Articles | Volume 18, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3591-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3591-2024
Research article
 | 
15 Aug 2024
Research article |  | 15 Aug 2024

Arctic glacier snowline altitudes rise 150 m over the last 4 decades

Laura J. Larocca, James M. Lea, Michael P. Erb, Nicholas P. McKay, Megan Phillips, Kara A. Lamantia, and Darrell S. Kaufman

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Cited articles

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Bjørk, A. A., Kjær, K. H., Korsgaard, N. J., Khan, S. A., Kjeldsen, K. K., Andresen, C. S., Box, J. E., Larsen, N. K., and Funder, S.: An aerial view of 80 years of climate–related glacier fluctuations in southeast Greenland, Nat. Geosci., 5, 427–432, 2012. 
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Short summary
Here we present summer snowline altitude (SLA) time series for 269 Arctic glaciers. Between 1984 and 2022, SLAs rose ∼ 150 m, equating to a ∼ 127 m shift per 1 °C of summer warming. SLA is most strongly correlated with annual temperature variables, highlighting their dual effect on ablation and accumulation processes. We show that SLAs are rising fastest on low-elevation glaciers and that > 50 % of the studied glaciers could have SLAs that exceed the maximum ice elevation by 2100.