Articles | Volume 9, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1129-2015
© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1129-2015
© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
27 May 2015
Research article |
| 27 May 2015
Air temperature variability over three glaciers in the Ortles–Cevedale (Italian Alps): effects of glacier fragmentation, comparison of calculation methods, and impacts on mass balance modeling
L. Carturan
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Viale dell'Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy
F. Cazorzi
Department of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of Udine, via delle Scienze 208, 33100, Udine, Italy
F. De Blasi
Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Viale dell'Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy
G. Dalla Fontana
Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Viale dell'Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy
Related authors
Luca Carturan, Giulia Zuecco, Angela Andreotti, Jacopo Boaga, Costanza Morino, Mirko Pavoni, Roberto Seppi, Monica Tolotti, Thomas Zanoner, and Matteo Zumiani
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2689, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2689, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Pseudo-relict rock glaciers look visually relict but contain patches of permafrost. They are poorly known in terms of permafrost content, spatial distribution and frequency. Here we use spring-water temperature for a preliminary estimate of the permafrost presence in the rock glaciers of a 795 km2 catchment in the Italian Alps. The results show that ~50 % of rock glaciers classified as relict might be pseudo-relict and might contain ~30 % of the ice stored in the rock glaciers in the study area.
Luca Carturan, Fabrizio De Blasi, Roberto Dinale, Gianfranco Dragà, Paolo Gabrielli, Volkmar Mair, Roberto Seppi, David Tonidandel, Thomas Zanoner, Tiziana Lazzarina Zendrini, and Giancarlo Dalla Fontana
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 4661–4688, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4661-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4661-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a new dataset of air, englacial, soil surface and rock wall temperatures collected between 2010 and 2016 on Mt Ortles, which is the highest summit of South Tyrol, Italy. Details are provided on instrument type and characteristics, field methods, and data quality control and assessment. The obtained data series are available through an open data repository. This is a rare dataset from a summit area lacking observations on permafrost and glaciers and their climatic response.
Mirko Pavoni, Jacopo Boaga, Alberto Carrera, Giulia Zuecco, Luca Carturan, and Matteo Zumiani
The Cryosphere, 17, 1601–1607, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1601-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1601-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In the last decades, geochemical investigations at the springs of rock glaciers have been used to estimate their drainage processes, and the frozen layer is typically considered to act as an aquiclude or aquitard. In this work, we evaluated the hydraulic behavior of a mountain permafrost site by executing a geophysical monitoring experiment. Several hundred liters of salt water have been injected into the subsurface, and geoelectrical measurements have been performed to define the water flow.
Mattia Zaramella, Marco Borga, Davide Zoccatelli, and Luca Carturan
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 5251–5265, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5251-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5251-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents TOPMELT, a parsimonious snowpack simulation model integrated into a basin-scale hydrological model. TOPMELT implements the full spatial distribution of clear-sky potential solar radiation by means of a statistical representation: this approach reduces computational burden, which is a key potential advantage when parameter sensitivity and uncertainty estimation procedures are carried out. The model is assessed by examining different resolutions of its domain.
Daniela Festi, Luca Carturan, Werner Kofler, Giancarlo dalla Fontana, Fabrizio de Blasi, Federico Cazorzi, Edith Bucher, Volkmar Mair, Paolo Gabrielli, and Klaus Oeggl
The Cryosphere, 11, 937–948, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-937-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-937-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We propose a sub-seasonal timescale based on pollen analyses for a Mt. Ortles firn core. The method can be applied to all types of glaciers, provided the proximity of the pollen source and a negligible time lag between pollen production and its deposition on the glacier. By combining pollen dating with a mass balance model we found evidence that pollen grains are resilient to downward transport by percolating water and that pollen shows a high potential for inferring past climatic conditions.
Federico Di Paolo, Barbara Cosciotti, Sebastian E. Lauro, Elisabetta Mattei, Mattia Callegari, Luca Carturan, Roberto Seppi, Francesco Zucca, and Elena Pettinelli
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2016-267, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2016-267, 2016
Preprint retracted
Short summary
Short summary
Snow water equivalent is an important parameter for hydrological and climate change studies, however its measurement is tedious and time consuming. In this paper we show that it is possible to accurately measure snow water equivalent using electromagnetic methods. During a field campaign we tested the performances of traditional methods vs. those of a Ground Penetrating Radar, founding a very good agreement between the snow water equivalent values computed with the two different methods.
Paolo Gabrielli, Carlo Barbante, Giuliano Bertagna, Michele Bertó, Daniel Binder, Alberto Carton, Luca Carturan, Federico Cazorzi, Giulio Cozzi, Giancarlo Dalla Fontana, Mary Davis, Fabrizio De Blasi, Roberto Dinale, Gianfranco Dragà, Giuliano Dreossi, Daniela Festi, Massimo Frezzotti, Jacopo Gabrieli, Stephan P. Galos, Patrick Ginot, Petra Heidenwolf, Theo M. Jenk, Natalie Kehrwald, Donald Kenny, Olivier Magand, Volkmar Mair, Vladimir Mikhalenko, Ping Nan Lin, Klaus Oeggl, Gianni Piffer, Mirko Rinaldi, Ulrich Schotterer, Margit Schwikowski, Roberto Seppi, Andrea Spolaor, Barbara Stenni, David Tonidandel, Chiara Uglietti, Victor Zagorodnov, Thomas Zanoner, and Piero Zennaro
The Cryosphere, 10, 2779–2797, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2779-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2779-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
New ice cores were extracted from Alto dell'Ortles, the highest glacier of South Tyrol in the Italian Alps, to check whether prehistoric ice, which is coeval to the famous 5300-yr-old Tyrolean Iceman, is still preserved in this region. Dating of the ice cores confirms the hypothesis and indicates the drilling site has been glaciated since the end of the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum (7000 yrs BP). We also infer that an unprecedented acceleration of the glacier flow has recently begun.
Livia Piermattei, Luca Carturan, Fabrizio de Blasi, Paolo Tarolli, Giancarlo Dalla Fontana, Antonio Vettore, and Norbert Pfeifer
Earth Surf. Dynam., 4, 425–443, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-425-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-425-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We investigated the applicability of the SfM–MVS approach for calculating the geodetic mass balance of a glacier and for the detection of the surface displacement rate of an active rock glacier located in the eastern Italian Alps. The results demonstrate that it is possible to reliably quantify the investigated glacial and periglacial processes by means of a quick ground-based photogrammetric survey that was conducted using a consumer grade SRL camera and natural targets as ground control points.
Luca Carturan, Carlo Baroni, Michele Brunetti, Alberto Carton, Giancarlo Dalla Fontana, Maria Cristina Salvatore, Thomas Zanoner, and Giulia Zuecco
The Cryosphere, 10, 695–712, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-695-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-695-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This work analyses the longer mass balance series of Italian glaciers. All glaciers experienced mass loss in the observation period, with increasing mass loss rates mainly due to increased ablation during longer and warmer ablation seasons. Low-altitude glaciers with low range of elevation are more out of balance than the higher, larger and steeper glaciers, which maintain accumulation areas. Because most of the monitored glaciers are at risk of extinction, they require a soon replacement.
