The Cryosphere
The Cryosphere
TC
Articles | Volume 17, issue 8
Articles | Volume 17, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3661-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3661-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 17, issue 8
Brief communication
 | Highlight paper
 | 
29 Aug 2023
Brief communication | Highlight paper |  | 29 Aug 2023

Brief communication: The Glacier Loss Day as an indicator of a record-breaking negative glacier mass balance in 2022

Annelies Voordendag, Rainer Prinz, Lilian Schuster, and Georg Kaser

Data sets

The glacier loss day as indicator for extreme glacier melt in 2022 Annelies Voordendag, Rainer Prinz, Lilian Schuster, and Georg Kaser https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7684347

Model code and software

The glacier loss day as indicator for extreme glacier melt in 2022 Annelies Voordendag, Rainer Prinz, Lilian Schuster, and Georg Kaser https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7684347

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Co-editor-in-chief
This study is worthy of a highlight. The new indicator (Glacier Loss Day) is accessible to the non-expert, and may capture public interest (the authors compare Glacier Loss Day to Earth Overshoot Day, which is a fair comparison). Given the dramatic summer mass loss of glaciers in the Alps in recent years, this work has high potential to generate media interest.
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Short summary
The Glacier Loss Day (GLD) is the day on which all mass gained from the accumulation period is lost, and the glacier loses mass irrecoverably for the rest of the mass balance year. In 2022, the GLD was already reached on 23 June at Hintereisferner (Austria), and this led to a record-breaking mass loss. We introduce the GLD as a gross yet expressive indicator of the glacier’s imbalance with a persistently warming climate.
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