Articles | Volume 19, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-267-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-267-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
22 Jan 2025
Research article |
| 22 Jan 2025
| 22 Jan 2025
Creep enhancement and sliding in a temperate, hard-bedded alpine glacier
Juan-Pedro Roldán-Blasco
IGE, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Grenoble INP, 38000 Grenoble, France
Adrien Gilbert
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
IGE, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Grenoble INP, 38000 Grenoble, France
Luc Piard
IGE, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Grenoble INP, 38000 Grenoble, France
Florent Gimbert
IGE, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Grenoble INP, 38000 Grenoble, France
Christian Vincent
IGE, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Grenoble INP, 38000 Grenoble, France
Olivier Gagliardini
IGE, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Grenoble INP, 38000 Grenoble, France
Anuar Togaibekov
IGE, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Grenoble INP, 38000 Grenoble, France
ISTerre, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, UGE, 38000 Grenoble, France
Andrea Walpersdorf
ISTerre, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, UGE, 38000 Grenoble, France
Nathan Maier
IGE, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Grenoble INP, 38000 Grenoble, France
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Anuar Togaibekov, Adrien Gilbert, Florent Gimbert, and Andrea Walpersdorf
The Cryosphere, 20, 3257–3270, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-3257-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-3257-2026, 2026
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Changes in water reaching the base of glaciers strongly affect their sliding speed by altering water pressure beneath the ice. High water pressure is often thought to develop during summer melt, enlarging cavities at the glacier base and increasing sliding speed. Our observations show instead that the cavities mainly grow during winter, when water pressure builds up in isolated cavities. As the cavities become connected during the melt season, water pressure decreases and the glacier slows down.
Nicolás Acuña Reyes, Léo Martin, Adrien Gilbert, Vincent Jomelli, Antoine Rabatel, Simon Filhol, Deborah Verfaillie, Pierre-Henri Blard, and Jérôme Lavé
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2638, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2638, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Climate of the Past (CP).
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Glacier landforms are often used to reconstruct past climate, but the same glacier shape can result from different combinations of temperature and snowfall. Using computer simulations of glaciers in the Bolivian Andes, we show that climate reconstructions based on a single glacier can lead to large uncertainties. By combining several neighboring glaciers, we estimate temperatures about 0.8°C cooler during the Little Ice Age and 1.3°C cooler during the Early Holocene (~10,000 years ago).
Pierre Mathiot, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Benoit Urruty, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Olivier Gagliardini, and Gaël Durand
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-927, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-927, 2026
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How the Antarctic ice sheet responds to rapid ocean warming remains uncertain. To explore this, we used a coupled ocean–ice sheet model. We compared simulations under present-day conditions with simulations under strong future warming for 50 years, then returned to today’s climate. The ocean warmed quickly but recovered within decades. In contrast, several ice streams continued to retreat for centuries. This shows that even brief warming could cause lasting ice loss and sea-level rise.
Julien Brondex, Olivier Gagliardini, Adrien Gilbert, and Emmanuel Thibert
The Cryosphere, 20, 1655–1677, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1655-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1655-2026, 2026
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We investigate crevasse initiation by analyzing the artificial drainage of a water-filled cavity at Tête Rousse Glacier (Mont Blanc, France). Using a numerical model, we compute stress fields in response to water level variations in the cavity and compare them to observed crevasse patterns. Results show that a non-linear viscous rheology and a maximum principal stress criterion (with a stress threshold of 100–130 kPa) best predict crevasse occurrence.
Andrew Nolan, Gwenn E. Flowers, Andy Aschwanden, and Adrien Gilbert
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-913, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-913, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
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We used a computer model to study the effects of glacier "surges", or unusual fast-flow events, on the distribution of ice temperature in a glacier. The purpose of the study was to examine feedbacks that might influence the form and flow of these glaciers in a stable climate. We found surging glaciers to be smaller and colder than their ordinary counterparts, while strong regular surges induced an oscillation in glacier temperature and flow speed much longer than the interval between surges.