L. Carturan, C. Baroni, M. Becker, A. Bellin, O. Cainelli, A. Carton, C. Casarotto, G. Dalla Fontana, A. Godio, T. Martinelli, M. C. Salvatore, and R. Seppi
The Cryosphere, 7, 1819–1838, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1819-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1819-2013, 2013
L. Carturan, R. Filippi, R. Seppi, P. Gabrielli, C. Notarnicola, L. Bertoldi, F. Paul, P. Rastner, F. Cazorzi, R. Dinale, and G. Dalla Fontana
The Cryosphere, 7, 1339–1359, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1339-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1339-2013, 2013
Luca Carturan, Giulia Zuecco, Angela Andreotti, Jacopo Boaga, Costanza Morino, Mirko Pavoni, Roberto Seppi, Monica Tolotti, Thomas Zanoner, and Matteo Zumiani
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2689, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2689, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Pseudo-relict rock glaciers look visually relict but contain patches of permafrost. They are poorly known in terms of permafrost content, spatial distribution and frequency. Here we use spring-water temperature for a preliminary estimate of the permafrost presence in the rock glaciers of a 795 km2 catchment in the Italian Alps. The results show that ~50 % of rock glaciers classified as relict might be pseudo-relict and might contain ~30 % of the ice stored in the rock glaciers in the study area.
Luca Carturan, Fabrizio De Blasi, Roberto Dinale, Gianfranco Dragà, Paolo Gabrielli, Volkmar Mair, Roberto Seppi, David Tonidandel, Thomas Zanoner, Tiziana Lazzarina Zendrini, and Giancarlo Dalla Fontana
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 4661–4688, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4661-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4661-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a new dataset of air, englacial, soil surface and rock wall temperatures collected between 2010 and 2016 on Mt Ortles, which is the highest summit of South Tyrol, Italy. Details are provided on instrument type and characteristics, field methods, and data quality control and assessment. The obtained data series are available through an open data repository. This is a rare dataset from a summit area lacking observations on permafrost and glaciers and their climatic response.
Mirko Pavoni, Jacopo Boaga, Alberto Carrera, Giulia Zuecco, Luca Carturan, and Matteo Zumiani
The Cryosphere, 17, 1601–1607, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1601-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1601-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In the last decades, geochemical investigations at the springs of rock glaciers have been used to estimate their drainage processes, and the frozen layer is typically considered to act as an aquiclude or aquitard. In this work, we evaluated the hydraulic behavior of a mountain permafrost site by executing a geophysical monitoring experiment. Several hundred liters of salt water have been injected into the subsurface, and geoelectrical measurements have been performed to define the water flow.
E. Maset, S. Cucchiaro, F. Cazorzi, F. Crosilla, A. Fusiello, and A. Beinat
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLIII-B1-2021, 103–109, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B1-2021-103-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B1-2021-103-2021, 2021
Lorenzo Marchi, Federico Cazorzi, Massimo Arattano, Sara Cucchiaro, Marco Cavalli, and Stefano Crema
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 87–97, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-87-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-87-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Debris-flow research requires experimental data that are difficult to collect because of the intrinsic characteristics of these hazardous processes. This paper presents debris-flow data recorded in the Moscardo Torrent (Italian Alps) between 1990 and 2019. In this time interval, 30 debris flows were observed. The paper presents data on triggering rainfall, flow velocity, peak discharge, and volume for the monitored hydrographs.
Mattia Zaramella, Marco Borga, Davide Zoccatelli, and Luca Carturan
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 5251–5265, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5251-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5251-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents TOPMELT, a parsimonious snowpack simulation model integrated into a basin-scale hydrological model. TOPMELT implements the full spatial distribution of clear-sky potential solar radiation by means of a statistical representation: this approach reduces computational burden, which is a key potential advantage when parameter sensitivity and uncertainty estimation procedures are carried out. The model is assessed by examining different resolutions of its domain.
S. Cucchiaro, E. Maset, A. Fusiello, and F. Cazorzi
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLII-2, 281–288, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-281-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-281-2018, 2018
Daniela Festi, Luca Carturan, Werner Kofler, Giancarlo dalla Fontana, Fabrizio de Blasi, Federico Cazorzi, Edith Bucher, Volkmar Mair, Paolo Gabrielli, and Klaus Oeggl
The Cryosphere, 11, 937–948, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-937-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-937-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We propose a sub-seasonal timescale based on pollen analyses for a Mt. Ortles firn core. The method can be applied to all types of glaciers, provided the proximity of the pollen source and a negligible time lag between pollen production and its deposition on the glacier. By combining pollen dating with a mass balance model we found evidence that pollen grains are resilient to downward transport by percolating water and that pollen shows a high potential for inferring past climatic conditions.
Federico Di Paolo, Barbara Cosciotti, Sebastian E. Lauro, Elisabetta Mattei, Mattia Callegari, Luca Carturan, Roberto Seppi, Francesco Zucca, and Elena Pettinelli
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2016-267, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2016-267, 2016
Preprint retracted
Short summary
Short summary
Snow water equivalent is an important parameter for hydrological and climate change studies, however its measurement is tedious and time consuming. In this paper we show that it is possible to accurately measure snow water equivalent using electromagnetic methods. During a field campaign we tested the performances of traditional methods vs. those of a Ground Penetrating Radar, founding a very good agreement between the snow water equivalent values computed with the two different methods.
Paolo Gabrielli, Carlo Barbante, Giuliano Bertagna, Michele Bertó, Daniel Binder, Alberto Carton, Luca Carturan, Federico Cazorzi, Giulio Cozzi, Giancarlo Dalla Fontana, Mary Davis, Fabrizio De Blasi, Roberto Dinale, Gianfranco Dragà, Giuliano Dreossi, Daniela Festi, Massimo Frezzotti, Jacopo Gabrieli, Stephan P. Galos, Patrick Ginot, Petra Heidenwolf, Theo M. Jenk, Natalie Kehrwald, Donald Kenny, Olivier Magand, Volkmar Mair, Vladimir Mikhalenko, Ping Nan Lin, Klaus Oeggl, Gianni Piffer, Mirko Rinaldi, Ulrich Schotterer, Margit Schwikowski, Roberto Seppi, Andrea Spolaor, Barbara Stenni, David Tonidandel, Chiara Uglietti, Victor Zagorodnov, Thomas Zanoner, and Piero Zennaro
The Cryosphere, 10, 2779–2797, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2779-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2779-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
New ice cores were extracted from Alto dell'Ortles, the highest glacier of South Tyrol in the Italian Alps, to check whether prehistoric ice, which is coeval to the famous 5300-yr-old Tyrolean Iceman, is still preserved in this region. Dating of the ice cores confirms the hypothesis and indicates the drilling site has been glaciated since the end of the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum (7000 yrs BP). We also infer that an unprecedented acceleration of the glacier flow has recently begun.
Livia Piermattei, Luca Carturan, Fabrizio de Blasi, Paolo Tarolli, Giancarlo Dalla Fontana, Antonio Vettore, and Norbert Pfeifer
Earth Surf. Dynam., 4, 425–443, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-425-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-425-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We investigated the applicability of the SfM–MVS approach for calculating the geodetic mass balance of a glacier and for the detection of the surface displacement rate of an active rock glacier located in the eastern Italian Alps. The results demonstrate that it is possible to reliably quantify the investigated glacial and periglacial processes by means of a quick ground-based photogrammetric survey that was conducted using a consumer grade SRL camera and natural targets as ground control points.
Luca Carturan, Carlo Baroni, Michele Brunetti, Alberto Carton, Giancarlo Dalla Fontana, Maria Cristina Salvatore, Thomas Zanoner, and Giulia Zuecco
The Cryosphere, 10, 695–712, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-695-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-695-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This work analyses the longer mass balance series of Italian glaciers. All glaciers experienced mass loss in the observation period, with increasing mass loss rates mainly due to increased ablation during longer and warmer ablation seasons. Low-altitude glaciers with low range of elevation are more out of balance than the higher, larger and steeper glaciers, which maintain accumulation areas. Because most of the monitored glaciers are at risk of extinction, they require a soon replacement.
