scholarly journals Glacier monitoring within the Global Climate Observing System

2000 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 241-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilfried Haeberli ◽  
Josef Cihlar ◽  
Roger G. Barry
Keyword(s):  
Global Climate ◽  
United Nations Environment Programme ◽  
Glacier Inventory ◽  
Mountain Glaciers ◽  
Temperature Trends ◽  
The World ◽  
Valuable Element ◽  
Glacier Length ◽  
Length Changes ◽  
Monitoring Service

AbstractThe fluctuation of mountain glaciers is recognized as a high-confidence indicator of air-temperature trends and as a valuable element of a strategy for early detection of possible Man-induced climate changes. The Terrestrial Observation Panel for Climate therefore recommended that glacier mass and area be monitored as part of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) established in 1992 by the World Meteorological Organization, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the United Nations Environment Programme and the International Council of Scientific Unions. A tiered Global Hierarchical Observing Strategy was developed to be used for all GCOS terrestrial variables. According to this system of tiers, the regional to global representativeness in space and time of the records relating to glacier mass and area should be assessed by more numerous observations of glacier length changes as well as by compilation of regional glacier inventories repeated at time intervals of a few decades, the typical dynamic response time of smaller mountain glaciers.During the 1970s, Fritz Müller directed the Permanent Service on the Fluctuations of Glaciers and the Temporary Technical Secretariat for the World Glacier Inventory. These two bodies were combined in 1986 to form the World Glacier Monitoring Service, which is now responsible for internationally coordinated glacier monitoring, working in close collaboration with the World Data Center for Glaciology, Boulder.

scholarly journals Hindu Kush Himalayan Ecosystem as a Common Concern of Humankind: Imperative for Better Regional Jurisprudence

2017 ◽  
pp. 42-52
Author(s):  
Debasis Poddar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Regional Climate Change ◽  
Mountain Glaciers ◽  
Common Concern ◽  
Hindu Kush ◽  
The World

Hindu Kush Himalayan region (hereafter the HKH) - with 3500 odd kilometres stretched in eight countries- is default resource generation hub for about one-fifth population of the world. The ecosystem-growing delicate these days- seems to play a critical role for the survival of flora and fauna along with the maintenance of all its life-sustaining mountain glaciers. Ten major rivers to carry forward hitherto sustainable development of these peoples fall into question now. Further, in the wake of global climate change today, the delicate HKH ecosystem becomes increasingly fragile to unfold manifold consequences and thereby take its toll on the population. And the same might turn apocalyptic in its magnanimity of irreversibledamage. Like time-bomb, thus, climate ticks to get blown off. As it is getting already too delayed for timely resort to safeguards, if still not taken care of in time, lawmakers ought to find the aftermath too late to lament for. Besides being conscious for climate discipline across the world, collective efforts on the part of all regional states together are imperative to minimize the damage. Therefore, each one has put hands together to be saved from the doomsday that appears to stand ahead to accelerate a catastrophicend, in the given speed of global climate change. As the largest Himalayan state and its central positioning at the top of the HKH, Nepal has had potential to play a criticalrole to engage regional climate change regime and thereby spearhead climate diplomacy worldwide to play regional capital of the HKH ecosystem. As regional superpower, India has had potential to usurp leadership avatar to this end. With reasoningof his own, the author pleads for better jurisprudence to attain regional environmental integrity inter se- rather than regional environmental integration alone- to defendthe vulnerable HKH ecosystem since the same constitutes common concern of humankind and much more so for themselves. Hence, to quote from Shakespeare, “To be or not to be, that is the question” is reasonable here. While states are engaged in the spree to cause mutually agreed destruction, global climate change- with deadly aftermath- poses the last and final unifier for them to turn United Nations in rhetoric sense o f the term.

scholarly journals LO STATO ATTUALE DEI GHIACCIAI ITALIANI E LA LORO RECENTE EVOLUZIONE

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Smiraglia ◽  
Guglielmina Adele Diolaiuti
Keyword(s):  
High Mountain ◽  
Glacier Area ◽  
Glacier Surface ◽  
Mountain Glacier ◽  
Glacier Inventory ◽  
Mountain Glaciers ◽  
Proglacial Lakes ◽  
The World ◽  
Mountain Landscapes ◽  
Recent Project

