Articles | Volume 15, issue 12
The Cryosphere, 15, 5577–5599, 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5577-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
The Cryosphere, 15, 5577–5599, 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5577-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
10 Dec 2021
Research article
| 10 Dec 2021
Contrasting surface velocities between lake- and land-terminating glaciers in the Himalayan region
Jan Bouke Pronk et al.
Related authors
No articles found.
Aldo Bertone, Chloé Barboux, Xavier Bodin, Tobias Bolch, Francesco Brardinoni, Rafael Caduff, Hanne H. Christiansen, Margaret M. Darrow, Reynald Delaloye, Bernd Etzelmüller, Ole Humlum, Christophe Lambiel, Karianne S. Lilleøren, Volkmar Mair, Gabriel Pellegrinon, Line Rouyet, Lucas Ruiz, and Tazio Strozzi
The Cryosphere, 16, 2769–2792, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2769-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2769-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present the guidelines developed by the IPA Action Group and within the ESA Permafrost CCI project to include InSAR-based kinematic information in rock glacier inventories. Nine operators applied these guidelines to 11 regions worldwide; more than 3600 rock glaciers are classified according to their kinematics. We test and demonstrate the feasibility of applying common rules to produce homogeneous kinematic inventories at global scale, useful for hydrological and climate change purposes.
Douglas I. Benn, Adrian Luckman, Jan A. Åström, Anna J. Crawford, Stephen L. Cornford, Suzanne L. Bevan, Thomas Zwinger, Rupert Gladstone, Karen Alley, Erin Pettit, and Jeremy Bassis
The Cryosphere, 16, 2545–2564, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2545-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2545-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Thwaites Glacier (TG), in West Antarctica, is potentially unstable and may contribute significantly to sea-level rise as global warming continues. Using satellite data, we show that Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, the largest remaining floating extension of TG, has started to accelerate as it fragments along a shear zone. Computer modelling does not indicate that fragmentation will lead to imminent glacier collapse, but it is clear that major, rapid, and unpredictable changes are underway.
Bas Altena, Andreas Kääb, and Bert Wouters
The Cryosphere, 16, 2285–2300, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2285-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2285-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Repeat overflights of satellites are used to estimate surface displacements. However, such products lack a simple error description for individual measurements, but variation in precision occurs, since the calculation is based on the similarity of texture. Fortunately, variation in precision manifests itself in the correlation peak, which is used for the displacement calculation. This spread is used to make a connection to measurement precision, which can be of great use for model inversion.
F. Dahle, J. Tanke, B. Wouters, and R. Lindenbergh
ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., V-2-2022, 237–244, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-V-2-2022-237-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-V-2-2022-237-2022, 2022
Benjamin Aubrey Robson, Shelley MacDonell, Álvaro Ayala, Tobias Bolch, Pål Ringkjøb Nielsen, and Sebastián Vivero
The Cryosphere, 16, 647–665, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-647-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-647-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This work uses satellite and aerial data to study glaciers and rock glacier changes in La Laguna catchment within the semi-arid Andes of Chile, where ice melt is an important factor in river flow. The results show the rate of ice loss of Tapado Glacier has been increasing since the 1950s, which possibly relates to a dryer, warmer climate over the previous decades. Several rock glaciers show high surface velocities and elevation changes between 2012 and 2020, indicating they may be ice-rich.
Gregoire Guillet, Owen King, Mingyang Lv, Sajid Ghuffar, Douglas Benn, Duncan Quincey, and Tobias Bolch
The Cryosphere, 16, 603–623, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-603-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-603-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Surging glaciers show cyclical changes in flow behavior – between slow and fast flow – and can have drastic impacts on settlements in their vicinity.
One of the clusters of surging glaciers worldwide is High Mountain Asia (HMA).
We present an inventory of surging glaciers in HMA, identified from satellite imagery. We show that the number of surging glaciers was underestimated and that they represent 20 % of the area covered by glaciers in HMA, before discussing new physics for glacier surges.
Rajashree Tri Datta and Bert Wouters
The Cryosphere, 15, 5115–5132, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5115-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5115-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The ICESat-2 laser altimeter can detect the surface and bottom of a supraglacial lake. We introduce the Watta algorithm, automatically calculating lake surface, corrected bottom, and (sub-)surface ice at high resolution adapting to signal strength. ICESat-2 depths constrain full lake depths of 46 lakes over Jakobshavn glacier using multiple sources of imagery, including very high-resolution Planet imagery, used for the first time to extract supraglacial lake depths empirically using ICESat-2.
Suzanne L. Bevan, Adrian J. Luckman, Douglas I. Benn, Susheel Adusumilli, and Anna Crawford
The Cryosphere, 15, 3317–3328, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3317-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3317-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet depends on the behaviour of the fast-flowing glaciers, such as Thwaites, that connect it to the ocean. Here we show that a large ocean-melted cavity beneath Thwaites Glacier has remained stable since it first formed, implying that, in line with current theory, basal melt is now concentrated close to where the ice first goes afloat. We also show that Thwaites Glacier continues to thin and to speed up and that continued retreat is therefore likely.
Simon Allen, Ashim Sattar, Owen King, Guoqing Zhang, Atanu Bhattacharya, Tandong Yao, and Tobias Bolch
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2021-167, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2021-167, 2021
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
Short summary
Short summary
This study examines how the formation of a new glacial lake, in response to future glacial melting, could enhance the flood threat to a transboundary basin flowing between Tibet and Nepal. A flood resulting from a catastrophic outburst from this future lake could lead to higher flood levels than currently anticipated, and the flood wave would travel faster. These results can help ensure that hazard mapping and early warning systems in the basin remain robust over future decades.
Maurice van Tiggelen, Paul C. J. P. Smeets, Carleen H. Reijmer, Bert Wouters, Jakob F. Steiner, Emile J. Nieuwstraten, Walter W. Immerzeel, and Michiel R. van den Broeke
The Cryosphere, 15, 2601–2621, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2601-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2601-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We developed a method to estimate the aerodynamic properties of the Greenland Ice Sheet surface using either UAV or ICESat-2 elevation data. We show that this new method is able to reproduce the important spatiotemporal variability in surface aerodynamic roughness, measured by the field observations. The new maps of surface roughness can be used in atmospheric models to improve simulations of surface turbulent heat fluxes and therefore surface energy and mass balance over rough ice worldwide.
Andreas Kellerer-Pirklbauer, Michael Avian, Douglas I. Benn, Felix Bernsteiner, Philipp Krisch, and Christian Ziesler
The Cryosphere, 15, 1237–1258, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1237-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1237-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Present climate warming leads to glacier recession and formation of lakes. We studied the nature and rate of lake evolution in the period 1998–2019 at Pasterze Glacier, Austria. We detected for instance several large-scale and rapidly occurring ice-breakup events from below the water level. This process, previously not reported from the European Alps, might play an important role at alpine glaciers in the future as many glaciers are expected to recede into valley basins allowing lake formation.
Andreas Kääb, Tazio Strozzi, Tobias Bolch, Rafael Caduff, Håkon Trefall, Markus Stoffel, and Alexander Kokarev
The Cryosphere, 15, 927–949, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-927-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-927-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present a map of rock glacier motion over parts of the northern Tien Shan and time series of surface speed for six of them over almost 70 years.
This is by far the most detailed investigation of this kind available for central Asia.
We detect a 2- to 4-fold increase in rock glacier motion between the 1950s and present, which we attribute to atmospheric warming.
Relative to the shrinking glaciers in the region, this implies increased importance of periglacial sediment transport.
Eef C. H. van Dongen, Guillaume Jouvet, Shin Sugiyama, Evgeny A. Podolskiy, Martin Funk, Douglas I. Benn, Fabian Lindner, Andreas Bauder, Julien Seguinot, Silvan Leinss, and Fabian Walter
The Cryosphere, 15, 485–500, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-485-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-485-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The dynamic mass loss of tidewater glaciers is strongly linked to glacier calving. We study calving mechanisms under a thinning regime, based on 5 years of field and remote-sensing data of Bowdoin Glacier. Our data suggest that Bowdoin Glacier ungrounded recently, and its calving behaviour changed from calving due to surface crevasses to buoyancy-induced calving resulting from basal crevasses. This change may be a precursor to glacier retreat.
Franz Goerlich, Tobias Bolch, and Frank Paul
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 3161–3176, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3161-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3161-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This work indicates all glaciers in the Pamir that surged between 1988 and 2018 as revealed by different remote sensing data, mainly Landsat imagery. We found ~ 200 surging glaciers for the entire mountain range and detected the minimum and maximum extents of most of them. The smallest surging glacier is ~ 0.3 km2. This inventory is important for further research on the surging behaviour of glaciers and has to be considered when processing glacier changes (mass, area) of the region.