L. Carturan, C. Baroni, M. Becker, A. Bellin, O. Cainelli, A. Carton, C. Casarotto, G. Dalla Fontana, A. Godio, T. Martinelli, M. C. Salvatore, and R. Seppi
The Cryosphere, 7, 1819–1838, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1819-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1819-2013, 2013
L. Carturan, R. Filippi, R. Seppi, P. Gabrielli, C. Notarnicola, L. Bertoldi, F. Paul, P. Rastner, F. Cazorzi, R. Dinale, and G. Dalla Fontana
The Cryosphere, 7, 1339–1359, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1339-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1339-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Atmospheric Interactions
Understanding snow saltation parameterizations: lessons from theory, experiments and numerical simulations
Brief communication: Significant biases in ERA5 output for the McMurdo Dry Valleys region, Antarctica
Effects of Arctic sea-ice concentration on turbulent surface fluxes in four atmospheric reanalyses
A novel framework to investigate wind-driven snow redistribution over an Alpine glacier: combination of high-resolution terrestrial laser scans and large-eddy simulations
Control of the temperature signal in Antarctic proxies by snowfall dynamics
From atmospheric water isotopes measurement to firn core interpretation in Adélie Land: a case study for isotope-enabled atmospheric models in Antarctica
Understanding the drivers of near-surface winds in Adelie land, East Antarctica
Atmospheric drivers of melt-related ice speed-up events on the Russell Glacier in southwest Greenland
Attributing near-surface atmospheric trends in the Fram Strait region to regional sea ice conditions
Foehn winds at Pine Island Glacier and their role in ice changes
Black carbon concentrations and modeled smoke deposition fluxes to the bare-ice dark zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Dynamics of the snow grain size in a windy coastal area of Antarctica from continuous in situ spectral-albedo measurements
Forcing and impact of the Northern Hemisphere continental snow cover in 1979–2014
Climatology and surface impacts of atmospheric rivers on West Antarctica
Multi-annual temperature evolution and implications for cave ice development in a sag-type ice cave in the Austrian Alps
Estimating a mean transport velocity in the marginal ice zone using ice–ocean prediction systems
The role of föhn winds in eastern Antarctic Peninsula rapid ice shelf collapse
On the energy budget of a low-Arctic snowpack
The role of sublimation as a driver of climate signals in the water isotope content of surface snow: laboratory and field experimental results
Continuous monitoring of surface water vapour isotopic compositions at Neumayer Station III, East Antarctica
The distribution and evolution of supraglacial lakes on 79° N Glacier (north-eastern Greenland) and interannual climatic controls
Synoptic control on snow avalanche activity in central Spitsbergen
Mapping the aerodynamic roughness of the Greenland Ice Sheet surface using ICESat-2: evaluation over the K-transect
Atmospheric extremes caused high oceanward sea surface slope triggering the biggest calving event in more than 50 years at the Amery Ice Shelf
Interfacial supercooling and the precipitation of hydrohalite in frozen NaCl solutions as seen by X-ray absorption spectroscopy
Spatio-temporal flow variations driving heat exchange processes at a mountain glacier
Measurements and modeling of snow albedo at Alerce Glacier, Argentina: effects of volcanic ash, snow grain size, and cloudiness
The influence of föhn winds on annual and seasonal surface melt on the Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica
Reconciling the surface temperature–surface mass balance relationship in models and ice cores in Antarctica over the last 2 centuries
Tracing devastating fires in Portugal to a snow archive in the Swiss Alps: a case study
Systematic bias of Tibetan Plateau snow cover in subseasonal-to-seasonal models
Towards understanding the pattern of glacier mass balances in High Mountain Asia using regional climatic modelling
Warm-air entrainment and advection during alpine blowing snow events
Quantifying the impact of synoptic weather types and patterns on energy fluxes of a marginal snowpack
Radar measurements of blowing snow off a mountain ridge
Brief communication: Rare ambient saturation during drifting snow occurrences at a coastal location of East Antarctica
Understanding snow bedform formation by adding sintering to a cellular automata model
Decadal changes in the leading patterns of sea level pressure in the Arctic and their impacts on the sea ice variability in boreal summer
Evaluation of snow depth and snow cover over the Tibetan Plateau in global reanalyses using in situ and satellite remote sensing observations
Contributions of advection and melting processes to the decline in sea ice in the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean
A multi-season investigation of glacier surface roughness lengths through in situ and remote observation
Potential faster Arctic sea ice retreat triggered by snowflakes' greenhouse effect
Brief communication: Analysis of organic matter in surface snow by PTR-MS – implications for dry deposition dynamics in the Alps
Variability in individual particle structure and mixing states between the glacier–snowpack and atmosphere in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau
Evaluation of the CloudSat surface snowfall product over Antarctica using ground-based precipitation radars
Melting over the northeast Antarctic Peninsula (1999–2009): evaluation of a high-resolution regional climate model
Multi-year analysis of distributed glacier mass balance modelling and equilibrium line altitude on King George Island, Antarctic Peninsula
Atmospheric influences on the anomalous 2016 Antarctic sea ice decay
Wind enhances differential air advection in surface snow at sub-meter scales
Impact of dust deposition on the albedo of Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland
Daniela Brito Melo, Armin Sigmund, and Michael Lehning
The Cryosphere, 18, 1287–1313, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1287-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1287-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Snow saltation – the transport of snow close to the surface – occurs when the wind blows over a snow-covered surface with sufficient strength. This phenomenon is represented in some climate models; however, with limited accuracy. By performing numerical simulations and a detailed analysis of previous works, we show that snow saltation is characterized by two regimes. This is not represented in climate models in a consistent way, which hinders the quantification of snow transport and sublimation.
Ricardo Garza-Girón and Slawek M. Tulaczyk
The Cryosphere, 18, 1207–1213, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1207-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1207-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
By analyzing temperature time series over more than 20 years, we have found a discrepancy between the 2 m temperature values reported by the ERA5 reanalysis and the automatic weather stations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica.
Tereza Uhlíková, Timo Vihma, Alexey Yu Karpechko, and Petteri Uotila
The Cryosphere, 18, 957–976, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-957-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-957-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A prerequisite for understanding the local, regional, and hemispherical impacts of Arctic sea-ice decline on the atmosphere is to quantify the effects of sea-ice concentration (SIC) on the sensible and latent heat fluxes in the Arctic. We analyse these effects utilising four data sets called atmospheric reanalyses, and we evaluate uncertainties in these effects arising from inter-reanalysis differences in SIC and in the sensitivity of the latent and sensible heat fluxes to SIC.
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
Short summary
Wind-driven snow redistribution affects glacier mass balance. A case study of Hintereisferner glacier in Austria used high-resolution observations and simulations to model snow redistribution. Simulations matched observations, showing the potential of the model for studying snow redistribution on other mountain glaciers.
Aymeric P. M. Servettaz, Cécile Agosta, Christoph Kittel, and Anaïs J. Orsi
The Cryosphere, 17, 5373–5389, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5373-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5373-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
It has been previously observed in polar regions that the atmospheric temperature is warmer during precipitation events. Here, we use a regional atmospheric model to quantify the temperature changes associated with snowfall events across Antarctica. We show that more intense snowfall is statistically associated with a warmer temperature anomaly compared to the seasonal average, with the largest anomalies seen in winter. This bias may affect water isotopes in ice cores deposited during snowfall.
Christophe Leroy-Dos Santos, Elise Fourré, Cécile Agosta, Mathieu Casado, Alexandre Cauquoin, Martin Werner, Benedicte Minster, Frédéric Prié, Olivier Jossoud, Leila Petit, and Amaëlle Landais
The Cryosphere, 17, 5241–5254, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5241-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5241-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In the face of global warming, understanding the changing water cycle and temperatures in polar regions is crucial. These factors directly impact the balance of ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic. By studying the composition of water vapor, we gain insights into climate variations. Our 2-year study at Dumont d’Urville station, Adélie Land, offers valuable data to refine models. Additionally, we demonstrate how modeling aids in interpreting signals from ice core samples in the region.