Simon Filhol, Clément Misset, Noélie Bontemps, Diego Cusicanqui, Emmanuel Paquet, Marie Dumont, Olivier Gagliardini, Pascal Lacroix, Simon Gascoin, Guillaume Thirel, Julien Brondex, Pascal Hagenmuller, Eric Larose, Philipp Schoeneich, Denis Roy, Emmanuel Thibert, Nicolas Eckert, Félix de Montety, Robin Mainieri, Alexandre Hauet, Frédéric Gottardi, Johan Berthet, Alexandre Baratier, Frédéric Liébault, Małgorzata Chmiel, Guillaume Piton, Guillaume Chambon, Guillaume James, Philippe Frey, Philip Deline, Laurent Astrade, Christian Vincent, Dominique Laigle, Alain Recking, Fatima Karbou, Adrien Mauss, Mylène Bonnefoy-Demongeot, Firmin Fontaine, Mickael Langlais, Etienne Berthier, and Antoine Blanc
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-971, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-971, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (NHESS).
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On June 21 2024, the village of La Bérarde, in the French Alps, was devastated by a flood destroying centuries old buildings. This study is an interdisciplinary work to decipher the causes and chronology of the event. The flood started with decadal rain falling on a thick snowpack. A lake observed on top of a glacier few days prior, had drained post event. With climate change, should we expect more similar compound events for alpine communities?
Laurane Charrier, Nathan Lioret, Fanny Brun, Amaury Dehecq, Romain Millan, Anuar Togaibekov, Andrea Walpersdorf, Diego Cusicanqui, and Antoine Rabatel
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-946, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-946, 2026
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Sub-annual glacier surface velocity derived from remote sensing images are receiving increasing attention. In the meantime, systematic seasonal errors (i.e. biases) have been reported in time series derived from optical images on various landforms, such as landslides or dunes. The extent to which such biases affect glacier velocity maps remains poorly investigated. Here, we propose characterizing the amplitude and spatial distribution of these seasonal biases.
Tifenn Le Bris, Guilhem Barruol, Florent Gimbert, Emmanuel Le Meur, Dimitri Zigone, Maxime Bès de Berc, and Armelle Bernard
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-76, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-76, 2026
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When Antarctic glaciers meet the ocean, they shift from resting on the bedrock to floating, at a boundary called the grounding line. Using a dense array of seismic sensors deployed on the Astrolabe Glacier, East Antarctica, we investigate daily spatial and temporal variations of seismicity at this critical boundary. We show that ice deformation at the surface and the base of the glacier serves as an efficient proxy to track the grounding line position and its daily motion under tidal forcing.
Christophe Ogier, Mauro A. Werder, Olivier Gagliardini, Ilaria Santin, Raphael Moser, Romain Hugonnet, Antoine Blanc, and Daniel Farinotti
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-466, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-466, 2026
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In June 2024, a destructive flood impacted the village of La Bérarde in the French Alps. Rain, snowmelt, and the drainage of a surface lake on a glacier cannot fully explain the flood magnitude. We used glacier topography to estimate how much water could also have been stored beneath the glacier before the event. Our results show that large volumes of hidden water may have existed and could have amplified the flood, highlighting an overlooked hazard in debris-covered mountain glaciers.
Victoria Mowbray, Christian Sue, Stéphane Baize, Céline Beauval, Marguerite Mathey, Anne Lemoine, Andrea Walpersdorf, and Eloïse Granier
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-601, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-601, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
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We present a fault-related data compilation, named South-East France Potentially Active Faults (SEFPAF). It integrates structural components and presents a fault classification by importance, amount of documentation and seismogenic potential. This last parameter is assessed by analysing the amount of observed seismicity near the faults, amount of surface deformation estimated from GNSS velocities, and the age of the last known rupture on the fault.