Mountain glaciers represent an important hydrological and touristic resource, and their recent evolution provides a dramatic evidence of climate change for the general public. Glacier inventories, quantifying glacier characteristics and evolution, are an important tool to describe and manage high mountain glacier environments and Italy has developed a long tradition in this sector. Our country was the first to provide itself with a glacier inventory, compiled by Comitato Glaciologico Italiano and CNR, showing a glacier surface of 530 km2. A recent project, coordinated by Università Statale di Milano with the support of private bodies and the cooperation of Comitato EvK2CNR and Comitato Glaciologico Italiano, led to the development of the new Italian Glacier Inventory, a national atlas produced from the analysis of color orthophotos at high resolution acquired between 2005 and 2011. The New Italian Glacier Inventory lists 903 glaciers, covering an area of 370 km2. The largest part of glacier area is located in Val d’Aosta (36.15% of the total), followed by Lombardia and South Tyrol. 84% of glaciers (considering the number of glaciers) have an area lower than 0.5 km2 and jointly account for 21% of the total glacier surface. Glaciers larger than 1 Km2 make up 9.4% of the total number, but cover 67.8% of the total glacier area. The comparison between data from the New Italian Glacier Inventory and the CGI-CNR inventory (1959-1962) shows a 30% reduction in glacier area in Italy; considering instead the World Glacier Inventory or WGI, published at the end of the ‘80s, which reported 1381 glaciers and an area of 609 km2, glacier loss sums up to 478 glaciers and an area of 239 km2 (-39%). This shrinkage has led to rapid and significant changes to high mountain landscapes, notably glacier fragmentation, an increase in deglaciated areas, the formation of proglacial lakes and the development of pioneer vegetation.

scholarly journals Completing the World Glacier Inventory

2009 ◽  
Vol 50 (53) ◽  
pp. 144-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atsumu Ohmura
Keyword(s):  
Data Center ◽  
Satellite Images ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Glacier Inventory ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Coverage ◽  
Monitoring Service ◽  
Area And Volume

AbstractAn inventory of the surface area and volume of the world’s glaciers, outside Greenland and Antarctica, was part of the International Hydrological Decade (1965–74). It was considered essential to an understanding of the role played by glaciers in the hydrological cycle and was to be repeated every 50 years to detect change. To date, 46% of the estimated total glacier area has been inventoried and made available through the World Glacier Monitoring Service and the US National Snow and Ice Data Center. As the original inventory method was too time-consuming and inapplicable for some areas, a simplified method was developed in the early 1980s using satellite images. The Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) project now covers 34% of the estimated glacierized area outside Greenland and Antarctica. Both inventory efforts have made good progress and contributed substantially to our knowledge of glaciology and its related sciences, but global coverage is still incomplete. If both inventories are combined, 46% of the world’s glacierized area is still missing; 26% is covered by both methods, which allows the quality of the satellite-based and semi-automatic inventories to be assessed by comparison. About 95 000 glaciers remain to be inventoried, of which about half are in the Canadian Cordillera, South America and the Canadian Arctic Islands. As the cryosphere is changing rapidly, it is of the utmost importance to complete the global glacier inventory as soon as possible, and identify an appropriate repeat cycle.

scholarly journals The glacial history of Rocky Top cirque, southeast Fiordland, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Moore
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Southern Alps ◽  
Lapse Rate ◽  
Natural Climate Variability ◽  
Glacial Retreat ◽  
Mountain Glaciers ◽  
Glacier Length ◽  
Length Changes ◽  
Natural Climate ◽  
Exposure Ages

<p><b>Understanding natural climate variability is a fundamental goal of paleoclimate science. Temperate mountain glaciers are sensitive to climate variability, changing volume, and thus thickness and length, in response to changes in temperature and precipitation. Glaciers deposit moraines at their margins, which if well-preserved may provide evidence of glacier length fluctuations following glacial retreat. Therefore mountain glaciers can be used as proxies to investigate past climatic changes, offering the potential to reconstruct the timing and magnitude of natural climate variability and paleoclimate for the former glacier extent(s). </b></p><p>This study applies methods of detailed geomorphological mapping and cosmogenic 10Be surface exposure dating to establish a high-precision moraine chronology and examine the timing and magnitude of glacier length changes at Rocky Top cirque. A quantitative reconstruction of paleoclimate for the identified former glacier extents was produced using an equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) reconstruction method and application of a temperature lapse rate. Findings show a clear pattern of glacial retreat at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, with exposure ages from moraine boulders successfully constraining the timing of five distinct periods of glacier readvance or standstills. The most recent glacial event at Rocky Top cirque occurred between 17342 ± 172 yrs BP and during this period the ELA was depressed by 611 m. The second innermost moraine produced an indistinguishable age of 17196 ± 220 yrs BP and had an ELA depression of 616 m, indicating rapid glacial retreat. Progressively older moraines produced surface exposure ages of 18709 ± 237 and 19629 ± 308 yrs BP, with ELA depressions of 618 and 626 m respectively. The oldest moraine of 34608 ± 8437 yrs BP had insufficient geomorphic constraint to produce an ELA. Paleoclimate reconstruction results suggest that a best estimate of paleotemperature at the time of moraine formation (~19-17 ka) was between 3.2 ± 0.8 to 3.3 ± 0.8°C cooler than present-day. </p><p>Net retreat of the former glacier is consistent with other similar moraine chronologies from the Southern Alps, which supports the regional trend and suggests that glaciers in the Southern Alps responded to common climatic forcings between ~19-17 ka. </p>