Cécile Davrinche, Anaïs Orsi, Cécile Agosta, Charles Amory, and Christoph Kittel
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2045, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2045, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Coastal surface winds in Antarctica are amongst the strongest winds on earth. They are either driven by the cooling of the surface air mass by the ice-sheet (katabatic), or they originate from large-scale pressure systems. Here we compute the relative contribution of these drivers. We find that seasonal variations in the wind speed come from the katabatic acceleration, but, at a 3-hourly timescale, none of the large-scale nor katabatic accelerations can be considered as the main driver.
Timo Schmid, Valentina Radić, Andrew Tedstone, James M. Lea, Stephen Brough, and Mauro Hermann
The Cryosphere, 17, 3933–3954, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3933-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3933-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Greenland Ice Sheet contributes strongly to sea level rise in the warming climate. One process that can affect the ice sheet's mass balance is short-term ice speed-up events. These can be caused by high melting or rainfall as the water flows underneath the glacier and allows for faster sliding. In this study we found three main weather patterns that cause such ice speed-up events on the Russell Glacier in southwest Greenland and analyzed how they induce local melting and ice accelerations.
Amelie U. Schmitt and Christof Lüpkes
The Cryosphere, 17, 3115–3136, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3115-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3115-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In the last few decades, the region between Greenland and Svalbard has experienced the largest loss of Arctic sea ice in winter. We analyze how changes in air temperature, humidity and wind in this region differ for winds that originate from sea ice covered areas and from the open ocean. The largest impacts of sea ice cover are found for temperatures close to the ice edge and up to a distance of 500 km. Up to two-thirds of the observed temperature variability is related to sea ice changes.
Diana Francis, Ricardo Fonseca, Kyle S. Mattingly, Stef Lhermitte, and Catherine Walker
The Cryosphere, 17, 3041–3062, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3041-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3041-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Role of Foehn Winds in ice and snow conditions at the Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica.
Alia L. Khan, Peng Xian, and Joshua P. Schwarz
The Cryosphere, 17, 2909–2918, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2909-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2909-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Ice–albedo feedbacks in the ablation region of the Greenland Ice Sheet are difficult to constrain and model. Surface samples were collected across the 2014 summer melt season from different ice surface colors. On average, concentrations were higher in patches that were visibly dark, compared to medium patches and light patches, suggesting that black carbon aggregation contributed to snow aging, and vice versa. High concentrations are likely due to smoke transport from high-latitude wildfires.
Sara Arioli, Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, and Vincent Favier
The Cryosphere, 17, 2323–2342, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2323-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2323-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
To assess the drivers of the snow grain size evolution during snow drift, we exploit a 5-year time series of the snow grain size retrieved from spectral-albedo observations made with a new, autonomous, multi-band radiometer and compare it to observations of snow drift, snowfall and snowmelt at a windy location of coastal Antarctica. Our results highlight the complexity of the grain size evolution in the presence of snow drift and show an overall tendency of snow drift to limit its variations.
Guillaume Gastineau, Claude Frankignoul, Yongqi Gao, Yu-Chiao Liang, Young-Oh Kwon, Annalisa Cherchi, Rohit Ghosh, Elisa Manzini, Daniela Matei, Jennifer Mecking, Lingling Suo, Tian Tian, Shuting Yang, and Ying Zhang
The Cryosphere, 17, 2157–2184, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2157-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2157-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Snow cover variability is important for many human activities. This study aims to understand the main drivers of snow cover in observations and models in order to better understand it and guide the improvement of climate models and forecasting systems. Analyses reveal a dominant role for sea surface temperature in the Pacific. Winter snow cover is also found to have important two-way interactions with the troposphere and stratosphere. No robust influence of the sea ice concentration is found.
Michelle L. Maclennan, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Christine A. Shields, Andrew O. Hoffman, Nander Wever, Megan Thompson-Munson, Andrew C. Winters, Erin C. Pettit, Theodore A. Scambos, and Jonathan D. Wille
The Cryosphere, 17, 865–881, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-865-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-865-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric rivers are air masses that transport large amounts of moisture and heat towards the poles. Here, we use a combination of weather observations and models to quantify the amount of snowfall caused by atmospheric rivers in West Antarctica which is about 10 % of the total snowfall each year. We then examine a unique event that occurred in early February 2020, when three atmospheric rivers made landfall over West Antarctica in rapid succession, leading to heavy snowfall and surface melt.
Maria Wind, Friedrich Obleitner, Tanguy Racine, and Christoph Spötl
The Cryosphere, 16, 3163–3179, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3163-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3163-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present a thorough analysis of the thermal conditions of a sag-type ice cave in the Austrian Alps using temperature measurements for the period 2008–2021. Apart from a long-term increasing temperature trend in all parts of the cave, we find strong interannual and spatial variations as well as a characteristic seasonal pattern. Increasing temperatures further led to a drastic decrease in cave ice. A first attempt to model ablation based on temperature shows promising results.
Graig Sutherland, Victor de Aguiar, Lars-Robert Hole, Jean Rabault, Mohammed Dabboor, and Øyvind Breivik
The Cryosphere, 16, 2103–2114, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2103-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2103-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The marginal ice zone (MIZ), which is the transition region between the open ocean and the dense pack ice, is a very dynamic region comprising a mixture of ice and ocean conditions. Using novel drifters deployed in various ice conditions in the MIZ, several material transport models are tested with two operational ice–ocean prediction systems. A new general transport equation, which uses both the ice and ocean solutions, is developed that reduces the error in drift prediction for our case study.
Matthew K. Laffin, Charles S. Zender, Melchior van Wessem, and Sebastián Marinsek
The Cryosphere, 16, 1369–1381, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1369-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1369-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The collapses of the Larsen A and B ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) occurred while the ice shelves were covered with large melt lakes, and ocean waves damaged the ice shelf fronts, triggering collapse. Observations show föhn winds were present on both ice shelves and increased surface melt and drove sea ice away from the ice front. Collapsed ice shelves experienced enhanced surface melt driven by föhn winds, whereas extant ice shelves are affected less by föhn-wind-induced melt.
Georg Lackner, Florent Domine, Daniel F. Nadeau, Annie-Claude Parent, François Anctil, Matthieu Lafaysse, and Marie Dumont
The Cryosphere, 16, 127–142, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-127-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-127-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The surface energy budget is the sum of all incoming and outgoing energy fluxes at the Earth's surface and has a key role in the climate. We measured all these fluxes for an Arctic snowpack and found that most incoming energy from radiation is counterbalanced by thermal radiation and heat convection while sublimation was negligible. Overall, the snow model Crocus was able to simulate the observed energy fluxes well.
Abigail G. Hughes, Sonja Wahl, Tyler R. Jones, Alexandra Zuhr, Maria Hörhold, James W. C. White, and Hans Christian Steen-Larsen
The Cryosphere, 15, 4949–4974, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4949-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4949-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Water isotope records in Greenland and Antarctic ice cores are a valuable proxy for paleoclimate reconstruction and are traditionally thought to primarily reflect precipitation input. However,
post-depositional processes are hypothesized to contribute to the isotope climate signal. In this study we use laboratory experiments, field experiments, and modeling to show that sublimation and vapor–snow isotope exchange can rapidly influence the isotopic composition of the snowpack.