Xavier Fettweis, Stefan Hofer, Uta Krebs-Kanzow, Charles Amory, Teruo Aoki, Constantijn J. Berends, Andreas Born, Jason E. Box, Alison Delhasse, Koji Fujita, Paul Gierz, Heiko Goelzer, Edward Hanna, Akihiro Hashimoto, Philippe Huybrechts, Marie-Luise Kapsch, Michalea D. King, Christoph Kittel, Charlotte Lang, Peter L. Langen, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Glen E. Liston, Gerrit Lohmann, Sebastian H. Mernild, Uwe Mikolajewicz, Kameswarrao Modali, Ruth H. Mottram, Masashi Niwano, Brice Noël, Jonathan C. Ryan, Amy Smith, Jan Streffing, Marco Tedesco, Willem Jan van de Berg, Michiel van den Broeke, Roderik S. W. van de Wal, Leo van Kampenhout, David Wilton, Bert Wouters, Florian Ziemen, and Tobias Zolles
The Cryosphere, 14, 3935–3958, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3935-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3935-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated simulated Greenland Ice Sheet surface mass balance from 5 kinds of models. While the most complex (but expensive to compute) models remain the best, the faster/simpler models also compare reliably with observations and have biases of the same order as the regional models. Discrepancies in the trend over 2000–2012, however, suggest that large uncertainties remain in the modelled future SMB changes as they are highly impacted by the meltwater runoff biases over the current climate.
Brice Noël, Leonardus van Kampenhout, Willem Jan van de Berg, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Bert Wouters, and Michiel R. van den Broeke
The Cryosphere, 14, 1425–1435, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1425-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1425-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present a reconstruction of historical (1950–2014) surface mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet using the Community Earth System Model (CESM2; ~111 km) to force a high-resolution regional climate model (RACMO2; ~11 km), which is further refined to 1 km spatial resolution. For the first time, an Earth-system-model-based product, assimilating no observations, can reconstruct realistic historical ice sheet surface mass balance as well as the mass loss acceleration that started in the 1990s.
Levan G. Tielidze, Tobias Bolch, Roger D. Wheate, Stanislav S. Kutuzov, Ivan I. Lavrentiev, and Michael Zemp
The Cryosphere, 14, 585–598, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-585-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-585-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present data of supra-glacial debris cover for 659 glaciers across the Greater Caucasus based on satellite images from the years 1986, 2000 and 2014. We combined semi-automated methods for mapping the clean ice with manual digitization of debris-covered glacier parts and calculated supra-glacial debris-covered area as the residual between these two maps. The distribution of the supra-glacial debris cover differs between northern and southern and between western, central and eastern Caucasus.
Suzanne L. Bevan, Adrian J. Luckman, Douglas I. Benn, Tom Cowton, and Joe Todd
The Cryosphere, 13, 2303–2315, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2303-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2303-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Kangerlussuaq Glacier in Greenland retreated significantly in the early 2000s and typified the response of calving glaciers to climate change. Satellite images show that it has recently retreated even further. The current retreat follows the appearance of extremely warm surface waters on the continental shelf during the summer of 2016, which likely entered the fjord and caused the rigid mass of sea ice and icebergs, which normally inhibits calving, to melt and break up.
Nico Mölg, Tobias Bolch, Andrea Walter, and Andreas Vieli
The Cryosphere, 13, 1889–1909, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1889-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1889-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Debris can partly protect glaciers from melting. But many debris-covered glaciers change similar to debris-free glaciers. To better understand the debris influence we investigated 150 years of evolution of Zmutt Glacier in Switzerland. We found an increase in debris extent over time and a link to glacier flow velocity changes. We also found an influence of debris on the melt locally, but only a small volume change reduction over the whole glacier, also because of the influence of ice cliffs.
Joe Todd, Poul Christoffersen, Thomas Zwinger, Peter Råback, and Douglas I. Benn
The Cryosphere, 13, 1681–1694, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1681-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1681-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The Greenland Ice Sheet loses 30 %–60 % of its ice due to iceberg calving. Calving processes and their links to climate are not well understood or incorporated into numerical models of glaciers. Here we use a new 3-D calving model to investigate calving at Store Glacier, West Greenland, and test its sensitivity to increased submarine melting and reduced support from ice mélange (sea ice and icebergs). We find Store remains fairly stable despite these changes, but less so in the southern side.
Dorothée Vallot, Sigit Adinugroho, Robin Strand, Penelope How, Rickard Pettersson, Douglas I. Benn, and Nicholas R. J. Hulton
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 8, 113–127, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-8-113-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-8-113-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a novel method to quantify the sizes and frequency of calving events from time-lapse camera images. The calving front of a tidewater glacier experiences different episodes of iceberg deliveries that can be captured by a time-lapse camera situated in front of the glacier. An automatic way of detecting calving events is presented here and compared to manually detected events.
Michalea D. King, Ian M. Howat, Seongsu Jeong, Myoung J. Noh, Bert Wouters, Brice Noël, and Michiel R. van den Broeke
The Cryosphere, 12, 3813–3825, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3813-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3813-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We derive the first continuous record of total ice discharged from all large Greenland outlet glaciers over the 2000–2016 period, resolving a distinct pattern of seasonal variability. We compare these results to glacier retreat and meltwater runoff and find that while runoff has a limited impact on ice discharge in summer, long-term changes in discharge are highly correlated to retreat. These results help to better understand Greenland outlet glacier sensitivity over a range of timescales.
Nico Mölg, Tobias Bolch, Philipp Rastner, Tazio Strozzi, and Frank Paul
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1807–1827, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1807-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1807-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Knowledge about the size and location of glaciers is essential to understand impacts of climatic changes on the natural environment. Therefore, we have produced an inventory of all glaciers in some of the largest glacierized mountain regions worldwide. Many large glaciers are covered by a rock (debris) layer, which also changes their reaction to climatic changes. Thus, we have also mapped this debris layer for all glaciers. We have mapped almost 28000 glaciers covering ~35000 km2.
Jiangjun Ran, Miren Vizcaino, Pavel Ditmar, Michiel R. van den Broeke, Twila Moon, Christian R. Steger, Ellyn M. Enderlin, Bert Wouters, Brice Noël, Catharina H. Reijmer, Roland Klees, Min Zhong, Lin Liu, and Xavier Fettweis
The Cryosphere, 12, 2981–2999, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2981-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2981-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
To accurately predict future sea level rise, the mechanisms driving the observed mass loss must be better understood. Here, we combine data from the satellite gravimetry, surface mass balance, and ice discharge to analyze the mass budget of Greenland at various temporal scales. This study, for the first time, suggests the existence of a substantial meltwater storage during summer, with a peak value of 80–120 Gt in July. We highlight its importance for understanding ice sheet mass variability
Martina Barandun, Matthias Huss, Ryskul Usubaliev, Erlan Azisov, Etienne Berthier, Andreas Kääb, Tobias Bolch, and Martin Hoelzle
The Cryosphere, 12, 1899–1919, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1899-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1899-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we used three independent methods (in situ measurements, comparison of digital elevation models and modelling) to reconstruct the mass change from 2000 to 2016 for three glaciers in the Tien Shan and Pamir. Snow lines observed on remote sensing images were used to improve conventional modelling by constraining a mass balance model. As a result, glacier mass changes for unmeasured years and glaciers can be better assessed. Substantial mass loss was confirmed for the three glaciers.
Jan Melchior van Wessem, Willem Jan van de Berg, Brice P. Y. Noël, Erik van Meijgaard, Charles Amory, Gerit Birnbaum, Constantijn L. Jakobs, Konstantin Krüger, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Stef Lhermitte, Stefan R. M. Ligtenberg, Brooke Medley, Carleen H. Reijmer, Kristof van Tricht, Luke D. Trusel, Lambertus H. van Ulft, Bert Wouters, Jan Wuite, and Michiel R. van den Broeke
The Cryosphere, 12, 1479–1498, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1479-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1479-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We present a detailed evaluation of the latest version of the regional atmospheric climate model RACMO2.3p2 (1979-2016) over the Antarctic ice sheet. The model successfully reproduces the present-day climate and surface mass balance (SMB) when compared with an extensive set of observations and improves on previous estimates of the Antarctic climate and SMB.
This study shows that the latest version of RACMO2 can be used for high-resolution future projections over the AIS.
Ingo Sasgen, Alba Martín-Español, Alexander Horvath, Volker Klemann, Elizabeth J. Petrie, Bert Wouters, Martin Horwath, Roland Pail, Jonathan L. Bamber, Peter J. Clarke, Hannes Konrad, Terry Wilson, and Mark R. Drinkwater
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 493–523, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-493-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-493-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We present a collection of data sets, consisting of surface-elevation rates for Antarctic ice sheet from a combination of Envisat and ICESat, bedrock uplift rates for 118 GPS sites in Antarctica, and optimally filtered GRACE gravity field rates. We provide viscoelastic response functions to a disc load forcing for Earth structures present in East and West Antarctica. This data collection enables a joint inversion for present-day ice-mass changes and glacial isostatic adjustment in Antarctica.
Dorothée Vallot, Jan Åström, Thomas Zwinger, Rickard Pettersson, Alistair Everett, Douglas I. Benn, Adrian Luckman, Ward J. J. van Pelt, Faezeh Nick, and Jack Kohler
The Cryosphere, 12, 609–625, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-609-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-609-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a new perspective on the role of ice dynamics and ocean interaction in glacier calving processes applied to Kronebreen, a tidewater glacier in Svalbard. A global modelling approach includes ice flow modelling, undercutting estimation by a combination of glacier energy balance and plume modelling as well as calving by a discrete particle model. We show that modelling undercutting is necessary and calving is influenced by basal friction velocity and geometry.