Thomas Chauve, Florent Gimbert, Adrien Gilbert, Olivier Gagliardini, Luc Piard, Arnaud Reboud, Olivier Laarman, Paolo Perret, William Boffelli, Pietro Di Sopra, Luca Mondardini, and Fabrizio Troilo
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5714, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5714, 2025
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A field campaign on the Planpincieux Glacier investigated how hidden heterogeneities inside the ice affect its deformation. A borehole logged with optical and acoustic tools and equipped with tilt sensors revealed that these heterogeneities cause strong deformation localization. Such weak zones significantly influence glacier motion, showing that internal structure is key to understanding how glaciers flow.
Albane Barbero, Guilhem Freche, Luc Piard, Lucile Richard, Takoua Mhadhbi, Anouk Marsal, Stephan Houdier, Julie Camman, Mathilde Brezins, Benjamin Golly, Jean-Luc Jaffrezo, and Gaëlle Uzu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 7085–7104, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-7085-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-7085-2025, 2025
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Air pollution can harm our health by triggering harmful chemical reactions in our lungs. To better understand this, we developed a new instrument that measures how air particles may cause such effects in near real time. Unlike current methods that may miss key signals, our system captures and analyzes air more efficiently and continuously. Our results show it works reliably, offering a promising new tool to monitor pollution’s health impacts more accurately.
Léon Roussel, Marie Dumont, Marion Réveillet, Delphine Six, Marin Kneib, Pierre Nabat, Kévin Fourteau, Diego Monteiro, Simon Gascoin, Emmanuel Thibert, Antoine Rabatel, Jean-Emmanuel Sicart, Mylène Bonnefoy, Luc Piard, Olivier Laarman, Bruno Jourdain, Mathieu Fructus, Matthieu Vernay, and Matthieu Lafaysse
The Cryosphere, 19, 5201–5230, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5201-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5201-2025, 2025
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Saharan dust deposits frequently turn alpine glaciers orange. Mineral dust reduces snow albedo and increases snow and glaciers melt rate. Using physical modeling, we quantified the impact of dust on the Argentière Glacier over the period 2019–2022. We found that the contribution of mineral dust to the melt represents between 8 % and 16 % of Argentière Glacier summer melt. At specific locations, the impact of dust over one year can rise to an equivalent of 1.2 m of melted ice.
Cyrille Mosbeux, Peter Råback, Adrien Gilbert, Julien Brondex, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Mondher Chekki, Olivier Gagliardini, and Gaël Durand
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3039, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3039, 2025
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Transport processes like rocks carried by ice flow and damage evolution – a proxy for crevasses – are key in ice sheet modeling and should occur without diffusion. Yet, standard numerical methods often blur these features. We explore a particle-based Semi-Lagrangian approach, comparing it to a Discontinuous Galerkin method, and show it can accurately simulate such transport when run at high enough resolution.
Marin Kneib, Amaury Dehecq, Adrien Gilbert, Auguste Basset, Evan S. Miles, Guillaume Jouvet, Bruno Jourdain, Etienne Ducasse, Luc Beraud, Antoine Rabatel, Jérémie Mouginot, Guillem Carcanade, Olivier Laarman, Fanny Brun, and Delphine Six
The Cryosphere, 18, 5965–5983, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5965-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5965-2024, 2024
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Avalanches contribute to increasing the accumulation on mountain glaciers by redistributing snow from surrounding mountains slopes. Here we quantified the contribution of avalanches to the mass balance of Argentière Glacier in the French Alps, by combining satellite and field observations to model the glacier dynamics. We show that the contribution of avalanches locally increases the accumulation by 60–70 % and that accounting for this effect results in less ice loss by the end of the century.
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
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Mass balance series on Chhota Shigri Glacier has been reanalysed by combining the traditional mass balance reanalysis framework and a nonlinear model. The nonlinear model is preferred over traditional glaciological methods to compute the mass balances, as the former can capture the spatiotemporal variability in point mass balances from a heterogeneous in situ point mass balance network. The nonlinear model outperforms the traditional method and agrees better with the geodetic estimates.