Saeid Bagheri Dastgerdi, Melanie Behrens, Jean-Louis Bonne, Maria Hörhold, Gerrit Lohmann, Elisabeth Schlosser, and Martin Werner
The Cryosphere, 15, 4745–4767, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4745-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4745-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, for the first time, water vapour isotope measurements in Antarctica for all seasons of a year are performed. Local temperature is identified as the main driver of δ18O and δD variability. A similar slope of the temperature–δ18O relationship in vapour and surface snow points to the water vapour isotope content as a potential key driver. This dataset can be used as a new dataset to evaluate the capability of isotope-enhanced climate models.
Jenny V. Turton, Philipp Hochreuther, Nathalie Reimann, and Manuel T. Blau
The Cryosphere, 15, 3877–3896, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3877-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3877-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We assess the climatic controls of melt lake development, melt duration, melt extent, and the spatial distribution of lakes of 79°N Glacier. There is a large interannual variability in the areal extent of the lakes and the maximum elevation of lake development, which is largely controlled by the summertime air temperatures and the snowpack thickness. Late-summer lake development can be prompted by spikes in surface mass balance. There is some evidence of inland expansion of lakes over time.
Holt Hancock, Jordy Hendrikx, Markus Eckerstorfer, and Siiri Wickström
The Cryosphere, 15, 3813–3837, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3813-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3813-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate how snow avalanche activity in central Spitsbergen, Svalbard, is broadly controlled by atmospheric circulation. Avalanche activity in this region is generally associated with atmospheric circulation conducive to increased precipitation, wind speeds, and air temperatures near Svalbard during winter storms. Our results help place avalanche activity on Spitsbergen in the wider context of Arctic environmental change and provide a foundation for improved avalanche forecasting here.
Maurice van Tiggelen, Paul C. J. P. Smeets, Carleen H. Reijmer, Bert Wouters, Jakob F. Steiner, Emile J. Nieuwstraten, Walter W. Immerzeel, and Michiel R. van den Broeke
The Cryosphere, 15, 2601–2621, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2601-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2601-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We developed a method to estimate the aerodynamic properties of the Greenland Ice Sheet surface using either UAV or ICESat-2 elevation data. We show that this new method is able to reproduce the important spatiotemporal variability in surface aerodynamic roughness, measured by the field observations. The new maps of surface roughness can be used in atmospheric models to improve simulations of surface turbulent heat fluxes and therefore surface energy and mass balance over rough ice worldwide.
Diana Francis, Kyle S. Mattingly, Stef Lhermitte, Marouane Temimi, and Petra Heil
The Cryosphere, 15, 2147–2165, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2147-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2147-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The unexpected September 2019 calving event from the Amery Ice Shelf, the largest since 1963 and which occurred almost a decade earlier than expected, was triggered by atmospheric extremes. Explosive twin polar cyclones provided a deterministic role in this event by creating oceanward sea surface slope triggering the calving. The observed record-anomalous atmospheric conditions were promoted by blocking ridges and Antarctic-wide anomalous poleward transport of heat and moisture.
Thorsten Bartels-Rausch, Xiangrui Kong, Fabrizio Orlando, Luca Artiglia, Astrid Waldner, Thomas Huthwelker, and Markus Ammann
The Cryosphere, 15, 2001–2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2001-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2001-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Chemical reactions in sea salt embedded in coastal polar snow impact the composition and air quality of the atmosphere. Here, we investigate the phase changes of sodium chloride. This is of importance as chemical reactions proceed faster in liquid solutions compared to in solid salt and the precise precipitation temperature of sodium chloride is still under debate. We focus on the upper nanometres of sodium chloride–ice samples because of their role as a reactive interface in the environment.
Rebecca Mott, Ivana Stiperski, and Lindsey Nicholson
The Cryosphere, 14, 4699–4718, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4699-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4699-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Hintereisferner Experiment (HEFEX) investigated spatial and temporal dynamics of the near-surface boundary layer and associated heat exchange processes close to the glacier surface during the melting season. Turbulence data suggest that strong changes in the local thermodynamic characteristics occur when westerly flows disturbed prevailing katabatic flow, forming across-glacier flows and facilitating warm-air advection from the surrounding ice-free areas, which potentially promote ice melt.
Julián Gelman Constantin, Lucas Ruiz, Gustavo Villarosa, Valeria Outes, Facundo N. Bajano, Cenlin He, Hector Bajano, and Laura Dawidowski
The Cryosphere, 14, 4581–4601, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4581-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4581-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present the results of two field campaigns and modeling activities on the impact of atmospheric particles on Alerce Glacier (Argentinean Andes). We found that volcanic ash remains at different snow layers several years after eruption, increasing light absorption on the glacier surface (with a minor contribution of soot). This leads to 36 % higher annual glacier melting. We find remarkably that volcano eruptions in 2011 and 2015 have a relevant effect on the glacier even in 2016 and 2017.
Jenny V. Turton, Amélie Kirchgaessner, Andrew N. Ross, John C. King, and Peter Kuipers Munneke
The Cryosphere, 14, 4165–4180, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4165-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4165-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Föhn winds are warm and dry downslope winds in the lee of a mountain range, such as the Antarctic Peninsula. Föhn winds heat the ice of the Larsen C Ice Shelf at the base of the mountains and promote more melting than during non-föhn periods in spring, summer and autumn in both model output and observations. Especially in spring, when they are most frequent, föhn winds can extend the melt season by over a month and cause a similar magnitude of melting to that observed in summer.
Marie G. P. Cavitte, Quentin Dalaiden, Hugues Goosse, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, and Elizabeth R. Thomas
The Cryosphere, 14, 4083–4102, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4083-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4083-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Surface mass balance (SMB) and surface air temperature (SAT) are correlated at the regional scale for most of Antarctica, SMB and δ18O. Areas with low/no correlation are where wind processes (foehn, katabatic wind warming, and erosion) are sufficiently active to overwhelm the synoptic-scale snow accumulation. Measured in ice cores, the link between SMB, SAT, and δ18O is much weaker. Random noise can be removed by core record averaging but local processes perturb the correlation systematically.
Dimitri Osmont, Sandra Brugger, Anina Gilgen, Helga Weber, Michael Sigl, Robin L. Modini, Christoph Schwörer, Willy Tinner, Stefan Wunderle, and Margit Schwikowski
The Cryosphere, 14, 3731–3745, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3731-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3731-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In this interdisciplinary case study, we were able to link biomass burning emissions from the June 2017 wildfires in Portugal to their deposition in the snowpack at Jungfraujoch, Swiss Alps. We analysed black carbon and charcoal in the snowpack, calculated backward trajectories, and monitored the fire evolution by remote sensing. Such case studies help to understand the representativity of biomass burning records in ice cores and how biomass burning tracers are archived in the snowpack.
Wenkai Li, Shuzhen Hu, Pang-Chi Hsu, Weidong Guo, and Jiangfeng Wei
The Cryosphere, 14, 3565–3579, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3565-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3565-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding the forecasting skills of the subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) model on Tibetan Plateau snow cover (TPSC) is the first step to applying the S2S model to hydrological forecasts over the Tibetan Plateau. This study conducted a multimodel comparison of the TPSC prediction skill to learn about their performance in capturing TPSC variability. S2S models can skillfully forecast TPSC within a lead time of 2 weeks but show limited skill beyond 3 weeks. Systematic biases of TPSC were found.
Remco J. de Kok, Philip D. A. Kraaijenbrink, Obbe A. Tuinenburg, Pleun N. J. Bonekamp, and Walter W. Immerzeel
The Cryosphere, 14, 3215–3234, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3215-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3215-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Glaciers worldwide are shrinking, yet glaciers in parts of High Mountain Asia are growing. Using models of the regional climate and glacier growth, we reproduce the observed patterns of glacier growth and shrinkage in High Mountain Asia of the last decades. Increases in snow, in part from water that comes from lowland agriculture, have probably been more important than changes in temperature to explain the growing glaciers. We now better understand changes in the crucial mountain water cycle.