Penelope How, Douglas I. Benn, Nicholas R. J. Hulton, Bryn Hubbard, Adrian Luckman, Heïdi Sevestre, Ward J. J. van Pelt, Katrin Lindbäck, Jack Kohler, and Wim Boot
The Cryosphere, 11, 2691–2710, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2691-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2691-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides valuable insight into subglacial hydrology and dynamics at tidewater glaciers, which remains a poorly understood area of glaciology. It is a unique study because of the wealth of information provided by simultaneous observations of glacier hydrology at Kronebreen, a tidewater glacier in Svalbard. All these elements build a strong conceptual picture of the glacier's hydrological regime over the 2014 melt season.
Douglas I. Benn, Sarah Thompson, Jason Gulley, Jordan Mertes, Adrian Luckman, and Lindsey Nicholson
The Cryosphere, 11, 2247–2264, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2247-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2247-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides the first complete view of the drainage system of a large Himalayan glacier, based on ice-cave exploration and satellite image analysis. Drainage tunnels inside glaciers have a major impact on melting rates, by providing lines of weakness inside the ice and potential pathways for melt-water, and play a key role in the response of debris-covered glaciers to sustained periods of negative mass balance.
Tobias Bolch, Tino Pieczonka, Kriti Mukherjee, and Joseph Shea
The Cryosphere, 11, 531–539, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-531-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-531-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Previous geodetic estimates of glacier mass changes in the Karakoram have revealed balanced budgets or a possible slight mass gain since the year ∼ 2000. We used old US reconnaissance imagery and could show that glaciers in the Hunza River basin (Central Karakoram) experienced on average no significant mass changes also since the 1970s. Likewise the glaciers had heterogeneous behaviour with frequent surge activities during the last 40 years.
Silvan Ragettli, Tobias Bolch, and Francesca Pellicciotti
The Cryosphere, 10, 2075–2097, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2075-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2075-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a multi-temporal dataset of geodetically derived elevation changes on debris-free and debris-covered glaciers in the Langtang valley, Nepalese Himalaya. Overall, we observe accelerated glacier wastage, but highly heterogeneous spatial patterns and temporal trends across glaciers. Accelerations in thinning correlate with the presence of supraglacial cliffs and lakes, whereas thinning rates remained constant or declined on stagnating debris-covered glacier areas.
Michiel R. van den Broeke, Ellyn M. Enderlin, Ian M. Howat, Peter Kuipers Munneke, Brice P. Y. Noël, Willem Jan van de Berg, Erik van Meijgaard, and Bert Wouters
The Cryosphere, 10, 1933–1946, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1933-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1933-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We present recent (1958–2015) mass balance time series for the Greenland ice sheet. We show that recent mass loss is caused by a combination of increased surface meltwater runoff and solid ice discharge. Most meltwater above 2000 m a.s.l. refreezes in the cold firn and does not leave the ice sheet, but this goes at the expense of firn heating and densifying. In spite of a temporary rebound in 2013, it appears that the ice sheet remains in a state of persistent mass loss.
Michel Wortmann, Tobias Bolch, Valentina Krysanova, and Su Buda
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2016-272, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2016-272, 2016
Revised manuscript not accepted
Ioana S. Muresan, Shfaqat A. Khan, Andy Aschwanden, Constantine Khroulev, Tonie Van Dam, Jonathan Bamber, Michiel R. van den Broeke, Bert Wouters, Peter Kuipers Munneke, and Kurt H. Kjær
The Cryosphere, 10, 597–611, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-597-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-597-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We use a regional 3-D outlet glacier model to simulate the behaviour of Jakobshavn Isbræ (JI) during 1990–2014. The model simulates two major accelerations in 1998 and 2003 that are consistent with observations. We find that most of the JI retreat during the simulated period is driven by the ocean parametrization used, and the glacier's subsequent response, which is largely governed by bed geometry. The study shows progress in modelling the temporal variability of the flow at JI.
N. Holzer, S. Vijay, T. Yao, B. Xu, M. Buchroithner, and T. Bolch
The Cryosphere, 9, 2071–2088, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2071-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2071-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Investigations of glacier mass-balance and area changes at Muztagh Ata (eastern Pamir) are based on Hexagon KH-9 (1973), ALOS-PRISM (2009), Pléiades (2013) and Landsat 7 ETM+/SRTM-3 (2000). Surface velocities of Kekesayi Glacier are derived by TerraSAR-X (2011) amplitude tracking. Glacier variations differ spatially and temporally, but on average not significantly for the entire massif. Stagnant Kekesayi and other debris-covered glaciers indicate no visual length changes, but clear down-wasting.
D. H. Shangguan, T. Bolch, Y. J. Ding, M. Kröhnert, T. Pieczonka, H. U. Wetzel, and S. Y. Liu
The Cryosphere, 9, 703–717, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-703-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-703-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Glacier velocity, glacier area, surface elevation and mass changes of the Southern and Northern Inylchek Glacier were investigated by using multi-temporal space-borne data sets. The mass balance of both SIG and NIG was negative(-0.43 ± 0.10 m w.e. a-1 and -0.25 ± 0.10 m w.e. a-1) from ~1975 to 2007. The thinning at the lake dam was higher, likely caused by calving into Lake Merzbacher. Thus, glacier thinning and glacier flow are significantly influenced by the lake.
H. Frey, H. Machguth, M. Huss, C. Huggel, S. Bajracharya, T. Bolch, A. Kulkarni, A. Linsbauer, N. Salzmann, and M. Stoffel
The Cryosphere, 8, 2313–2333, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-2313-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-2313-2014, 2014
Short summary
Short summary
Existing methods (area–volume relations, a slope-dependent volume estimation method, and two ice-thickness distribution models) are used to estimate the ice reserves stored in Himalayan–Karakoram glaciers. Resulting volumes range from 2955–4737km³. Results from the ice-thickness distribution models agree well with local measurements; volume estimates from area-related relations exceed the estimates from the other approaches. Evidence on the effect of the selected method on results is provided.
S. Hasson, V. Lucarini, M. R. Khan, M. Petitta, T. Bolch, and G. Gioli
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 4077–4100, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4077-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4077-2014, 2014
S. Thakuri, F. Salerno, C. Smiraglia, T. Bolch, C. D'Agata, G. Viviano, and G. Tartari
The Cryosphere, 8, 1297–1315, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1297-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1297-2014, 2014
J. A. Åström, T. I. Riikilä, T. Tallinen, T. Zwinger, D. Benn, J. C. Moore, and J. Timonen
The Cryosphere, 7, 1591–1602, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1591-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1591-2013, 2013
R. Bhambri, T. Bolch, P. Kawishwar, D. P. Dobhal, D. Srivastava, and B. Pratap
The Cryosphere, 7, 1385–1398, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1385-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1385-2013, 2013
M. Tedesco, X. Fettweis, T. Mote, J. Wahr, P. Alexander, J. E. Box, and B. Wouters
The Cryosphere, 7, 615–630, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-615-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-615-2013, 2013
P. Rastner, T. Bolch, N. Mölg, H. Machguth, R. Le Bris, and F. Paul
The Cryosphere, 6, 1483–1495, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1483-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1483-2012, 2012
Related subject area
Discipline: Glaciers | Subject: Remote Sensing
Three different glacier surges at a spot: what satellites observe and what not
Correlation dispersion as a measure to better estimate uncertainty in remotely sensed glacier displacements
Glacier and rock glacier changes since the 1950s in the La Laguna catchment, Chile
Brief communication: Increased glacier mass loss in the Russian High Arctic (2010–2017)
Aerodynamic roughness length of crevassed tidewater glaciers from UAV mapping
Image classification of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in Greenland using deep learning methods
Brief communication: Detection of glacier surge activity using cloud computing of Sentinel-1 radar data
TermPicks: A century of Greenland glacier terminus data for use in machine learning applications
InSAR-based characterization of rock glacier movement in the Uinta Mountains, Utah, USA
Surface composition of debris-covered glaciers across the Himalaya using linear spectral unmixing of Landsat 8 OLI imagery
Evaluating sources of an apparent cold bias in MODIS land surface temperatures in the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, Canada
Mapping seasonal glacier melt across the Hindu Kush Himalaya with time series synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
Estimating surface mass balance patterns from unoccupied aerial vehicle measurements in the ablation area of the Morteratsch–Pers glacier complex (Switzerland)
High-resolution topography of the Antarctic Peninsula combining the TanDEM-X DEM and Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA) mosaic
Measuring the state and temporal evolution of glaciers in Alaska and Yukon using synthetic-aperture-radar-derived (SAR-derived) 3D time series of glacier surface flow
Tracking changes in the area, thickness, and volume of the Thwaites tabular iceberg “B30” using satellite altimetry and imagery
Analyzing glacier retreat and mass balances using aerial and UAV photogrammetry in the Ötztal Alps, Austria
Surges of Harald Moltke Bræ, north-western Greenland: seasonal modulation and initiation at the terminus
Brief communication: An empirical relation between center frequency and measured thickness for radar sounding of temperate glaciers
Glacier Image Velocimetry: an open-source toolbox for easy and rapid calculation of high-resolution glacier velocity fields
Generalized sliding law applied to the surge dynamics of Shisper Glacier and constrained by timeseries correlation of optical satellite images
Calving Front Machine (CALFIN): glacial termini dataset and automated deep learning extraction method for Greenland, 1972–2019
Annual and inter-annual variability and trends of albedo of Icelandic glaciers
Observing traveling waves in glaciers with remote sensing: new flexible time series methods and application to Sermeq Kujalleq (Jakobshavn Isbræ), Greenland
Detecting seasonal ice dynamics in satellite images
Sharp contrasts in observed and modeled crevasse patterns at Greenland's marine terminating glaciers
Variability in glacier albedo and links to annual mass balance for the gardens of Eden and Allah, Southern Alps, New Zealand
The seasonal evolution of albedo across glaciers and the surrounding landscape of Taylor Valley, Antarctica
Recent glacier and lake changes in High Mountain Asia and their relation to precipitation changes
Multisensor validation of tidewater glacier flow fields derived from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) intensity tracking
Detecting dynamics of cave floor ice with selective cloud-to-cloud approach
Changes of the tropical glaciers throughout Peru between 2000 and 2016 – mass balance and area fluctuations
Iceberg topography and volume classification using TanDEM-X interferometry
Automatically delineating the calving front of Jakobshavn Isbræ from multitemporal TerraSAR-X images: a deep learning approach
Sensitivity of glacier volume change estimation to DEM void interpolation
Extracting recent short-term glacier velocity evolution over southern Alaska and the Yukon from a large collection of Landsat data
Change detection of bare-ice albedo in the Swiss Alps
Characterizing the behaviour of surge- and non-surge-type glaciers in the Kingata Mountains, eastern Pamir, from 1999 to 2016
Automated detection of ice cliffs within supraglacial debris cover
Brief communication: Unabated wastage of the Juneau and Stikine icefields (southeast Alaska) in the early 21st century
Frank Paul, Livia Piermattei, Désirée Treichler, Lin Gilbert, Luc Girod, Andreas Kääb, Ludivine Libert, Thomas Nagler, Tazio Strozzi, and Jan Wuite
The Cryosphere, 16, 2505–2526, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2505-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2505-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Glacier surges are widespread in the Karakoram and have been intensely studied using satellite data and DEMs. We use time series of such datasets to study three glacier surges in the same region of the Karakoram. We found strongly contrasting advance rates and flow velocities, maximum velocities of 30 m d−1, and a change in the surge mechanism during a surge. A sensor comparison revealed good agreement, but steep terrain and the two smaller glaciers caused limitations for some of them.