Susanne Preunkert, Pascal Bohleber, Michel Legrand, Adrien Gilbert, Tobias Erhardt, Roland Purtschert, Lars Zipf, Astrid Waldner, Joseph R. McConnell, and Hubertus Fischer
The Cryosphere, 18, 2177–2194, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2177-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2177-2024, 2024
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Ice cores from high-elevation Alpine glaciers are an important tool to reconstruct the past atmosphere. However, since crevasses are common at these glacier sites, rigorous investigations of glaciological conditions upstream of drill sites are needed before interpreting such ice cores. On the basis of three ice cores extracted at Col du Dôme (4250 m a.s.l; French Alps), an overall picture of a dynamic crevasse formation is drawn, which disturbs the depth–age relation of two of the three cores.
Ronja Reese, Julius Garbe, Emily A. Hill, Benoît Urruty, Kaitlin A. Naughten, Olivier Gagliardini, Gaël Durand, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, David Chandler, Petra M. Langebroek, and Ricarda Winkelmann
The Cryosphere, 17, 3761–3783, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3761-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3761-2023, 2023
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We use an ice sheet model to test where current climate conditions in Antarctica might lead. We find that present-day ocean and atmosphere conditions might commit an irreversible collapse of parts of West Antarctica which evolves over centuries to millennia. Importantly, this collapse is not irreversible yet.
Emily A. Hill, Benoît Urruty, Ronja Reese, Julius Garbe, Olivier Gagliardini, Gaël Durand, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Ricarda Winkelmann, Mondher Chekki, David Chandler, and Petra M. Langebroek
The Cryosphere, 17, 3739–3759, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3739-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3739-2023, 2023
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The grounding lines of the Antarctic Ice Sheet could enter phases of irreversible retreat or advance. We use three ice sheet models to show that the present-day locations of Antarctic grounding lines are reversible with respect to a small perturbation away from their current position. This indicates that present-day retreat of the grounding lines is not yet irreversible or self-enhancing.
Christian Vincent and Emmanuel Thibert
The Cryosphere, 17, 1989–1995, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1989-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1989-2023, 2023
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Temperature-index models have been widely used for glacier mass projections in the future. The ability of these models to capture non-linear responses of glacier mass balance (MB) to high deviations in air temperature and solid precipitation has recently been questioned by mass balance simulations employing advanced machine-learning techniques. Here, we confirmed that temperature-index models are capable of detecting non-linear responses of glacier MB to temperature and precipitation changes.
Rubén Basantes-Serrano, Antoine Rabatel, Bernard Francou, Christian Vincent, Alvaro Soruco, Thomas Condom, and Jean Carlo Ruíz
The Cryosphere, 16, 4659–4677, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4659-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4659-2022, 2022
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We assessed the volume variation of 17 glaciers on the Antisana ice cap, near the Equator. We used aerial and satellite images for the period 1956–2016. We highlight very negative changes in 1956–1964 and 1979–1997 and slightly negative or even positive conditions in 1965–1978 and 1997–2016, the latter despite the recent increase in temperatures. Glaciers react according to regional climate variability, while local humidity and topography influence the specific behaviour of each glacier.
Małgorzata Chmiel, Maxime Godano, Marco Piantini, Pierre Brigode, Florent Gimbert, Maarten Bakker, Françoise Courboulex, Jean-Paul Ampuero, Diane Rivet, Anthony Sladen, David Ambrois, and Margot Chapuis
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1541–1558, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1541-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1541-2022, 2022
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On 2 October 2020, the French Maritime Alps were struck by an extreme rainfall event caused by Storm Alex. Here, we show that seismic data provide the timing and velocity of the propagation of flash-flood waves along the Vésubie River. We also detect 114 small local earthquakes triggered by the rainwater weight and/or its infiltration into the ground. This study paves the way for future works that can reveal further details of the impact of Storm Alex on the Earth’s surface and subsurface.
