The impact of Saharan dust and black carbon on albedo and long-term mass balance of an Alpine glacier

Gabbi, J.; Huss, M.; Bauder, A.; Cao, F.; Schwikowski, M.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1385-2015

Articles | Volume 9, issue 4

The Cryosphere, 9, 1385–1400, 2015

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1385-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

The Cryosphere, 9, 1385–1400, 2015

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1385-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 9, issue 4

Research article 30 Jul 2015

Research article | 30 Jul 2015

The impact of Saharan dust and black carbon on albedo and long-term mass balance of an Alpine glacier

J. Gabbi et al.

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Final revised paper (published on 30 Jul 2015)
Preprint (discussion started on 24 Feb 2015)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC C262: 'Informative analysis of black carbon and dust impacts on Alpine glacier mass balance', Anonymous Referee #1, 24 Mar 2015
- AC C536: 'Comment on 'Informative analysis of black carbon and dust impacts on Alpine glacier mass balance', Anonymous Referee #1, 24 Mar 2015', Jeannette Gabbi, 24 Apr 2015
RC C278: 'Referee Comment', Anonymous Referee #2, 29 Mar 2015
- AC C553: 'Comment on 'Referee Comment', Anonymous Referee #2, 29 Mar 2015', Jeannette Gabbi, 24 Apr 2015
AC C636: 'Final response to "The impact of Saharan dust and black carbon on albedo and long-term glacier mass balance"', Jeannette Gabbi, 03 May 2015

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Jeannette Gabbi on behalf of the Authors (09 May 2015) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (14 Jun 2015) by Valentina Radic

Short summary

Light-absorbing impurities in snow and ice increase the absorption of solar radiation and thus enhance melting. We investigated the effect of Saharan dust and black carbon on the mass balance of an Alpine glacier over 1914-2014. Snow impurities increased melt by 15-19% depending on the location on the glacier. From the accumulation area towards the equilibrium line, the effect of impurities increased as more frequent years with negative mass balance led to a re-exposure of dust-enriched layers.