Bas Altena, Andreas Kääb, and Bert Wouters
The Cryosphere, 16, 2285–2300, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2285-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2285-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Repeat overflights of satellites are used to estimate surface displacements. However, such products lack a simple error description for individual measurements, but variation in precision occurs, since the calculation is based on the similarity of texture. Fortunately, variation in precision manifests itself in the correlation peak, which is used for the displacement calculation. This spread is used to make a connection to measurement precision, which can be of great use for model inversion.
Benjamin Aubrey Robson, Shelley MacDonell, Álvaro Ayala, Tobias Bolch, Pål Ringkjøb Nielsen, and Sebastián Vivero
The Cryosphere, 16, 647–665, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-647-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-647-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This work uses satellite and aerial data to study glaciers and rock glacier changes in La Laguna catchment within the semi-arid Andes of Chile, where ice melt is an important factor in river flow. The results show the rate of ice loss of Tapado Glacier has been increasing since the 1950s, which possibly relates to a dryer, warmer climate over the previous decades. Several rock glaciers show high surface velocities and elevation changes between 2012 and 2020, indicating they may be ice-rich.
Christian Sommer, Thorsten Seehaus, Andrey Glazovsky, and Matthias H. Braun
The Cryosphere, 16, 35–42, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-35-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-35-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Arctic glaciers have been subject to extensive warming due to global climate change, yet their contribution to sea level rise has been relatively small in the past. In this study we provide mass changes of most glaciers of the Russian High Arctic (Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya, Novaya Zemlya). We use TanDEM-X satellite measurements to derive glacier surface elevation changes. Our results show an increase in glacier mass loss and a sea level rise contribution of 0.06 mm/a (2010–2017).
Armin Dachauer, Richard Hann, and Andrew J. Hodson
The Cryosphere, 15, 5513–5528, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5513-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5513-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigated the aerodynamic roughness length (z0) – an important parameter to determine the surface roughness – of crevassed tidewater glaciers on Svalbard using drone data. The results point out that the range of z0 values across a crevassed glacier is large but in general significantly higher compared to non-crevassed glacier surfaces. The UAV approach proved to be an ideal tool to provide distributed z0 estimates of crevassed glaciers which can be used to model turbulent fluxes.
Melanie Marochov, Chris R. Stokes, and Patrice E. Carbonneau
The Cryosphere, 15, 5041–5059, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5041-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5041-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Research into the use of deep learning for pixel-level classification of landscapes containing marine-terminating glaciers is lacking. We adapt a novel and transferable deep learning workflow to classify satellite imagery containing marine-terminating outlet glaciers in Greenland. Our workflow achieves high accuracy and mimics human visual performance, potentially providing a useful tool to monitor glacier change and further understand the impacts of climate change in complex glacial settings.
Paul Willem Leclercq, Andreas Kääb, and Bas Altena
The Cryosphere, 15, 4901–4907, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4901-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4901-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we present a novel method to detect glacier surge activity. Surges are relevant as they disturb the link between glacier change and climate, and studying surges can also increase understanding of glacier flow. We use variations in Sentinel-1 radar backscatter strength, calculated with the use of Google Earth Engine, to detect surge activity. In our case study for the year 2018–2019 we find 69 cases of surging glaciers globally. Many of these were not previously known to be surging.
Sophie Goliber, Taryn Black, Ginny Catania, James M. Lea, Helene Olsen, Daniel Cheng, Suzanne Bevan, Anders Bjørk, Charlie Bunce, Stephen Brough, J. Rachel Carr, Tom Cowton, Alex Gardner, Dominik Fahrner, Emily Hill, Ian Joughin, Niels Korsgaard, Adrian Luckman, Twila Moon, Tavi Murray, Andrew Sole, Michael Wood, and Enze Zhang
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-311, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-311, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for TC
Short summary
Short summary
Terminus traces have been used to understand how Greenland's glaciers have changed over time, however, manual tracing is time-intensive and lack of coordination leads to duplication of efforts. We have compiled a dataset of over 39,000 terminus traces for 278 glaciers for scientific and machine learning applications. We also provide an overview of an updated version of The Google Earth Engine Digitization Tool (GEEDiT), which has been developed specifically for the Greenland Ice Sheet.
George Brencher, Alexander L. Handwerger, and Jeffrey S. Munroe
The Cryosphere, 15, 4823–4844, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4823-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4823-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We use satellite InSAR to inventory and monitor rock glaciers, frozen bodies of ice and rock debris that are an important water resource in the Uinta Mountains, Utah, USA. Our inventory contains 205 rock glaciers, which occur within a narrow elevation band and deform at 1.94 cm yr-1 on average. Uinta rock glacier movement changes seasonally and appears to be driven by spring snowmelt. The role of rock glaciers as a perennial water resource is threatened by ice loss due to climate change.
Adina E. Racoviteanu, Lindsey Nicholson, and Neil F. Glasser
The Cryosphere, 15, 4557–4588, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4557-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4557-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Supraglacial debris cover comprises ponds, exposed ice cliffs, debris material and vegetation. Understanding these features is important for glacier hydrology and related hazards. We use linear spectral unmixing of satellite data to assess the composition of map supraglacial debris across the Himalaya range in 2015. One of the highlights of this study is the automated mapping of supraglacial ponds, which complements and expands the existing supraglacial debris and lake databases.
Ingalise Kindstedt, Kristin Schild, Dominic Winski, Karl Kreutz, Luke Copland, Seth Campbell, and Erin McConnell
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-211, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-211, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for TC
Short summary
Short summary
We show that neither the large spatial footprint of the MODIS sensor nor poorly constrained snow emissivity values explain the observed cold bias in MODIS land surface temperatures (LSTs) in the St. Elias. Instead, the bias is most prominent under conditions associated with near-surface temperature inversions. This work represents an advance in the application of MODIS LSTs to glaciated alpine regions, where we often depend solely on remote sensing products for temperature information.
Corey Scher, Nicholas C. Steiner, and Kyle C. McDonald
The Cryosphere, 15, 4465–4482, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4465-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4465-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Time series synthetic aperture radar enables detection of seasonal reach-scale glacier surface melting across continents, a key component of surface energy balance for mountain glaciers. We observe melting across all areas of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) cryosphere. Surface melting for the HKH lasts for close to 5 months per year on average and for just below 2 months at elevations exceeding 7000 m a.s.l. Further, there are indications that melting is more than superficial at high elevations.
Lander Van Tricht, Philippe Huybrechts, Jonas Van Breedam, Alexander Vanhulle, Kristof Van Oost, and Harry Zekollari
The Cryosphere, 15, 4445–4464, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4445-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4445-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We conducted innovative research on the use of drones to determine the surface mass balance (SMB) of two glaciers. Considering appropriate spatial scales, we succeeded in determining the SMB in the ablation area with large accuracy. Consequently, we are convinced that our method and the use of drones to monitor the mass balance of a glacier’s ablation area can be an add-on to stake measurements in order to obtain a broader picture of the heterogeneity of the SMB of glaciers.
Yuting Dong, Ji Zhao, Dana Floricioiu, Lukas Krieger, Thomas Fritz, and Michael Eineder
The Cryosphere, 15, 4421–4443, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4421-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4421-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We generated a consistent, gapless and high-resolution (12 m) topography product of the Antarctic Peninsula by combining the complementary advantages of the two most recent high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) products: the TanDEM-X DEM and the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica. The generated DEM maintains the characteristics of the TanDEM-X DEM, has a better quality due to the correction of the residual height errors in the non-edited TanDEM-X DEM and will be freely available.