Christophe Genthon, Dana E. Veron, Etienne Vignon, Jean-Baptiste Madeleine, and Luc Piard
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1571–1580, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1571-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1571-2022, 2022
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The surface atmosphere of the high Antarctic Plateau is very cold and clean. Such conditions favor water vapor supersaturation. A 3-year quasi-continuous series of atmospheric moisture in a ~40 m atmospheric layer at Dome C is reported that documents time variability, vertical profiles and occurrences of supersaturation. Supersaturation with respect to ice is frequently observed throughout the column, with relative humidities occasionally reaching values near liquid water saturation.
R. Akhmetov, G. Makhmetova, E. Orynbassarova, A. Baltiyeva, A. Togaibekov, K. Roberts, and A. Yerzhankyzy
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVI-5-W1-2022, 7–14, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVI-5-W1-2022-7-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVI-5-W1-2022-7-2022, 2022
Anna Derkacheva, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Jeremie Mouginot, Eliot Jager, Nathan Maier, and Samuel Cook
The Cryosphere, 15, 5675–5704, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5675-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5675-2021, 2021
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Along the edges of the Greenland Ice Sheet surface melt lubricates the bed and causes large seasonal fluctuations in ice speeds during summer. Accurately understanding how these ice speed changes occur is difficult due to the inaccessibility of the glacier bed. We show that by using surface velocity maps with high temporal resolution and numerical modelling we can infer the basal conditions that control seasonal fluctuations in ice speed and gain insight into seasonal dynamics over large areas.
Marco Piantini, Florent Gimbert, Hervé Bellot, and Alain Recking
Earth Surf. Dynam., 9, 1423–1439, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1423-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1423-2021, 2021
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We carry out laboratory experiments to investigate the formation and propagation dynamics of exogenous sediment pulses in mountain rivers. We show that the ability of a self-formed deposit to destabilize and generate sediment pulses depends on the sand content of the mixture, while each pulse turns out to be formed by a front, a body, and a tail. Seismic measurements reveal a complex and non-unique dependency between seismic power and sediment pulse transport characteristics.
Marguerite Mathey, Christian Sue, Colin Pagani, Stéphane Baize, Andrea Walpersdorf, Thomas Bodin, Laurent Husson, Estelle Hannouz, and Bertrand Potin
Solid Earth, 12, 1661–1681, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1661-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1661-2021, 2021
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This work features the highest-resolution seismic stress and strain fields available at the present time for the analysis of the active crustal deformation of the Western Alps. In this paper, we address a large dataset of newly computed focal mechanisms from a statistical standpoint, which allows us to suggest a joint control from far-field forces and from buoyancy forces on the present-day deformation of the Western Alps.
Chloé Scholzen, Thomas V. Schuler, and Adrien Gilbert
The Cryosphere, 15, 2719–2738, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2719-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2719-2021, 2021
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We use a two-dimensional model of water flow below the glaciers in Kongsfjord, Svalbard, to investigate how different processes of surface-to-bed meltwater transfer affect subglacial hydraulic conditions. The latter are important for the sliding motion of glaciers, which in some cases exhibit huge variations. Our findings indicate that the glaciers in our study area undergo substantial sliding because water is poorly evacuated from their base, with limited influence from the surface hydrology.
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Short summary
The flow of glaciers and ice sheets results from ice deformation and basal sliding driven by gravitational forces. Quantifying the rate at which ice deforms under its own weight is critical for assessing glacier evolution. This study uses borehole instrumentation in an Alpine glacier to quantify ice deformation and constrain ice viscosity in a natural setting. Our results show that the viscosity of ice at 0 °C is largely influenced by interstitial liquid water, which enhances ice deformation.
The flow of glaciers and ice sheets results from ice deformation and basal sliding driven by...