scholarly journals The glacial history of Rocky Top cirque, southeast Fiordland, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Moore
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Southern Alps ◽  
Lapse Rate ◽  
Natural Climate Variability ◽  
Glacial Retreat ◽  
Mountain Glaciers ◽  
Glacier Length ◽  
Length Changes ◽  
Natural Climate ◽  
Exposure Ages

<p><b>Understanding natural climate variability is a fundamental goal of paleoclimate science. Temperate mountain glaciers are sensitive to climate variability, changing volume, and thus thickness and length, in response to changes in temperature and precipitation. Glaciers deposit moraines at their margins, which if well-preserved may provide evidence of glacier length fluctuations following glacial retreat. Therefore mountain glaciers can be used as proxies to investigate past climatic changes, offering the potential to reconstruct the timing and magnitude of natural climate variability and paleoclimate for the former glacier extent(s). </b></p><p>This study applies methods of detailed geomorphological mapping and cosmogenic 10Be surface exposure dating to establish a high-precision moraine chronology and examine the timing and magnitude of glacier length changes at Rocky Top cirque. A quantitative reconstruction of paleoclimate for the identified former glacier extents was produced using an equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) reconstruction method and application of a temperature lapse rate. Findings show a clear pattern of glacial retreat at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, with exposure ages from moraine boulders successfully constraining the timing of five distinct periods of glacier readvance or standstills. The most recent glacial event at Rocky Top cirque occurred between 17342 ± 172 yrs BP and during this period the ELA was depressed by 611 m. The second innermost moraine produced an indistinguishable age of 17196 ± 220 yrs BP and had an ELA depression of 616 m, indicating rapid glacial retreat. Progressively older moraines produced surface exposure ages of 18709 ± 237 and 19629 ± 308 yrs BP, with ELA depressions of 618 and 626 m respectively. The oldest moraine of 34608 ± 8437 yrs BP had insufficient geomorphic constraint to produce an ELA. Paleoclimate reconstruction results suggest that a best estimate of paleotemperature at the time of moraine formation (~19-17 ka) was between 3.2 ± 0.8 to 3.3 ± 0.8°C cooler than present-day. </p><p>Net retreat of the former glacier is consistent with other similar moraine chronologies from the Southern Alps, which supports the regional trend and suggests that glaciers in the Southern Alps responded to common climatic forcings between ~19-17 ka. </p>

scholarly journals Mass balances of Yala and Rikha Samba Glacier, Nepal from 2000 to 2017

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothea Stumm ◽  
Sharad Prasad Joshi ◽  
Tika Ram Gurung ◽  
Gunjan Silwal
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Glacier Mass Balance ◽  
Mass Balances ◽  
Nepal Himalaya ◽  
Essential Variable ◽  
Monitoring Strategies ◽  
Glacier Length ◽  
Length Changes ◽  
Monitoring Service

Abstract. The direct or glaciological method is an integral part of international glacier monitoring strategies, and the mass balance is an essential variable to describe the climate system and model runoff. In 2011, we established two glacier mass balance programmes on Yala and Rikha Samba Glacier in the Nepal Himalaya. Here we present the methods and data that we ingested into the database of the World Glacier Monitoring Service. We present glacier length changes and the annual mass balances for the first six mass balance years for both glaciers. For Yala Glacier we additionally present the mass balance of seasonal in situ measurements and the mass balance from 2000 to 2012 analysed with the geodetic method. The annual mass balance rates of Yala Glacier from 2000 to 2012 and from 2011 to 2017 are −0.74 ± 0.53 m and −0.74 ± 0.28 m w.e. a−1, and for Rikha Samba Glacier from 2011 to 2017 −0.39 ± 0.32 m w.e. a−1. The mass loss for the period 2011 to 2017 for Yala and Rikha Samba Glacier −4.44 ± 0.69 m w.e. and −2.34 ± 0.79 m w.e., respectively. The winter balance of Yala Glacier is positive in every investigated year, but the negative summer balance determines the annual balance. The mass balance of Yala Glacier is more negative than on other glaciers in the region, mostly because of the small and low lying accumulation area. The mass balance of Rikha Samba Glacier is more positive than the other glaciers in the region, likely because of the large and high lying accumulation area. Due to the topography, the retreat rates of Rikha Samba Glacier are much higher than for Yala Glacier. From 1989 to 2013, Rikha Samba retreated 431 m (−18.0 m a−1), and from 1974 to 2016 Yala Glacier retreated 346 m (−8.2 m a−1). During the study period, a change of Yala Glacier's surface topography has been observed with glacier thinning and down wasting, which indicates the likely disappearance of Yala Glacier within this century. The datasets are freely accessible from WGMS (2020a): Fluctuations of Glaciers Database. World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich, Switzerland. http://dx.doi.org/10.5904/wgms-fog-2020-08.