Sergey Samsonov, Kristy Tiampo, and Ryan Cassotto
The Cryosphere, 15, 4221–4239, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4221-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4221-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The direction and intensity of glacier surface flow adjust in response to a warming climate, causing sea level rise, seasonal flooding and droughts, and changing landscapes and habitats. We developed a technique that measures the evolution of surface flow for a glaciated region in three dimensions with high temporal and spatial resolution and used it to map the temporal evolution of glaciers in southeastern Alaska (Agassiz, Seward, Malaspina, Klutlan, Walsh, and Kluane) during 2016–2021.
Anne Braakmann-Folgmann, Andrew Shepherd, and Andy Ridout
The Cryosphere, 15, 3861–3876, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3861-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3861-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the disintegration of the B30 iceberg using satellite remote sensing and find that the iceberg lost 378 km3 of ice in 6.5 years, corresponding to 80 % of its initial volume. About two thirds are due to fragmentation at the sides, and one third is due to melting at the iceberg’s base. The release of fresh water and nutrients impacts ocean circulation, sea ice formation, and biological production. We show that adding a snow layer is important when deriving iceberg thickness.
Joschka Geissler, Christoph Mayer, Juilson Jubanski, Ulrich Münzer, and Florian Siegert
The Cryosphere, 15, 3699–3717, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3699-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3699-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The study demonstrates the potential of photogrammetry for analyzing glacier retreat with high spatial resolution. Twenty-three glaciers within the Ötztal Alps are analyzed. We compare photogrammetric and glaciologic mass balances of the Vernagtferner by using the ELA for our density assumption and an UAV survey for a temporal correction of the geodetic mass balances. The results reveal regions of anomalous mass balance and allow estimates of the imbalance between mass balances and ice dynamics.
Lukas Müller, Martin Horwath, Mirko Scheinert, Christoph Mayer, Benjamin Ebermann, Dana Floricioiu, Lukas Krieger, Ralf Rosenau, and Saurabh Vijay
The Cryosphere, 15, 3355–3375, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3355-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3355-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Harald Moltke Bræ, a marine-terminating glacier in north-western Greenland, undergoes remarkable surges of episodic character. Our data show that a recent surge from 2013 to 2019 was initiated at the glacier front and exhibits a pronounced seasonality with flow velocities varying by 1 order of magnitude, which has not been observed at Harald Moltke Bræ in this way before. These findings are crucial for understanding surge mechanisms at Harald Moltke Bræ and other marine-terminating glaciers.
Joseph A. MacGregor, Michael Studinger, Emily Arnold, Carlton J. Leuschen, Fernando Rodríguez-Morales, and John D. Paden
The Cryosphere, 15, 2569–2574, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2569-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2569-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We combine multiple recent global glacier datasets and extend one of them (GlaThiDa) to evaluate past performance of radar-sounding surveys of the thickness of Earth's temperate glaciers. An empirical envelope for radar performance as a function of center frequency is determined, its limitations are discussed and its relevance to future radar-sounder survey and system designs is considered.
Maximillian Van Wyk de Vries and Andrew D. Wickert
The Cryosphere, 15, 2115–2132, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2115-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2115-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We can measure glacier flow and sliding velocity by tracking patterns on the ice surface in satellite images. The surface velocity of glaciers provides important information to support assessments of glacier response to climate change, to improve regional assessments of ice thickness, and to assist with glacier fieldwork. Our paper describes Glacier Image Velocimetry (GIV), a new, easy-to-use, and open-source toolbox for calculating high-resolution velocity time series for any glacier on earth.
Flavien Beaud, Saif Aati, Ian Delaney, Surendra Adhikari, and Jean-Philippe Avouac
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-96, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-96, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for TC
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding sliding at the bed of glaciers is essential to understand the future of sea-level rise and glacier-related hazards. Yet, there is currently no universal law to describe this mechanism. We propose a universal glacier sliding law and a method to constrain it. We use satellite remote sensing to create velocity maps over 6 years at Shisper glacier, Pakistan, including its recent surge. The universal law can encompass the data, although a range of parameters is necessary.
Daniel Cheng, Wayne Hayes, Eric Larour, Yara Mohajerani, Michael Wood, Isabella Velicogna, and Eric Rignot
The Cryosphere, 15, 1663–1675, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1663-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1663-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Tracking changes in Greenland's glaciers is important for understanding Earth's climate, but it is time consuming to do so by hand. We train a program, called CALFIN, to automatically track these changes with human levels of accuracy. CALFIN is a special type of program called a neural network. This method can be applied to other glaciers and eventually other tracking tasks. This will enhance our understanding of the Greenland Ice Sheet and permit better models of Earth's climate.
Andri Gunnarsson, Sigurdur M. Gardarsson, Finnur Pálsson, Tómas Jóhannesson, and Óli G. B. Sveinsson
The Cryosphere, 15, 547–570, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-547-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-547-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Surface albedo quantifies the fraction of the sunlight reflected by the surface of the Earth. During the melt season in the Northern Hemisphere solar energy absorbed by snow- and ice-covered surfaces is mainly controlled by surface albedo. For Icelandic glaciers, air temperature and surface albedo are the dominating factors governing annual variability of glacier surface melt. Satellite data from the MODIS sensor are used to create a data set spanning the glacier melt season.
Bryan Riel, Brent Minchew, and Ian Joughin
The Cryosphere, 15, 407–429, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-407-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-407-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The availability of large volumes of publicly available remote sensing data over terrestrial glaciers provides new opportunities for studying the response of glaciers to a changing climate. We present an efficient method for tracking changes in glacier speeds at high spatial and temporal resolutions from surface observations, demonstrating the recovery of traveling waves over Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland. Quantification of wave properties may ultimately enhance understanding of glacier dynamics.
Chad A. Greene, Alex S. Gardner, and Lauren C. Andrews
The Cryosphere, 14, 4365–4378, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4365-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4365-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Seasonal variability is a fundamental characteristic of any Earth surface system, but we do not fully understand which of the world's glaciers speed up and slow down on an annual cycle. Such short-timescale accelerations may offer clues about how individual glaciers will respond to longer-term changes in climate, but understanding any behavior requires an ability to observe it. We describe how to use satellite image feature tracking to determine the magnitude and timing of seasonal ice dynamics.
Ellyn M. Enderlin and Timothy C. Bartholomaus
The Cryosphere, 14, 4121–4133, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4121-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4121-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Accurate predictions of future changes in glacier flow require the realistic simulation of glacier terminus position change in numerical models. We use crevasse observations for 19 Greenland glaciers to explore whether the two commonly used crevasse depth models match observations. The models cannot reproduce spatial patterns, and we largely attribute discrepancies between modeled and observed depths to the models' inability to account for advection.
Angus J. Dowson, Pascal Sirguey, and Nicolas J. Cullen
The Cryosphere, 14, 3425–3448, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3425-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3425-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Satellite observations over 19 years are used to characterise the spatial and temporal variability of surface albedo across the gardens of Eden and Allah, two of New Zealand’s largest ice fields. The variability in response of individual glaciers reveals the role of topographic setting and suggests that glaciers in the Southern Alps do not behave as a single climatic unit. There is evidence that the timing of the minimum surface albedo has shifted to later in the summer on 10 of the 12 glaciers.
Anna Bergstrom, Michael N. Gooseff, Madeline Myers, Peter T. Doran, and Julian M. Cross
The Cryosphere, 14, 769–788, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-769-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-769-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This study sought to understand patterns of reflectance of visible light across the landscape of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. We used a helicopter-based platform to measure reflectance along an entire valley with a particular focus on the glaciers, as reflectance strongly controls glacier melt and available water to the downstream ecosystem. We found that patterns are controlled by gradients in snowfall, wind redistribution, and landscape structure, which can trap snow and sediment.
Désirée Treichler, Andreas Kääb, Nadine Salzmann, and Chong-Yu Xu
The Cryosphere, 13, 2977–3005, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2977-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2977-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Glacier growth such as that found on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is counterintuitive in a warming world. Climate models and meteorological data are conflicting about the reasons for this glacier anomaly. We quantify the glacier changes in High Mountain Asia using satellite laser altimetry as well as the growth of over 1300 inland lakes on the TP. Our study suggests that increased summer precipitation is likely the largest contributor to the recently observed increases in glacier and lake masses.
Christoph Rohner, David Small, Jan Beutel, Daniel Henke, Martin P. Lüthi, and Andreas Vieli
The Cryosphere, 13, 2953–2975, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2953-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2953-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The recent increase in ice flow and calving rates of ocean–terminating glaciers contributes substantially to the mass loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Using in situ reference observations, we validate the satellite–based method of iterative offset tracking of Sentinel–1A data for deriving flow speeds. Our investigations highlight the importance of spatial resolution near the fast–flowing calving front, resulting in significantly higher ice velocities compared to large–scale operational products.
Jozef Šupinský, Ján Kaňuk, Zdenko Hochmuth, and Michal Gallay
The Cryosphere, 13, 2835–2851, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2835-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2835-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Cave ice formations can be considered an indicator of long-term changes in the landscape. Using terrestrial laser scanning we generated a time series database of a 3-D cave model. We present a novel approach toward registration of scan missions into a unified coordinate system and methodology for detection of cave floor ice changes. We demonstrate the results of the ice dynamics monitoring correlated with meteorological observations in the Silická ľadnica cave situated in the Slovak Karst.
