Ice ablation as evidence of climate change in the Alps over the 20th century

Over fifty years of cumulative annual mass balance data for several glaciers in the Alps shows similar fluctuations which seem to provide evidence of a common climatic signal. Separate winter and summer mass balance measurements from the Claridenfirn (glacier in Switzerland) since 1914 and the Saren...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres 2004-05, Vol.109 (D10), p.D10104-n/a
Main Authors: Vincent, C., Kappenberger, G., Valla, F., Bauder, A., Funk, M., Le Meur, E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ablation
Alps Mountains (Europe)
Climate change
Climate dynamics
climate signal
Climatology
glacier
Glaciers
Glaciology
Global Change
Hydrology
mass balance
Melting
Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics
Secular variations
Snow and ice
Surface properties
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Summary:Over fifty years of cumulative annual mass balance data for several glaciers in the Alps shows similar fluctuations which seem to provide evidence of a common climatic signal. Separate winter and summer mass balance measurements from the Claridenfirn (glacier in Switzerland) since 1914 and the Sarennes glacier (France) since 1949 show that (1) the annual mass balance is primarily driven by the summer mass balance term and (2) melting rate variations with time are very similar for these two glaciers located 290 km apart. The increase in the ablation rate of 0.5 cm w.e. day−1 between the two periods 1954–1981 and 1982–2002 over these two glaciers corresponds to a 20 Wm−2 rise in the energy flux at the glacier surface. These results suggest that a common summer melting rate change may have affected the Alps as a whole. Detailed observations on the Sarennes glacier show that the origin of this strong increase in summer ablation since 1982 is not only a rise in the summer melting rate, but also an increase in the ablation period during the months of September and October.
ISSN:0148-0227
2156-2202
DOI:10.1029/2003JD003857