scholarly journals Modelling Glacier Evolution in Bhutanese Himalaya during the Little Ice Age

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weilin Yang ◽  
Yingkui Li ◽  
Gengnian Liu ◽  
Wenchao Chu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Summer Temperature ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Mountain Glaciers ◽  
Glacier Length ◽  
Length Changes ◽  
Simulation Results ◽  
Past Climate Change ◽  
Glacial Landforms

Abstract. Mountain glaciers provide us a window into past climate change and landscape evolution, but the pattern of glacier evolution at centennial or suborbital timescale remains elusive, especially in monsoonal Himalayas. We simulated the glacier evolution in Bhutanese Himalaya, a typical monsoon influenced region, during the Little Ice Age (LIA), using the Open Global Glacier Model and six paleo-climate datasets. Compared with the mapped glacial landforms, the model can well capture the glacier length changes, especially for the experiment driving by the GISS climate dataset, but overestimates the changes in glacier area. Simulation results reveal four glacial substages at 1270s–1400s, 1470s–1520s, 1700s–1710s, and 1820s–1900s in the study area. From further analysis, a negative correlation between the number of the substages and glacier length was found, which suggests that the number and occurrence of glacial substages are regulated by the heterogeneous responses of glaciers to climate change. In addition, the changes in summer temperature dominated the glacier evolution in this region during the LIA.

scholarly journals Is the World Ocean Warming? Upper-Ocean Temperature Trends: 1950–2000

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. E. Harrison ◽  
Mark Carson
Keyword(s):  
Vertical Structure ◽  
World Ocean ◽  
Time Variability ◽  
Upper Ocean ◽  
Ocean Temperature ◽  
Similar Magnitude ◽  
Subsurface Temperature ◽  
Temperature Trends ◽  
Uncertainty Estimates ◽  
The World

Abstract Subsurface temperature trends in the better-sampled parts of the World Ocean are reported. Where there are sufficient observations for this analysis, there is large spatial variability of 51-yr trends in the upper ocean, with some regions showing cooling in excess of 3°C, and others warming of similar magnitude. Some 95% of the ocean area analyzed has both cooled and warmed over 20-yr subsets of this period. There is much space and time variability of 20-yr running trend estimates, indicating that trends over a decade or two may not be representative of longer-term trends. Results are based on sorting individual observations in World Ocean Database 2001 into 1° × 1° and 2° × 2° bins. Only bins with at least five observations per decade for four of the five decades since 1950 are used. Much of the World Ocean cannot be examined from this perspective. The 51-yr trends significant at the 90% level are given particular attention. Results are presented for depths of 100, 300, and 500 m. The patterns of the 90% significant trends are spatially coherent on scales resolved by the bin size. The vertical structure of the trends is coherent in some regions, but changes sign between the analysis depths in a number of others. It is suggested that additional attention should be given to uncertainty estimates for basin average and World Ocean average thermal trends.

Envisaged transfer projects: New technologies in the water sustainability

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naseer Ahmed Abbasi ◽  
Xiangzhou Xu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Water Shortage ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Water Shortages ◽  
The World

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abstracts:&lt;/strong&gt; Influenced by global climate change, water shortages and other extreme weather, water scarcity in the world is an alarming sign. This article provides evidences regarding the Tunnel and Tianhe project&amp;#8217;s feasibility and their technical, financial, political, socioeconomic and environmental aspects. Such as how to utilize the water vapour in the air and to build a 1000 km long tunnel project to fulfill the goal of solving water shortage in China. The projects are promising to solve the problem of water, food and drought in the country. In addition, the telecoupling framework helps to effectively understand and manage ecosystem services, as well as the different challenges associated with them. Such efforts can help find the ways for proper utilization of water resources and means of regulation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Key words: &lt;/strong&gt;Sustainability; water shortage; transfer project&lt;/p&gt;

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