Thorsten Seehaus, Philipp Malz, Christian Sommer, Stefan Lippl, Alejo Cochachin, and Matthias Braun
The Cryosphere, 13, 2537–2556, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2537-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2537-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The glaciers in Peru are strongly affected by climate change and have shown significant ice loss in the last century. We present the first multi-temporal, countrywide quantification of glacier area and ice mass changes. A glacier area loss of −548.5 ± 65.7 km2 (−29 %) and ice mass loss of −7.62 ± 1.05 Gt is obtained for the period 2000–2016. The ice loss rate increased towards the end of the observation period. The glacier changes revealed can be attributed to regional climatic changes and ENSO.
Dyre O. Dammann, Leif E. B. Eriksson, Son V. Nghiem, Erin C. Pettit, Nathan T. Kurtz, John G. Sonntag, Thomas E. Busche, Franz J. Meyer, and Andrew R. Mahoney
The Cryosphere, 13, 1861–1875, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1861-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1861-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We validate TanDEM-X interferometry as a tool for deriving iceberg subaerial morphology using Operation IceBridge data. This approach enables a volumetric classification of icebergs, according to volume relevant to iceberg drift and decay, freshwater contribution, and potential impact on structures. We find iceberg volumes to generally match within 7 %. These results suggest that TanDEM-X could pave the way for future interferometric systems of scientific and operational iceberg classification.
Enze Zhang, Lin Liu, and Lingcao Huang
The Cryosphere, 13, 1729–1741, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1729-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1729-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Conventionally, calving front positions have been manually delineated from remote sensing images. We design a novel method to automatically delineate the calving front positions of Jakobshavn Isbræ based on deep learning, the first of this kind for Greenland outlet glaciers. We generate high-temporal-resolution (about two measurements every month) calving fronts, demonstrating our methodology can be applied to many other tidewater glaciers through this successful case study on Jakobshavn Isbræ.
Robert McNabb, Christopher Nuth, Andreas Kääb, and Luc Girod
The Cryosphere, 13, 895–910, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-895-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-895-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Estimating glacier changes involves measuring elevation changes, often using elevation models derived from satellites. Many elevation models have data gaps (voids), which affect estimates of glacier change. We compare 11 methods for interpolating voids, finding that some methods bias estimates of glacier change by up to 20 %, though most methods have a smaller effect. Some methods produce reliable results even with large void areas, suggesting that noisy elevation data are still useful.
Bas Altena, Ted Scambos, Mark Fahnestock, and Andreas Kääb
The Cryosphere, 13, 795–814, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-795-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-795-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Many glaciers in southern Alaska and the Yukon experience changes in flow speed, which occur in episodes or sporadically. These flow changes can be measured with satellites, but the resulting raw velocity products are messy. Thus in this study we developed an automatic method to produce a synthesized velocity product over a large glacier region of roughly 600 km by 200 km. Velocities are at a monthly resolution and at 300 m resolution, making all kinds of glacier dynamics observable.
Kathrin Naegeli, Matthias Huss, and Martin Hoelzle
The Cryosphere, 13, 397–412, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-397-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-397-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The paper investigates the temporal changes of bare-ice glacier surface albedo in the Swiss Alps between 1999 and 2016 from a regional to local scale using satellite data. Significant negative trends were found in the lowermost elevations and margins of the ablation zones. Although significant changes of glacier ice albedo are only present over a limited area, we emphasize that albedo feedback will considerably enhance the rate of glacier mass loss in the Swiss Alps in the near future.
Mingyang Lv, Huadong Guo, Xiancai Lu, Guang Liu, Shiyong Yan, Zhixing Ruan, Yixing Ding, and Duncan J. Quincey
The Cryosphere, 13, 219–236, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-219-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-219-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We highlight 28 glaciers in the Kingata Mountains, among which 17 have changed markedly over the last decade. We identify four advancing and 13 surge-type glaciers. The dynamic evolution of the surges is similar to that of Karakoram, suggesting that both hydrological and thermal controls are important for surge initiation and recession. Topography seems to be a dominant control on non-surge glacier behaviour. Most glaciers experienced a significant and diverse change in their motion patterns.
Sam Herreid and Francesca Pellicciotti
The Cryosphere, 12, 1811–1829, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1811-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1811-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Ice cliffs are steep, bare ice features that can develop on the lower reaches of a glacier where the surface is covered by a layer of rock debris. Debris cover generally slows the rate of glacier melt, but ice cliffs act as small windows of higher rates of melt. It is therefore important to map these features, a process which we have automated. On a global scale, ice cliffs have variable geometries and characteristics. The method we have developed can accommodate this variability automatically.
Etienne Berthier, Christopher Larsen, William J. Durkin, Michael J. Willis, and Matthew E. Pritchard
The Cryosphere, 12, 1523–1530, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1523-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1523-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Two recent studies suggested a slowdown in mass loss after 2000 of the Juneau and Stikine icefields, accounting for 10% of the total ice cover in Alaska. Here, the ASTER-based geodetic mass balances are revisited, carefully avoiding the use of the SRTM DEM, because of the unknown penetration depth of the SRTM C-band radar signal. We find strongly negative mass balances from 2000 to 2016 for both icefields, in agreement with airborne laser altimetry. Mass losses are thus continuing unabated.
Cited articles
Ageta, Y. and Higuchi, K.: Estimation of mass balance components of a
summer-accumulation type glacier in the Nepal Himalaya, Geogr. Ann., 66, 249–255, https://doi.org/10.2307/520698, 1984.
Azam, M. F., Wagnon, P., Berthier, E., Vincent, C., Fujita, K., and Kargel,
J. S.: Review of the status and mass changes of Himalayan-Karakoram
glaciers, J. Glaciol., 64, 61–74, https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.86,
2018.
Bahr, D. B., Meier, M. F., and Peckham, S. D.: The physical basis of glacier
volume-area scaling, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 20355–20362,
https://doi.org/10.1029/97jb01696, 1997.
Bahr, D. B., Pfeffer, W. T., and Kaser, G.: A review of volume-area scaling of glaciers, Rev. Geophys., 53, 95–140, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014RG000470, 2015.
Basnett, S., Kulkarni, A. V., and Bolch, T.: The influence of debris cover
and glacial lakes on the recession of glaciers in Sikkim Himalaya, India, J.
Glaciol., 59, 1035–1046, https://doi.org/10.3189/2013JoG12J184, 2013.
Benn, D. I., Hulton, N. R. J., and Mottram, R. H.: “Calving laws”,
“sliding laws” and the stability of tidewater glaciers, Ann. Glaciol., 46,
123–130, https://doi.org/10.3189/172756407782871161, 2007a.
Benn, D. I., Warren, C. R., and Mottram, R. H.: Calving processes and the
dynamics of calving glaciers, Earth Sci. Rev., 82, 143–179,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2007.02.002, 2007b.
Benn, D. I., Bolch, T., Hands, K., Gulley, J., Luckman, A., Nicholson, L.
I., Quincey, D., Thompson, S., Toumi, R., and Wiseman, S.: Response of
debris-covered glaciers in the Mount Everest region to recent warming, and
implications for outburst flood hazards, Earth-Sci. Rev., 114,
156–174, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2012.03.008, 2012.
Bhattacharya, A., Bolch, T., Mukherjee, K., King, O., Menounos, B., Kapitsa,
V., Neckel, N., Yang, W., and Yao, T.: High Mountain Asian glacier response
to climate revealed by multi-temporal satellite observations since the
1960s, Nat. Commun., 12, 4133,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24180-y, 2021.
Bindschadler, R.: The importance of pressurized subglacial water in
separation and sliding at the glacier bed, J. Glaciol., 29, 3–19,
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022143000005104, 1983.
Bisset, R. R., Dehecq, A., Goldberg, D. N., Huss, M., Bingham, R. G., and
Gourmelen, N.: Reversed surface-mass-balance gradients on Himalayan
debris-covered glaciers inferred from remote sensing, Remote Sens., 12,
1563, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12101563, 2020.
Bolch, T.: Asian glaciers are a reliable water source, Nature, 545,
161–162, https://doi.org/10.1038/545161a, 2017.
Bolch, T., Kulkarni, A., Kääb, A., Huggel, C., Paul, F., Cogley, J.
G., Frey, H., Kargel, J. S., Fujita, K., Scheel, M., Bajracharya, S., and
Stoffel, M.: The state and fate of Himalayan glaciers, Science, 336,
310–314, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1215828, 2012.
Bolch, T., Shea, J. M., Liu, S., Azam, F. M., Gao, Y., Gruber, S.,
Immerzeel, W. W., Kulkarni, A., Li, H., Tahir, A. A., Zhang, G., and Zhang,
Y.: Status and change of the cryosphere in the extended Hindu Kush Himalaya
region, in: The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment: Mountains, Climate Change,
Sustainability and People, edited by: Wester, P., Mishra, A., Mukherji, A., and
Shrestha, A. B., Springer International Publishing, Cham, 209–255,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92288-1_7, 2019.
Braithwaite, R. J. and Raper, S. C. B.: Estimating equilibrium-line altitude
(ELA) from glacier inventory data, Ann. Glaciol., 50, 127–132,
https://doi.org/10.3189/172756410790595930, 2009.
