Mountain glaciers and ice caps around Antarctica make a large sea‐level rise contribution

Hock, Regine; Woul, Mattias de; Radić, Valentina; Dyurgerov, Mark B.

doi:10.1029/2008gl037020

Cited by 155 publications

(166 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…The global area of glaciers and ice caps is computed as 550 9 10 3 km 2 . This result is practically identical to 546 9 10 3 km 2 by Dyurgerov and Meier (2005), but considerably smaller than 704 9 10 3 km 2 by Hock et al (2009). This difference is due to the fact that Hock et al (2009) includes glaciers and ice caps on Greenland (54 9 10 3 km 2 ) and Antarctica (132 9 10 3 km 2 ).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 58%

“…This result is practically identical to 546 9 10 3 km 2 by Dyurgerov and Meier (2005), but considerably smaller than 704 9 10 3 km 2 by Hock et al (2009). This difference is due to the fact that Hock et al (2009) includes glaciers and ice caps on Greenland (54 9 10 3 km 2 ) and Antarctica (132 9 10 3 km 2 ). The material in Hock et al (2009) yields after calculation the global area of glaciers and ice caps outside Greenland and Antarctica as 518 9 10 3 km 2 .…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 58%

“…The work published after the last Assessment Report, for example Rignot et al (2008) presents -123 ± 58 km 3 a -1 for the period of 50 years from 1958 to 2007, where the recent balance shows a bigger loss, -212 ± 41 km 3 a -1 for the period of 2001-2007. Also important is the fact that almost half of this net discharge, 60 ± 3 km 3 a -1 comes from mountain glaciers and ice caps. Hock et al (2009) presents 22 ± 59 km 3 a -1 for this component. These glaciers, which are not a part of the ice sheet, are located in a maritime climate of the coastal zone of Greenland, having usually larger mean specific accumulation w.e.…”

Section: Mass Balance Of Greenlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Observed Mass Balance of Mountain Glaciers and Greenland Ice Sheet in the 20th Century and the Present Trends

Ohmura¹

2011

The Earth's Cryosphere and Sea Level Change

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Glacier mass balance and secular changes in mountain glaciers and ice caps are evaluated from the annual net balance of 137 glaciers from 17 glacierized regions of the world. Further, the winter and summer balances for 35 glaciers in 11 glacierized regions are analyzed. The global means are calculated by weighting glacier and regional surface areas. The area-weighted global mean net balance for the period 1960-2000 is -270 ± 34 mm a -1 w.e. (water equivalent, in mm per year) or (-149 ± 19 km 3 a -1 w.e.), with a winter balance of 890 ± 24 mm a -1 w.e. (490 ± 13 km 3 a -1 w.e.) and a summer balance of -1,175 ± 24 mm a -1 w.e. (-647 ± 13 km 3 a -1 w.e.). The linear-fitted global net balance is accelerating at a rate of -9 ± 2.1 mm a -2 . The main driving force behind this change is the summer balance with an acceleration of -10 ± 2.0 mm a -2 . The decadal balance, however, shows significant fluctuations: summer melt reached its peak around 1945, followed by a decrease. The negative trend in the annual net balance is interrupted by a period of stagnation from 1960s to 1980s. Some regions experienced a period of positive net balance during this time, for example, Europe. The balance has become strongly negative since the early 1990s. These decadal fluctuations correspond to periods of global dimming (for smaller melt) and global brightening (for larger melt). The total radiation at the surface changed as a result of an imbalance between steadily increasing greenhouse gases and fluctuating aerosol emissions. The mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet and the surrounding small glaciers, averaged for the period of 1950-2000, is negative at -74 ± 10 mm a -1 w.e. (-128 ± 18 km 3 a -1 w.e.) with an accumulation of 297 ± 33 mm a -1 w.e. (519 ± 58 km 3 a -1 w.e.), melt ablation -169 ± 18 mm a -1 w.e. (-296 ± 31 km 3 a -1 w.e.), calving ablation -181 ± 19 mm a -1 w.e. (-316 ± 33 km 3 a -1 w.e.) and the bottom melt-21 ± 2 mm a -1 w.e. (-35 ± 4 km 3 a -1 w.e.). Almost half (-60 ± 3 km 3 a -1 ) of the net mass loss comes from mountain glaciers and ice caps around the ice sheet. At present, it is difficult to detect any statistically significant trends for these components. The total mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet is considered to be too premature to evaluate. The estimated sea-level contributions in the twentieth Geophys (2011) 32:537-554 DOI 10.1007 Century are 5.7 ± 0.5 cm by mountain glaciers and ice caps outside Antarctica, 1.9 ± 0.5 cm by the Greenland ice sheet, and 2 cm by ocean thermal expansion. The difference of 7 cm between these components and the estimated value with tide-gage networks (17 cm) must result from other sources such as the mass balance of glaciers of Antarctica, especially small glaciers separated from the ice sheet.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Section: Mass Balance Of Greenlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Observed Mass Balance of Mountain Glaciers and Greenland Ice Sheet in the 20th Century and the Present Trends

