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On the Imbalance and Response Time of Glaciers in the European Alps
Author(s) -
Zekollari Harry,
Huss Matthias,
Farinotti Daniel
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2019gl085578
Subject(s) - glacier , glacier mass balance , tidewater glacier cycle , geology , climate change , glacier morphology , climatology , glacier ice accumulation , accumulation zone , physical geography , forcing (mathematics) , geomorphology , ice stream , cryosphere , oceanography , geography , sea ice , pregnancy , lactation , ice calving , biology , genetics
Glaciers in the European Alps rapidly lose mass to adapt to changes in climate conditions. Here, we investigate the relationship and lag between climate forcing and geometric glacier response with a regional glacier evolution model accounting for ice dynamics. The volume loss occurring as a result of the glacier‐climate imbalance increased over the early 21st century, from about 35% in 2001 to 44% in 2010. This committed loss reduced to ~40% by 2018, indicating that temperature increase was outweighing glacier retreat in the early 2000s but that the fast retreat effectively somewhat diminished glacier imbalances. We analyze the lag in glacier response for each individual glacier and find mean response times of 50 ± 28 years. Our findings indicate that the response time is primarily controlled by glacier slope and secondarily by elevation range and mass balance gradient, rather than by glacier size.