Articles | Volume 17, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3661-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3661-2023
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

Related authors

Monitoring snow depth variations in an avalanche release area using low cost LiDAR and optical sensors
Pia Ruttner-Jansen, Annelies Voordendag, Thierry Hartmann, Julia Glaus, Andreas Wieser, and Yves Bühler
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-744,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-744, 2024
Short summary
A novel framework to investigate wind-driven snow redistribution over an Alpine glacier: combination of high-resolution terrestrial laser scans and large-eddy simulations
Annelies Voordendag, Brigitta Goger, Rainer Prinz, Tobias Sauter, Thomas Mölg, Manuel Saigger, and Georg Kaser
The Cryosphere, 18, 849–868, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-849-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-849-2024, 2024
Short summary
THE STABILITY OF A PERMANENT TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNING SYSTEM – A CASE STUDY WITH HOURLY SCANS
A. B. Voordendag, B. Goger, C. Klug, R. Prinz, M. Rutzinger, and G. Kaser
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLIII-B2-2022, 1093–1099, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B2-2022-1093-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B2-2022-1093-2022, 2022
Snow model comparison to simulate snow depth evolution and sublimation at point scale in the semi-arid Andes of Chile
Annelies Voordendag, Marion Réveillet, Shelley MacDonell, and Stef Lhermitte
The Cryosphere, 15, 4241–4259, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4241-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4241-2021, 2021
Short summary
AUTOMATED AND PERMANENT LONG-RANGE TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNING IN A HIGH MOUNTAIN ENVIRONMENT: SETUP AND FIRST RESULTS
A. B. Voordendag, B. Goger, C. Klug, R. Prinz, M. Rutzinger, and G. Kaser
ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., V-2-2021, 153–160, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-V-2-2021-153-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-V-2-2021-153-2021, 2021

Related subject area

Discipline: Glaciers | Subject: Mass Balance Obs
Reanalysis of the longest mass balance series in Himalaya using a nonlinear model: Chhota Shigri Glacier (India)
Mohd Farooq Azam, Christian Vincent, Smriti Srivastava, Etienne Berthier, Patrick Wagnon, Himanshu Kaushik, Md. Arif Hussain, Manoj Kumar Munda, Arindan Mandal, and Alagappan Ramanathan
The Cryosphere, 18, 5653–5672, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5653-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5653-2024, 2024
Short summary
Accumulation by avalanches as a significant contributor to the mass balance of a peripheral glacier of Greenland
Bernhard Hynek, Daniel Binder, Michele Citterio, Signe Hillerup Larsen, Jakob Abermann, Geert Verhoeven, Elke Ludewig, and Wolfgang Schöner
The Cryosphere, 18, 5481–5494, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5481-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5481-2024, 2024
Short summary
European heat waves 2022: contribution to extreme glacier melt in Switzerland inferred from automated ablation readings
Aaron Cremona, Matthias Huss, Johannes Marian Landmann, Joël Borner, and Daniel Farinotti
The Cryosphere, 17, 1895–1912, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1895-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1895-2023, 2023
Short summary
Central Asia's spatiotemporal glacier response ambiguity due to data inconsistencies and regional simplifications
Martina Barandun and Eric Pohl
The Cryosphere, 17, 1343–1371, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1343-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1343-2023, 2023
Short summary
Recent contrasting behaviour of mountain glaciers across the European High Arctic revealed by ArcticDEM data
Jakub Małecki
The Cryosphere, 16, 2067–2082, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2067-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2067-2022, 2022
Short summary

Cited articles

A2 Photonic Sensors: SmartStake – Monitor the glacier ablation with sub-hourly time step and millimetric accuracy, https://a2photonicsensors.com/smartstake-monitor-glacier-ablation/ (last access: 15 March 2023), 2022. a
Carturan, L., Cazorzi, F., Fontana, G. D., and Zanoner, T.: Automatic measurement of glacier ice ablation using thermistor strings, J. Glaciol., 65, 188–194, https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2018.103, 2019. a
Collins, A., Galli, A., Hipwood, T., and Murthy, A.: Living within a One Planet reality: the contribution of personal Footprint calculators, Environ. Res. Lett., 15, 025008, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5f96, 2020. a
Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S): European State of the Climate 2022, https://doi.org/10.24381/GVAF-H066, 2023. a
Cremona, A., Huss, M., Landmann, J. M., Borner, J., and Farinotti, D.: European heat waves 2022: contribution to extreme glacier melt in Switzerland inferred from automated ablation readings, The Cryosphere, 17, 1895–1912, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1895-2023, 2023. a, b
Download
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.
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.