Nikolas O. Aksamit and John W. Pomeroy
The Cryosphere, 14, 2795–2807, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2795-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2795-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In cold regions, it is increasingly important to quantify the amount of water stored as snow at the end of winter. Current models are inconsistent in their estimates of snow sublimation due to atmospheric turbulence. Specific wind structures have been identified that amplify potential rates of surface and blowing snow sublimation during blowing snow storms. The recurrence of these motions has been modeled by a simple scaling argument that has its foundation in turbulent boundary layer theory.
Andrew J. Schwartz, Hamish A. McGowan, Alison Theobald, and Nik Callow
The Cryosphere, 14, 2755–2774, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2755-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2755-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This study measured energy available for snowmelt during the 2016 and 2017 snow seasons in Kosciuszko National Park, NSW, Australia, and identified common traits for days with similar weather characteristics. The analysis showed that energy available for snowmelt was highest in the days before cold fronts passed through the region due to higher air temperatures. Regardless of differences in daily weather characteristics, solar radiation contributed the highest amount of energy to snowpack melt.
Benjamin Walter, Hendrik Huwald, Josué Gehring, Yves Bühler, and Michael Lehning
The Cryosphere, 14, 1779–1794, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1779-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1779-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We applied a horizontally mounted low-cost precipitation radar to measure velocities, frequency of occurrence, travel distances and turbulence characteristics of blowing snow off a mountain ridge. Our analysis provides a first insight into the potential of radar measurements for determining blowing snow characteristics, improves our understanding of mountain ridge blowing snow events and serves as a valuable data basis for validating coupled numerical weather and snowpack simulations.
Charles Amory and Christoph Kittel
The Cryosphere, 13, 3405–3412, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3405-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3405-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Snow mass fluxes and vertical profiles of relative humidity are used to document concurrent occurrences of drifting snow and near-surface air saturation at a site dominated by katabatic winds in East Antarctica. Despite a high prevalence of drifting snow conditions, we demonstrate that saturation is reached only in the most extreme wind and transport conditions and discuss implications for the understanding of surface mass and atmospheric moisture budgets of the Antarctic ice sheet.
Varun Sharma, Louise Braud, and Michael Lehning
The Cryosphere, 13, 3239–3260, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3239-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3239-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Snow surfaces, under the action of wind, form beautiful shapes such as waves and dunes. This study is the first ever study to simulate these shapes using a state-of-the-art numerical modelling tool. While these beautiful and ephemeral shapes on snow surfaces are fascinating from a purely aesthetic point of view, they are also critical in regulating the transfer of heat and mass between the atmosphere and snowpacks, thus being of huge importance to the Earth system.
Nakbin Choi, Kyu-Myong Kim, Young-Kwon Lim, and Myong-In Lee
The Cryosphere, 13, 3007–3021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3007-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3007-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This study compares the decadal changes of the leading patterns of sea level pressure between the early (1982–1997) and the recent (1998–2017) periods as well as their influences on the Arctic sea ice extent (SIE) variability. The correlation between the Arctic Dipole (AD) mode and SIE becomes significant in the recent period, not in the past, due to its spatial pattern change. This tends to enhance meridional wind over the Fram Strait and sea ice discharge to the Atlantic.
Yvan Orsolini, Martin Wegmann, Emanuel Dutra, Boqi Liu, Gianpaolo Balsamo, Kun Yang, Patricia de Rosnay, Congwen Zhu, Wenli Wang, Retish Senan, and Gabriele Arduini
The Cryosphere, 13, 2221–2239, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2221-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2221-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The Tibetan Plateau region exerts a considerable influence on regional climate, yet the snowpack over that region is poorly represented in both climate and forecast models due a large precipitation and snowfall bias. We evaluate the snowpack in state-of-the-art atmospheric reanalyses against in situ observations and satellite remote sensing products. Improved snow initialisation through better use of snow observations in reanalyses may improve medium-range to seasonal weather forecasts.
Haibo Bi, Qinghua Yang, Xi Liang, Liang Zhang, Yunhe Wang, Yu Liang, and Haijun Huang
The Cryosphere, 13, 1423–1439, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1423-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1423-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The Arctic sea ice extent is diminishing, which is deemed an immediate response to a warmer Earth. However, quantitative estimates about the contribution due to transport and melt to the sea ice loss are still vague. This study mainly utilizes satellite observations to quantify the dynamic and thermodynamic aspects of ice loss for nearly 40 years (1979–2016). In addition, the potential impacts on ice reduction due to different atmospheric circulation pattern are highlighted.
Noel Fitzpatrick, Valentina Radić, and Brian Menounos
The Cryosphere, 13, 1051–1071, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1051-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1051-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Measurements of surface roughness are rare on glaciers, despite being an important control for heat exchange with the atmosphere and surface melt. In this study, roughness values were determined through measurements at multiple locations and seasons and found to vary across glacier surfaces and to differ from commonly assumed values in melt models. Two new methods that remotely determine roughness from digital elevation models returned good performance and may facilitate improved melt modelling.
Jui-Lin Frank Li, Mark Richardson, Wei-Liang Lee, Eric Fetzer, Graeme Stephens, Jonathan Jiang, Yulan Hong, Yi-Hui Wang, Jia-Yuh Yu, and Yinghui Liu
The Cryosphere, 13, 969–980, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-969-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-969-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Observed summer Arctic sea ice retreat has been faster than simulated by the average CMIP5 models, most of which exclude falling ice particles from their radiative calculations.
We use controlled CESM1-CAM5 simulations to show for the first time that snowflakes' radiative effects can accelerate sea ice retreat. September retreat rates are doubled above current CO2 levels, highlighting falling ice radiative effects as a high priority for inclusion in future modelling of the Arctic.
Dušan Materić, Elke Ludewig, Kangming Xu, Thomas Röckmann, and Rupert Holzinger
The Cryosphere, 13, 297–307, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-297-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-297-2019, 2019
Zhiwen Dong, Shichang Kang, Dahe Qin, Yaping Shao, Sven Ulbrich, and Xiang Qin
The Cryosphere, 12, 3877–3890, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3877-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3877-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This study aimed to provide a first and unique record of physicochemical properties and mixing states of LAPs at the glacier and atmosphere interface over the northeastern Tibetan Plateau to determine the individual LAPs' structure aging and mixing state changes through the atmospheric deposition process from atmosphere to glacier–snowpack surface, thereby helping to characterize the LAPs' radiative forcing and climate effects in the cryosphere region.
Niels Souverijns, Alexandra Gossart, Stef Lhermitte, Irina V. Gorodetskaya, Jacopo Grazioli, Alexis Berne, Claudio Duran-Alarcon, Brice Boudevillain, Christophe Genthon, Claudio Scarchilli, and Nicole P. M. van Lipzig
The Cryosphere, 12, 3775–3789, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3775-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3775-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Snowfall observations over Antarctica are scarce and currently limited to information from the CloudSat satellite. Here, a first evaluation of the CloudSat snowfall record is performed using observations of ground-based precipitation radars. Results indicate an accurate representation of the snowfall climatology over Antarctica, despite the low overpass frequency of the satellite, outperforming state-of-the-art model estimates. Individual snowfall events are however not well represented.