Brun, F., Berthier, E., Wagnon, P., Kääb, A., and Treichler, D.: A
spatially resolved estimate of High Mountain Asia glacier mass balances from
2000 to 2016, Nat. Geosci., 10, 668–673,
https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2999, 2017.
Brun, F., Wagnon, P., Berthier, E., Jomelli, V., Maharjan, S. B., Shrestha, F., and Kraaijenbrink, P. D. A.: Heterogeneous Influence of Glacier Morphology on the Mass Balance Variability in High Mountain Asia, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 124, 1331–1345, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JF004838, 2019.
Carrivick, J. L. and Tweed, F. S.: Proglacial Lakes: Character, behaviour
and geological importance, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 78, 34–52,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.07.028, 2013.
Carrivick, J. L., Tweed, F. S., Sutherland, J. L., and Mallalieu, J.: Toward
Numerical Modeling of Interactions Between Ice-Marginal Proglacial Lakes and
Glaciers, Front. Earth Sci., 8, 500,
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2020.577068, 2020.
Clerc, S., Devignot, O., and Pessiot, L.: Sentinel-2 L1C Data Quality Report, The European Space Agency, S2-PDGS-MPC-DQR, 50, 49 pp., 2020.
Chen, F., Zhang, M., Guo, H., Allen, S., Kargel, J. S., Haritashya, U. K., and Watson, C. S.: Annual 30 m dataset for glacial lakes in High Mountain Asia from 2008 to 2017, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 741–766, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-741-2021, 2021.
Cuffey, K. and Paterson, W.: The physics of glaciers: Fourth edition,
Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2010.
Dehecq, A., Gourmelen, N., and Trouve, E.: Deriving large-scale glacier
velocities from a complete satellite archive: Application to the
Pamir-Karakoram-Himalaya, Remote Sens. Environ., 162, 55–66,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.01.031, 2015.
Dehecq, A., Gourmelen, N., and Trouvé, E.: High Mountain Asia glacier
velocities 2013–2015 (Landsat 8), Zenodo [data set],
https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.2578199, 2019a.
Dehecq, A., Gourmelen, N., Gardner, A. S., Brun, F., Goldberg, D., Nienow,
P. W., Berthier, E., Vincent, C., Wagnon, P., and Trouvé, E.:
Twenty-first century glacier slowdown driven by mass loss in High Mountain
Asia, Nat. Geosci., 12, 22–27,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0271-9, 2019b.
Enderlin, E. M., Howat, I. M., and Vieli, A.: High sensitivity of tidewater outlet glacier dynamics to shape, The Cryosphere, 7, 1007–1015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1007-2013, 2013.
Farinotti, D., Huss, M., Fürst, J. J., Landmann, J., Machguth, H.,
Maussion, F., and Pandit, A.: A consensus estimate for the ice thickness
distribution of all glaciers on Earth, Nat. Geosci., 12, 168–173,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0300-3, 2019.
Field, H. R., Armstrong, W. H., and Huss, M.: Gulf of Alaska ice-marginal lake area change over the Landsat record and potential physical controls, The Cryosphere, 15, 3255–3278, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3255-2021, 2021.
Fitch, A. J., Kadyrov, A., Christmas, W. J., and Kittler, J.: Orientation
Correlation, BMVC, 1–10, https://doi.org/10.5244/c.16.11, 2002.
Gardner, A., Lei, Y., and Agram, P.: autoRIFT (autonomous Repeat Image
Feature Tracking), Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.3756192, 2020.
Gardner, A. S., Fahnestock, M. A., and Scambos, T. A.: ITS_LIVE Regional Glacier and Ice Sheet Surface Velocities,
National Snow and Ice Data Center [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/6II6VW8LLWJ7,
2019.
Guizar-Sicairos, M., Thurman, S. T., and Fienup, J. R.: Efficient subpixel
image registration algorithms, Opt. Lett., 33, 156,
https://doi.org/10.1364/ol.33.000156, 2008.
Heid, T. and Kääb, A.: Evaluation of existing image matching methods
for deriving glacier surface displacements globally from optical satellite
imagery, Remote Sens. Environ., 118, 339–355,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2011.11.024, 2012.
Herreid, S. and Pellicciotti, F.: The state of rock debris covering Earth's
glaciers, Nat. Geosci., 13, 621–627,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0, 2020.
Immerzeel, W. W., van Beek, L. P. H., and Bierkens, M. F. P.: Climate change
will affect the Asian water towers, Science, 328, 1382–1385,
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1183188, 2010.
Immerzeel, W. W., Lutz, A. F., Andrade, M., Bahl, A., Biemans, H., Bolch,
T., Hyde, S., Brumby, S., Davies, B. J., Elmore, A. C., Emmer, A., Feng, M.,
Fernández, A., Haritashya, U., Kargel, J. S., Koppes, M., Kraaijenbrink,
P. D. A., Kulkarni, A. V., Mayewski, P. A., Nepal, S., Pacheco, P., Painter,
T. H., Pellicciotti, F., Rajaram, H., Rupper, S., Sinisalo, A., Shrestha, A.
B., Viviroli, D., Wada, Y., Xiao, C., Yao, T., and Baillie, J. E. M.:
Importance and vulnerability of the world's water towers, Nature, 577,
364–369, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1822-y, 2020.
Kääb, A., Winsvold, S. H., Altena, B., Nuth, C., Nagler, T., and
Wuite, J.: Glacier remote sensing using sentinel-2. part I: Radiometric and
geometric performance, and application to ice velocity, Remote Sens., 8,
598, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8070598, 2016.
Katz, R. F. and Worster, M. G.: Stability of ice-sheet grounding lines,
P. R. Soc. A., 466, 1597–1620, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2009.0434, 2010.
Kienholz, C., Rich, J. L., Arendt, A. A., and Hock, R.: A new method for deriving glacier centerlines applied to glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada, The Cryosphere, 8, 503–519, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-503-2014, 2014.
King, O., Dehecq, A., Quincey, D., and Carrivick, J.: Contrasting geometric
and dynamic evolution of lake and land-terminating glaciers in the central
Himalaya, Global Planet. Change, 167, 46–60,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.05.006, 2018.
King, O., Bhattacharya, A., Bhambri, R., and Bolch, T.: Glacial lakes
exacerbate Himalayan glacier mass loss, Sci. Rep.-UK, 9, 18145,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-53733-x, 2019.
Kraaijenbrink, P. D. A., Bierkens, M. F. P., Lutz, A. F., and Immerzeel, W.
W.: Impact of a global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius on Asia's
glaciers, Nature, 549, 257–260, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23878,
2017.
Le Meur, E., Gagliardini, O., Zwinger, T., and Ruokolainen, J.: Glacier flow
modelling: a comparison of the Shallow Ice Approximation and the full-Stokes
solution, C. R. Phys., 5, 709–722,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crhy.2004.10.001, 2004.
Linsbauer, A., Frey, H., Haeberli, W., Machguth, H., Azam, M. F., and Allen,
S.: Modelling glacier-bed overdeepenings and possible future lakes for the
glaciers in the Himalaya-Karakoram region, Ann. Glaciol, 57, 119–130,
https://doi.org/10.3189/2016AoG71A627, 2016.
Liu, Q., Mayer, C., Wang, X., Nie, Y., Wu, K., Wei, J., and Liu, S.:
Interannual flow dynamics driven by frontal retreat of a lake-terminating
glacier in the Chinese central Himalaya, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 546,
116450, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116450, 2020.
Lutz, A. F., Immerzeel, W. W., Gobiet, A., Pellicciotti, F., and Bierkens, M. F. P.: Comparison of climate change signals in CMIP3 and CMIP5 multi-model ensembles and implications for Central Asian glaciers, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3661–3677, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3661-2013, 2013.
Maurer, J. M., Schaefer, J. M., Rupper, S., and Corley, A.: Acceleration of
ice loss across the Himalayas over the past 40 years, Sci. Adv, 5, 1–12,
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav7266, 2019.
Maussion, F., Butenko, A., Champollion, N., Dusch, M., Eis, J., Fourteau, K., Gregor, P., Jarosch, A. H., Landmann, J., Oesterle, F., Recinos, B., Rothenpieler, T., Vlug, A., Wild, C. T., and Marzeion, B.: The Open Global Glacier Model (OGGM) v1.1, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 909–931, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-909-2019, 2019.
McClellan, J. H., Schafer, R. W., and Yoder, M. A.: Digital signal processing
first, Pearson/Prentice Hall, 1999.
Mount Cryo: Data, available at: https://www.mountcryo.org/datasets/, last access: 8 December 2021.
Nagler, T., Rott, H., Hetzenecker, M., Wuite, J., and Potin, P.: The
Sentinel-1 mission: New opportunities for ice sheet observations, Remote
Sens., 7, 9371–9389, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709371, 2015.
Nick, F. M. and Oerlemans, J.: Dynamics of tidewater glaciers: Comparison of
three models, J. Glaciol, 52, 183–190,
https://doi.org/10.3189/172756506781828755, 2006.
Nick, F. M., Vieli, A., Howat, I. M., and Joughin, I.: Large-scale changes in
Greenland outlet glacier dynamics triggered at the terminus, Nat. Geosci,
2, 110–114, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo394, 2009.
