of glaciers and rock glaciers in the
Dry Andeshas sufficient detail to show surface meltwater pools. These pools have exposures of glacier ice that core the rock glaciers with volume loss. Such pools are seen on debris-covered glaciers and rock glaciers worldwide and cast doubt on the
permafrostorigin of rock glaciers.
Marceau Hénot, Vincent J. Langlois, Jérémy Vessaire, Nicolas Plihon, and Nicolas Taberlet
The Cryosphere, 16, 2617–2628, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2617-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2617-2022, 2022
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Glacier tables are structures frequently encountered on temperate glaciers. They consist of a rock supported by a narrow ice foot which forms through differential melting of the ice. In this article, we investigate their formation by following their dynamics on the Mer de Glace (the Alps, France). We explain this phenomenon by a combination of the effect of turbulent flux, short-wave flux and direct solar radiation that sets a critical size above which a rock will form a glacier table.
Evan S. Miles, C. Scott Watson, Fanny Brun, Etienne Berthier, Michel Esteves, Duncan J. Quincey, Katie E. Miles, Bryn Hubbard, and Patrick Wagnon
The Cryosphere, 12, 3891–3905, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3891-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3891-2018, 2018
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We use high-resolution satellite imagery and field visits to assess the growth and drainage of a lake on Changri Shar Glacier in the Everest region, and its impact. The lake filled and drained within 3 months, which is a shorter interval than would be detected by standard monitoring protocols, but forced re-routing of major trails in several locations. The water appears to have flowed beneath Changri Shar and Khumbu glaciers in an efficient manner, suggesting pre-existing developed flow paths.
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Short summary
Eastern Alpine glaciers have been receding since the Little Ice Age maximum, but until now the majority of glacier margins could be delineated unambiguously. Today the outlines of totally debris-covered glacier ice are fuzzy and raise the discussion if these features are still glaciers. We investigated the fate of glacier remnants with high-resolution elevation models, analyzing also thickness changes in buried ice. In the past 13 years, the 46 glaciers of Silvretta lost one-third of their area.
Eastern Alpine glaciers have been receding since the Little Ice Age maximum, but until now the...