Rajashree Tri Datta, Marco Tedesco, Cecile Agosta, Xavier Fettweis, Peter Kuipers Munneke, and Michiel R. van den Broeke
The Cryosphere, 12, 2901–2922, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2901-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2901-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Surface melting on the East Antarctic Peninsula (East AP) has been linked to ice shelf collapse, including the Larsen A (1995) and Larsen B (2002) ice shelves. Regional climate models (RCMs) are a valuable tool to understand how wind patterns and general warming can impact the stability of ice shelves through surface melt. Here, we evaluate one such RCM (Modèle Atmosphérique Régionale) over the East AP, including the remaining Larsen C ice shelf, by comparing it to satellite and ground data.
Ulrike Falk, Damián A. López, and Adrián Silva-Busso
The Cryosphere, 12, 1211–1232, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1211-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1211-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The present study address the glacier–atmosphere relation on King George Island (South Shetland Islands) at the northern Antarctic Peninsula. The focus is on 5 years of glacier mass balance observations and the adaptation of a spatially distributed, physically based mass balance model. The focus is on the analysis of equilibrium line altitude and catchment runoff. The observed changes are expected to have a direct impact on environmental conditions in coastal waters and biota.
Elisabeth Schlosser, F. Alexander Haumann, and Marilyn N. Raphael
The Cryosphere, 12, 1103–1119, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1103-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1103-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The atmospheric influence on the unusually early and strong decrease in Antarctic sea ice in the austral spring 2016 was investigated using data from the global forecast model of the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts. Weather situations related to warm, northerly flow conditions in the regions with large negative anomalies in sea ice extent and area were frequent and explain to a large part the observed melting. Additionally, oceanic influences might play a role.
Stephen A. Drake, John S. Selker, and Chad W. Higgins
The Cryosphere, 11, 2075–2087, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2075-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2075-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Reaction rates of radiatively and chemically active trace species are influenced by the mobility of air contained within the snowpack. By measuring wind speed and the evolution of a tracer gas with in situ sensors over a 1 m horizontal grid, we found that inhomogeneities in a single snow layer enhanced air movement unevenly as wind speed increased. This result suggests small-scale variability in reaction rates that increases with wind speed and variability in snow permeability.
Monika Wittmann, Christine Dorothea Groot Zwaaftink, Louise Steffensen Schmidt, Sverrir Guðmundsson, Finnur Pálsson, Olafur Arnalds, Helgi Björnsson, Throstur Thorsteinsson, and Andreas Stohl
The Cryosphere, 11, 741–754, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-741-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-741-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This work includes a study on the effects of dust deposition on the mass balance of Brúarjökull, an outlet glacier of Vatnajökull, Iceland's largest ice cap. A model was used to simulate dust deposition on the glacier, and these periods of dust were compared to albedo measurements at two weather stations on Brúarjökull to evaluate the dust impact. We determine the influence of dust events on the snow albedo and the surface energy balance.
Cited articles
Abbate, S., Avvenuti, M., Carturan, L., and Cesarini, D.: Deploying a communicating automatic weather station on an Alpine Glacier, Procedia Computer Science, 19, 1190–1195, 2013.
Ayala, A., Pellicciotti, F., and Shea, J. M.: Modeling 2 m air temperatures over mountain glaciers: Exploring the influence of katabatic cooling and external warming, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 120, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023137, online first, 2015.
Bahr, D. B. and Radić, V.: Significant contribution to total mass from very small glaciers, The Cryosphere, 6, 763–770, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-763-2012, 2012.
Barry, R. G.: The status of research on glaciers and global glacier recession: a review, Prog. Phys. Geog., 30, 285–306, 2006.
Braithwaite, R. J.: Regional modelling of ablation in West Greenland, Grønlands geologiske undersøgelse, 98, 20 pp., 1980.
Braithwaite, R. J., Zhang, Y., and Raper, S. C. B.: Temperature sensitivity of the mass balance of mountain glaciers and icecaps as a climatological characteristic, Zeitschrift fur Gletscherkunde und Glazialgeologie, 38, 35–61, 2002.
Carturan, L.: Climate change effects on the cryosphere and hydrology of a high-altitude watershed, PhD thesis, TeSAF – University of Padova, Padova, Italy, 2010.
Carturan, L., Dalla Fontana, G., and Cazorzi, F.: The mass balance of La Mare Glacier (Ortles-Cevedale, Italian Alps) from 2003 to 2008, in: Epitome – Geoitalia 2009, Settimo Forum Italiano di Scienze della Terra, Rimini, Italy, 9–11 September 2009, 3, p. 296, 2009.
Carturan, L., Cazorzi, F., and Dalla Fontana, G.: Distributed mass-balance modeling on two neighboring glaciers in Ortles-Cevedale, Italy, from 2004 to 2009, J. Glaciol., 58, 467–486, 2012a.
Carturan, L., Dalla Fontana, G., and Borga, M.: Estimation of winter precipitation in a high-altitude catchment of the Eastern Italian Alps: validation by means of glacier mass balance observations, GFDQ – Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria, 35, 37–48, 2012b.
Carturan, L., Baroni, C., Becker, M., Bellin, A., Cainelli, O., Carton, A., Casarotto, C., Dalla Fontana, G., Godio, A., Martinelli, T., Salvatore, M. C., and Seppi, R.: Decay of a long-term monitored glacier: Careser Glacier (Ortles-Cevedale, European Alps), The Cryosphere, 7, 1819–1838, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1819-2013, 2013.
Carturan, L., Baroni, C., Carton, A., Cazorzi, F., Dalla Fontana, G., Delpero, C., Salvatore, M. C., Seppi, R., and Zanoner, T.: Reconstructing fluctuations of La Mare Glacier (Eastern Italian Alps) in the Late Holocene: new evidences for a Little Ice Age maximum around 1600 AD, Geogr. Ann. A, 96, 287–306, 2014.
Cazorzi, F. and Dalla Fontana, G.: Snowmelt modeling by combining air temperature and a distributed radiation index, J. Hydrol., 181, 169–187, 1996.
Charbonneau, R., Lardeau, J. P., and Obled, C.: Problems of modelling a high mountainous drainage basin with predominant snow yields, Hydrological Sciences Bulletin, 26, 345–361, 1981.
Davidovich, N. V. and Ananicheva, M. D.: Prediction of possible changes in glacio-hydrological characteristics under global warming: Southeastern Alaska, USA, J. Glaciol., 42, 407–412, 1996.
Eriksson, B. E.: Glaciological investigations in Jotunheimen and Sarek in the years 1955 to 1957, Geographica, 34, 208 pp., 1958.
Fischer, A.: Glaciers and climate change: interpretation of 50 years of direct mass balance of Hintereisferner, Global Planet. Change, 71, 13–26, 2010.
Gabrieli, J., Carturan, L., Gabrielli, P., Kehrwald, N., Turetta, C., Cozzi, G., Spolaor, A., Dinale, R., Staffler, H., Seppi, R., dalla Fontana, G., Thompson, L., and Barbante, C.: Impact of Po Valley emissions on the highest glacier of the Eastern European Alps, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 8087–8102, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-8087-2011, 2011.
Gardner, A. S. and Sharp, M. J.: Sensitivity of net mass-balance estimates to near-surface temperature lapse rates when employing the degree-day method to estimate glacier melt, Ann. Glaciol., 50, 80–86, 2009.
Gardner, A. S., Sharp, M. J., Koerner, R. M., Labine, C., Boon, S., Marshall, S. J., Burgess, D. O., and Lewis, D.: Near-surface temperature lapse rates over arctic glaciers and their implications for temperature downscaling, J. Climate, 22, 4281–4298, 2009.
Georges, C. and Kaser, G.: Ventilated and unventilated air temperature measurements for glacier-climate studies on a tropical high mountain site, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 4775, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002503, 2002.
Greuell, W. and Böhm, R.: 2 m temperatures along melting midlatitude glaciers, and implications for the sensitivity of the mass balance to variations in temperature, J. Glaciol., 44, 9–20, 1998.
