Annual changes in firn density and compaction under Alpine Climate conditions: first multi-year CMP radar observations from the Grosser Aletschgletscher

Patil, Akash M.; Mayer, Christoph; Jenk, Theo M.; Lambrecht, Astrid; Seehaus, Thorsten; Groos, Alexander R.; Worek, Michelle

doi:10.5194/tc-20-4927-2026

Articles | Volume 20, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-4927-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-4927-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 9

Research article

|

01 Sep 2026

Research article |

| 01 Sep 2026

Annual changes in firn density and compaction under Alpine Climate conditions: first multi-year CMP radar observations from the Grosser Aletschgletscher

Akash M. Patil, Christoph Mayer, Theo M. Jenk, Astrid Lambrecht, Thorsten Seehaus, Alexander R. Groos, and Michelle Worek

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-4927-2026-supplement

Data sets

Ground Penetrating Radar, CMP and Glaciological methods: Annual changes in firn density and compaction measurements in the Grosser Aletschgletscher Winter-2024/25 Akash M Patil et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22026601

Ground Penetrating Radar and Glaciological methods: Firn structure and density measurements in the accumulation area of the Grosser Aletschgletscher winter-2024 Akash M Patil et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17077546

Short summary

Our study focused on understanding how a warming climate affects the Aletsch Glacier accumulation area. We used multi-year radar measurements and direct firn‑core analyses to estimate changes in density and compaction rate of snow-to-ice over a year. Our results show that the upper layers of the glacier are changing faster due to stronger summer melt in the lower parts of the accumulation zone. Our findings help to improve firn densification models and glacier mass-balance estimation.