Ohmura¹

2011

The Earth's Cryosphere and Sea Level Change

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“…Air temperature records from the Bellingshausen Station (Figure 1; [21]) confirmed that for the 2012-2015 period a significant cooling was observed during summer months on the Fildes Peninsula, King George Island. Overall, the ice caps and glaciers of this region are one of the major sources of current sea level rise contributing 0.22 mm a −1 [22], compared to 0.47 ± 0.23 mm a −1 for the entire Greenland Ice Sheet between 1991-2015 [23]. Nonetheless, there is a large uncertainty concerning the volume change of glaciers in the Antarctic periphery, as the ground based measurements are relatively scarce [20,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Deceleration of the Ice Elevation Change of Ecology Glacier (King George Island, Antarctica)

et al. 2017

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Abstract:Glacier change studies in the Antarctic Peninsula region, despite their importance for global sea level rise, are commonly restricted to the investigation of frontal position changes. Here we present a long term (37 years; 1979-2016) study of ice elevation changes of the Ecology Glacier, King George Island (62 • 11 S, 58 • 29 W). The glacier covers an area of 5.21 km 2 and is located close to the H. Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station, and therefore has been an object of various multidisciplinary studies with subject ranging from glaciology, meteorology to glacial microbiology. Hence, it is of great interest to assess its current state and put it in a broader context of recent glacial change. In order to achieve that goal, we conducted an analysis of archival cartographic material and combined it with field measurements of proglacial lagoon hydrography and state-of-art geodetic surveying of the glacier surface with terrestrial laser scanning and satellite imagery. Overall mass loss was largest in the beginning of 2000s, and the rate of elevation change substantially decreased between 2012-2016, with little ice front retreat and no significant surface lowering. Ice elevation change rate for the common ablation area over all analyzed periods (1979-2001-2012-2016)

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“…There is also no question that a globally complete and detailed glacier inventory is urgently required (e.g. GCOS, 2006;Cogley, 2009;Ohmura, 2009) for a wide range of purposes, among others the modeling of the past and future contribution of glaciers to global sea-level rise (Kaser et al, 2006;Raper & Braithwaite, 2006;Hock et al, 2009), estimation of water resources and hydrological modeling on a regional scale (Koboltsching et al, 2008Huss, 2011), as well as for accurate assessment of glacier changes (e.g. Paul et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compilation of a glacier inventory for the western Himalayas from satellite data: methods, challenges, and results

Frey

Paul

Strozzi

2012

Remote Sensing of Environment

204

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Due to their sensitive reaction to changes in climatic conditions, glaciers have been selected as an essential climate variable (ECV). Although a large amount of ice is located in the Himalayas, this region is yet only sparsely represented in global glacier databases. Accordingly, a sound and comprehensive change assessment or determination of water resources was not yet possible. In this study, we present a new glacier inventory for the western Himalayas, compiled from Landsat ETM+ scenes acquired between 2000 and 2002, coherence images from ALOS PALSAR image pairs, the SRTM digital elevation model (DEM) and the ASTER Global DEM (GDEM). Several specific challenges for glacier mapping were found in this region and addressed. They are related to debris cover, orographic clouds, locally variable snow conditions, and creeping permafrost features in cold-dry regions. Additional to seven topographic parameters that are obtained from the ASTER GDEM for each glacier, we also determined the relative amount of debris cover on the glacier surface. The inventory contains 11,400 glaciers larger than 0.02 km2, which cover a total area of 9,310 km2. Analysis of the inventory data revealed characteristic patterns of mean glacier elevation and relative debris cover amounts that might be related to the governing climatic conditions. The full dataset will be freely available in the GLIMS glacier database to foster further analyses and modeling of the glaciers in this region. AbstractDue to their sensitive reaction to changes in climatic conditions, glaciers have been selected as an essential climate variable (ECV). Although a large amount of ice is located in the Himalayas, this region is yet only sparsely represented in global glacier databases. Accordingly, a sound and comprehensive change assessment or determination of water resources was not yet possible. In this study, we present a new glacier inventory for the western Himalayas, compiled from Landsat ETM+ scenes acquired between 2000 and 2002, coherence images from ALOS PALSAR image pairs, the SRTM digital elevation model (DEM) and the ASTER Global DEM (GDEM). Several specific challenges for glacier mapping were found in this region and addressed. They are related to debris cover, orographic clouds, locally variable snow conditions, and creeping permafrost features in cold-dry regions. Additional to seven topographic parameters that are obtained from the ASTER GDEM for each glacier, we also determined the relative amount of debris cover on the glacier surface. The inventory contains 11,400 glaciers larger than 0.02 km 2 , which cover a total area of 9,310 km 2 . Analysis of the inventory data revealed characteristic patterns of mean glacier elevation and relative debris cover amounts that might be related to the governing climatic conditions. The full dataset will be freely available in the GLIMS glacier database to foster further analyses and modeling of the glaciers in this region.

show abstract

Mountain glaciers and ice caps around Antarctica make a large sea‐level rise contribution

Cited by 155 publications

References 25 publications

Observed Mass Balance of Mountain Glaciers and Greenland Ice Sheet in the 20th Century and the Present Trends

Observed Mass Balance of Mountain Glaciers and Greenland Ice Sheet in the 20th Century and the Present Trends

Recent Deceleration of the Ice Elevation Change of Ecology Glacier (King George Island, Antarctica)

Compilation of a glacier inventory for the western Himalayas from satellite data: methods, challenges, and results

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