Greuell, W., Knap, W. H., and Smeets, P. C.: Elevational changes in meteorological variables along a mid-latitude glacier during summer, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 25941–25954, https://doi.org/10.1029/97JD02083, 1997.
Haeberli, W., Bosch, H., Scherler, K., Østrem, G. and Wallén, C. (Eds.): World Glacier Inventory: Status 1988, IAHS(ICSI)/UNEP/UNESCO/World Glacier Monitoring Service, Nairobi, 1989.
Haeberli, W., Hoelzle, M., Paul, F., and Zemp, M.: Integrated monitoring of mountain glaciers as key indicators of global climate change: the European Alps, Ann. Glaciol., 46, 150–160, 2007.
Havens, J. M.: Climatological Notes from Axel Heiberg Island, NWT, Canada, Arctic, 17, 261–263, 1964.
Hock, R.: Glacier melt: a review of processes and their modelling, Prog. Phys. Geog., 29, 362–391, 2005.
Huss, M., Bauder, A., and Funk, M.: Homogenization of longterm mass-balance time series, Ann. Glaciol., 50, 198–206, 2009.
Khodakov, V. G.: Glaciers as water resource indicators of the glacial areas of the USSR, IAHS Publ. No. 104, 22–29, 1975.
Klok, E. J. and Oerlemans, J.: Modelled climate sensitivity of the mass balance of Morteratschgletscher and its dependence on albedo parameterization, Int. J. Climatol., 24, 231–245, 2004.
Machguth, H., Purves, R. S., Oerlemans, J., Hoelzle, M., and Paul, F.: Exploring uncertainty in glacier mass balance modelling with Monte Carlo simulation, The Cryosphere, 2, 191–204, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2-191-2008, 2008.
Marshall, S. J., Sharp, M. J., Burgess, D. O., and Anslow, F. S.: Near surface-temperature lapse rates on the Prince of Wales Icefield, Ellesmere Island, Canada: implications for regional downscaling of temperature, Int. J. Climatol., 27, 385–398, 2007.
Michlmayr, G., Lehning, M., Koboltschnig, G., Holzmann, H., Zappa, M., Mott, R., and Schoner, W.: Application of the alpine 3D model for glacier mass balance and glacier runoff studies at Goldbergkees, Austria, Hydrol. Process., 22, 3941–3949, 2008.
Minder, J. R., Mote, P. W., and Lundquist, J. D.: Surface temperature lapse rates over complex terrain: lessons from the Cascade Mountains, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D14122, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD013493, 2010.
Nash, J. E. and Sutcliffe, J. V.: River flow forecasting through conceptual models. Part 1. A discussion of principles, J. Hydrol., 10, 282–290, 1970.
Nolin, A., Philippe, J., Jefferson, A., and Lewis, S. L.: Present-day and future contributions of glacier runoff to summertime flows in a Pacific Northwest watershed: implications for water resources, Water Resour. Res., 46, W12509, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008968, 2010.
Oerlemans, J.: Glaciers and Climate Change, AA Balkema, Lisse, 2001.
Paul, F.: The influence of changes in glacier extent and surface elevation on modeled mass balance, The Cryosphere, 4, 569–581, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-4-569-2010, 2010.
Paul, F., Kääb, A., Maisch, M., Kellenberger, T., and Haeberli, W.: Rapid disintegration of Alpine glaciers observed with satellite data, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L21402, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020816, 2004.
Paul, F., Machguth, H., and Kääb, A.: On the impact of glacier albedo under conditions of extreme glacier melt: the summer of 2003 in the Alps, EARSeL eProceedings, 4, 139–149, 2005.
Pellicciotti, F., Brock, B., Strasser, U., Burlando, P., Funk, M., and Corripio, J.: An enhanced temperature-index glacier melt model including the shortwave radiation balance: development and testing for Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland, J. Glaciol., 51, 573–587, 2005.
Petersen, L. and Pellicciotti, F.: Spatial and temporal variability of air temperature on a melting glacier: atmospheric controls, extrapolation methods and their effect on melt modeling, Juncal Norte Glacier, Chile, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D23109, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD015842, 2011.
Petersen, L., Pellicciotti, F., Juszak, I., Carenzo, M., and Brock, B.: Suitability of a constant air temperature lapse rate over an Alpine glacier: testing the Greuell and Böhm model as an alternative, Ann. Glaciol., 54, 120–130, 2013.
Raymond, C. F. and Neumann, T. A.: Retreat of Glaciar Tyndall, Patagonia, over the last half-century, J. Glaciol., 51, 239–247, 2005.
Savenije, H. H. G.: Equifinality, a blessing in disguise?, Hydrol. Process., 15, 2835–2838, 2001.
Schytt, V.: Glaciological investigations in the Thule camp area, S.I.P.R.E. Report No. 28, Wilmette, Illinois, USA, 88 pp., 1955.
Shea, J. M. and Moore, R. D.: Prediction of spatially distributed regional-scale fields of air temperature and vapor pressure over mountain glaciers, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D23107, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014351, 2010.
Sivapalan, M.: Pattern, process and function: elements of a unified theory of hydrology at the catchment scale, in: Encyclopedia of Hydrological Sciences, Vol. 1, edited by: Anderson, M. G. and McDonnell, J. J., Wiley, Chichester, 193–219, 2006.
Small, E. E.: Hypsometric forcing of stagnant ice margins: pleistocene valley glaciers, San Juan Mountains, Colorado, Geomorphology, 14, 109–121, 1995.
Strasser, U., Corripio, J., Pellicciotti, F., Burlando, P., Brock, B., and Funk, M.: Spatial and temporal variability of meteorological variables at Haut Glacier d'Arolla (Switzerland) during the ablation season 2001: measurements and simulations, J. Geophys. Res., 109, D3103, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003JD003973, 2004.
Tarboton, D. G., Bras, R. L., and Rodriguez-Iturbe, I.: On the extraction of channel networks from digital elevation data, Hydrol. Process., 5, 81–100, 1991.
Thibert, E., Blanc, R., Vincent, C., and Eckert, N.: Glaciological and volumetric mass-balance measurements: error analysis over 51 years for Glacier de Sarennes, French Alps, J. Glaciol., 54, 522–532, 2008.
van den Broeke, M. R.: Momentum, heat, and moisture budgets of the katabatic wind layer over a midlatitude glacier in summer, J. Appl. Meteorol., 36, 763–774, 1997.
WMO (World Meteorology Organization): Intercomparison of models for snowmelt runoff, Operational Hydrology Report 23 (WMO no. 646), Geneva, Switzerland, 1986.
Zanon, G.: Recent glaciological research in the Ortles-Cevedale region (Italian Alps), GFDQ – Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria, 5, 75–81, 1982.
Zemp, M., Paul, F., Hoelzle, M., and Haeberli, W.: Glacier fluctuations in the European Alps 1850–2000: an overview and spatio-temporal analysis of available data, in: The Darkening Peaks: Glacial Retreat in Scientific and Social Context, edited by: Orlove, B., Wiegandt, E., and Luckman B., University of California Press, Berkeley, 152–167, 2008.
Short summary
Using a dataset from 12 weather stations collected in 2010 and 2011, we analyzed the air temperature variability and wind regime over three different glaciers in the Ortles-Cevedale. The magnitude of the cooling effect and the occurrence of katabatic boundary layer processes showed remarkable differences among the three ice bodies, suggesting the likely existence of important reinforcing mechanisms during glacier decay and fragmentation, with significant impacts for glacier mass balance modeling.
Using a dataset from 12 weather stations collected in 2010 and 2011, we analyzed the air...