Nick, F. M., van der Veen, C. J., Vieli, A., and Benn, D. I.: A physically
based calving model applied to marine outlet glaciers and implications for
the glacier dynamics, J. Glaciol, 56, 781–794,
https://doi.org/10.3189/002214310794457344, 2010.
Nie, Y., Sheng, Y., Liu, Q., Liu, L., Liu, S., Zhang, Y., and Song, C.: A
regional-scale assessment of Himalayan glacial lake changes using satellite
observations from 1990 to 2015, Remote Sens. Environ., 189, 1–13,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.11.008, 2017.
Pfeffer, W. T., Arendt, A. A., Bliss, A., Bolch, T., Cogley, J. G., Gardner,
A. S., Hagen, J.-O., Hock, R., Kaser, G., Kienholz, C., Miles, E. S.,
Moholdt, G., Mölg, N., Paul, F., Radić, V., Rastner, P., Raup, B.
H., Rich, J., and Sharp, M. J.: The Randolph Glacier Inventory: a globally
complete inventory of glaciers, J. Glaciol., 60, 537–552,
https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J176, 2014.
Pritchard, H. D.: Asia's shrinking glaciers protect large populations from
drought stress, Nature, 569, 649–654,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1240-1, 2019.
Pronk, J. B., Bolch, T., King, O., Wouters, B., Benn, D. I.: Central and
Eastern Himalaya glacier velocities 2017-2019 (Sentinel 2), Zenodo [data set],
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4537289, 2021.
Quincey, D. J., Richardson, S. D., Luckman, A., Lucas, R. M., Reynolds, J.
M., Hambrey, M. J., and Glasser, N. F.: Early recognition of glacial lake
hazards in the Himalaya using remote sensing datasets, Global Planet. Change,
56, 137–152, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2006.07.013, 2007.
Rounce, D. R., Hock, R., and Shean, D. E.: Glacier Mass Change in High
Mountain Asia Through 2100 Using the Open-Source Python Glacier Evolution
Model (PyGEM), Front. Earth Sci., 7, 331,
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00331, 2020.
Royden, L. H., Burchfiel, B. C., and van der Hilst, R. D.: The geological
evolution of the Tibetan plateau, Science, 321, 1054–1058,
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1155371, 2008.
RGI Consortium: Randolph Glacier Inventory – A Dataset of Global
Glacier Outlines: Version 6.0, GLIMS Technical Report, 2017.
Scherler, D., Leprince, S., and Strecker, M. R.: Glacier-surface velocities
in alpine terrain from optical satellite imagery-Accuracy improvement and
quality assessment, Remote Sens. Environ., 112, 3806–3819,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2008.05.018, 2008.
Scherler, D., Bookhagen, B., and Strecker, M. R.: Hillslope-glacier coupling:
The interplay of topography and glacial dynamics in High Asia, J. Geophys.
Res.-Earth, 116, F02019, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JF001751, 2011.
Shean, D. E.: High Mountain Asia 8-meter DEM mosaics derived from optical
imagery, version 1, NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed
Active Archive Center [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/KXOVQ9L172S2, 2017.
Shean, D. E., Bhushan, S., Montesano, P., Rounce, D. R., Arendt, A., and
Osmanoglu, B.: A systematic, regional sssessment of High Mountain Asia
glacier mass balance, Front. Earth Sci., 7, 363,
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00363, 2020.
Shugar, D. H., Burr, A., Haritashya, U. K., Kargel, J. S., Watson, C. S.,
Kennedy, M. C., Bevington, A. R., Betts, R. A., Harrison, S., and Strattman,
K.: Rapid worldwide growth of glacial lakes since 1990, Nat. Clim. Change,
10, 939–945, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0855-4, 2020.
Song, C., Sheng, Y., Wang, J., Ke, L., Madson, A., and Nie, Y.: Heterogeneous
glacial lake changes and links of lake expansions to the rapid thinning of
adjacent glacier termini in the Himalayas, Geomorphology, 280, 30–38,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.12.002, 2017.
Somos-Valenzuela, M. A., McKinney, D. C., Rounce, D. R., and Byers, A. C.: Changes in Imja Tsho in the Mount Everest region of Nepal, The Cryosphere, 8, 1661–1671, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1661-2014, 2014.
Steiner, J. F., Buri, P., Miles, E. S., Ragettli, S., and Pellicciotti, F.:
Supraglacial ice cliffs and ponds on debris-covered glaciers:
Spatio-temporal distribution and characteristics, J. Glaciol, 65,
617–632, https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.40, 2019.
Sutherland, J. L., Carrivick, J. L., Gandy, N., Shulmeister, J., Quincey, D.
J., and Cornford, S. L.: Proglacial Lakes Control, e2020GL088865,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL088865, 2020.
Tadono, T., Ishida, H., Oda, F., Naito, S., Minakawa, K., and Iwamoto, H.: Precise Global DEM Generation by ALOS PRISM, ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., II-4, 71–76, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprsannals-II-4-71-2014, 2014.
Truffer, M., and Motyka, R. J.: Where glaciers meet water: subaqueous melt
and its relevance to glaciers in various settings. Rev. Geophys., 54,
220–239, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015RG000494, 2016.
Tsutaki, S., Sugiyama, S., Nishimura, D., and Funk, M.: Acceleration and
flotation of a glacier terminus during formation of a proglacial lake in
Rhonegletscher, Switzerland, J. Glaciol., 59, 559–570,
https://doi.org/10.3189/2013JoG12J107, 2013.
Tsutaki, S., Fujita, K., Nuimura, T., Sakai, A., Sugiyama, S., Komori, J., and Tshering, P.: Contrasting thinning patterns between lake- and land-terminating glaciers in the Bhutanese Himalaya, The Cryosphere, 13, 2733–2750, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2733-2019, 2019.
van der Veen, C. T. and Whillans, I. M.: Model experiments on the evolution
and stability of ice streams, Ann. Glaciol, 23, 129–137,
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0260305500013343, 1996.
Vieli, A. and Nick, F. M.: Understanding and Modelling Rapid Dynamic Changes
of Tidewater Outlet Glaciers: Issues and Implications, Surv. Geophys.,
32, 437–458, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-011-9132-4, 2011.
Vieli, A. and Payne, A. J.: Assessing the ability of numerical ice sheet
models to simulate grounding line migration, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth,
110, F01003, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JF000202, 2005.
Vieli, A., Funk, M., and Blatter, H.: Flow dynamics of tidewater glaciers: A
numerical modelling approach, J. Glaciol., 47, 595–606,
https://doi.org/10.3189/172756501781831747, 2001.
Viviroli, D., Dürr, H. H., Messerli, B., Meybeck, M., and Weingartner,
R.: Mountains of the world, water towers for humanity: Typology, mapping,
and global significance, Water Resour. Res., 43, W07447,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2006WR005653, 2007.
Wangchuk, S. and Bolch, T.: Mapping of glacial lakes using Sentinel-1 and
Sentinel-2 data and a random forest classifier: Strengths and challenges,
Remote Sens., 2, 100008, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srs.2020.100008, 2020.
Watson, C. S., Kargel, J. S., Shugar, D. H., Haritashya, U. K., Schiassi, E.,
and Furfaro, R.: Mass Loss From Calving in Himalayan Proglacial Lakes,
Front. Earth Sci., 7, 342, https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00342, 2020.
Weertman, J.: Stability of the Junction of an Ice Sheet and an Ice Shelf, J.
Glaciol, 13, 3–11, https://doi.org/10.3189/s0022143000023327, 1974.
Wijngaard, R. R., Steiner, J. F., Kraaijenbrink, P. D. A., Klug, C.,
Adhikari, S., Banerjee, A., Pellicciotti, F., van Beek, L. P. H., Bierkens,
M. F. P., Lutz, A. F., and Immerzeel, W. W.: Modeling the response of the
langtang glacier and the hintereisferner to a changing climate since the
little ice age, Front. Earth Sci., 7, 143,
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00143, 2019.
Willis, M. J., Melkonian, A. K., Pritchard, M. E., and Ramage, J. M.: Ice
loss rates at the Northern Patagonian Icefield derived using a decade of
satellite remote sensing, Remote Sens. Environ., 117, 184–198,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2011.09.017, 2012.
Xiao, B. and Dai, L.: Disaster analysis of glacial lake in Tibet and typical case of emergency, Water Resour. Power, 29, 75–78, 2011.
Zhang, G., Yao, T., Xie, H., Wang, W., and Yang, W.: An inventory of glacial
lakes in the Third Pole region and their changes in response to global
warming, Global Planet. Change, 131, 148–157,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2015.05.013, 2015.
Zhang, G., Bolch, T., Allen, S., Linsbauer, A., Chen, W., and Wang, W.:
Glacial lake evolution and glacier–lake interactions in the Poiqu River
basin, central Himalaya, 1964–2017, J. Glaciol., 65, 347–365,
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.13, 2019.
Short summary
About 10 % of Himalayan glaciers flow directly into lakes. This study finds, using satellite imagery, that such glaciers show higher flow velocities than glaciers without ice–lake contact. In particular near the glacier tongue the impact of a lake on the glacier flow can be dramatic. The development of current and new meltwater bodies will influence the flow of an increasing number of Himalayan glaciers in the future, a scenario not currently considered in regional ice loss projections.
About 10 % of Himalayan glaciers flow directly into lakes. This study finds, using satellite...
