Rapid glacier retreat and downwasting throughout the European Alps in the early 21st century

Sommer, Christian; Malz, Philipp; Seehaus, Thorsten; Lippl, Stefan; Zemp, Michael; Braun, Matthias

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16818-0

Cited by 165 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Here the ablation is likely enhanced because of the reflection of radiation (Hock, 2005). Since 2011 onwards, we observed that concave shapes have become more pronounced, ice velocities decreased generally, and the glacier surface downwasted as observed at other glaciers (Ragettli et al, 2016;Sommer et al 2020). The decreased ice velocities are likely a consequence of the downwasting.…”

Section: Annual Glacier-wide Mass Balances Ela and Aarsupporting

confidence: 61%

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

Stumm¹,

Joshi²,

Gurung³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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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.

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Section: Annual Glacier-wide Mass Balances Ela and Aarsupporting

confidence: 61%

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

Stumm¹,

Joshi²,

Gurung³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…However, exercising in natural environments is not only affected by urbanization but also by climate change. Alpine environments are especially prone to climate change vulnerability (7), where glacier retreat, less snowfall at lower altitudes and massive changes in the snow line were reported (8,9). Large decreases of amount and duration of snow will be seen below 1,500-2,000 m altitude and snow amount will also decline at altitudes of 2,000 m above sea level within the next decades (8).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Large decreases of amount and duration of snow will be seen below 1,500-2,000 m altitude and snow amount will also decline at altitudes of 2,000 m above sea level within the next decades (8). This impact is accompanied with various severe consequences for people, such as water resource management, risk assessments, economic changes or tourism (9,10). Based on economic cost models, climate change will affect the ski industry and skiing tourism negatively within the 21st century (11).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intention to Engage in Winter Sport in Climate Change Affected Environments

Frühauf

Niedermeier

2020

Front. Public Health

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Exercise, including winter sport activities, shows positive effects on physical and mental health, with additional benefits when participating in natural environments. Winter sport activities are particularly vulnerable to climate change, since global warming will decrease the duration and amount of snow. In the context of climate change in alpine environments, little is known on the determinants of winter sport behavior. Thus, the following study primarily aimed at comparing the effect of being exposed to a climate change affected scenario (CCA) or to a climate change unaffected scenario (CCU) on the intention to engage in recreational winter sport activities. Secondly, we aimed to analyze the role of anticipated affective responses during exercising based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). An experimental cross-sectional web-based study design was used. Participants were randomly allocated to pictures of either CCA or CCU. TPB variables and affective responses with regard to the displayed scenarios were assessed. Statistical analyses included Mann-Whitney-U Tests, linear regression, and mediation analyses. Significant group differences were seen in all TPB variables, p < 0.038; −0.13 < r < −0.30, as well as in affective responses, p < 0.001; −0.24 < r < −0.85. Lower intention to engage in winter sport activities and lower anticipated affective valence during exercising was found in CCA compared to CCU. Attitude toward winter sport was significantly positively associated with intention to engage in winter sport, beta = 0.66, p < 0.001. The effect of group allocation on attitude was mediated by anticipated affective valence, indirect effect = 0.37, p < 0.001. Intention to engage in recreational winter sport activities was lower in participants exposed to the climate change affected winter sport scenario. Since affective valence seems to influence attitude and consequently intention to exercise, the role of non-cognitive variables with regard to climate change related exposure should be considered in future studies. Therefore, winter sport resorts may consider altered winter sport behaviors due to the consequences of climate change as well as the importance of providing an optimal framework to enhance affective valence of their guests in order to mitigate potential changes in winter sports behavior.

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“…The impacts of climate change are widespread and clearly visible in the Alps (Rogora et al, 2018) but particularly evident in the dwindling glacier resources (Sommer et al, 2020;Zekollari et al, 2019). Over the past 100 years, the temperature in the Alps has increased almost twice as fast compared to the global average, resulting in nearly 2 °C higher mean air temperatures (Auer et al, 2007;Marty and Meister, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The potentials of high-resolution photogrammetry for analyzing glacier retreat in the Ötztal Alps, Austria

Geissler¹,

Mayer²,

Jubanski³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Glaciers all over the world experience an increasing mass loss during recent decades due to change in the global climate. This leads to considerable environmental consequences in the densely populated Alps and many other mountain ranges in the world. We used high-resolution aerial photogrammetry within the AlpSenseBench project to investigate glacier retreat in great spatial and temporal detail in the Ötztaler Alps, a significant glacier area in Austria. Long-term in situ glaciological observations are available for this region, and a multitemporal time series of digital aerial images with a spatial resolution of 20 cm acquired over a period of 10 years exists. Glacier retreat of all 25 glaciers in the region, including the Vernagtferner, was analyzed by investigating glacier extent and surface elevation changes, derived from the aerial images by digital surface model (DSM) generation. Due to different acquisition dates of the large scale photogrammetric surveys and the glaciological data, a correction was established using a dedicated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) survey across the major part of the Vernagtferner. This allowed us to compare the mass balances from geodetic and glaciological techniques, which reveals the potentials of the combination of these two techniques for gaining a better insight into glacier changes and its spatial distribution. The results show a clear increase of glacier mass loss for all glaciers in the region, including the Vernagtferner over the last decade. Additionally, the influence of debris-cover on mass balance, as well as the magnitude of dynamic processes, could be quantified. The comparison of geodetic elevation differences and the interpolated glaciological data reveals that there exists a high potential in detecting local peculiarities of mass balance distribution and for correcting small scale deviations, not revealed in the interpolated glaciological information. The availability of high resolution multi-temporal digital aerial imagery for most of the glaciers in the Alps will provide a more comprehensive and detailed analysis of climate change-induced glacier retreat.

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Rapid glacier retreat and downwasting throughout the European Alps in the early 21st century

Cited by 165 publications

References 52 publications

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

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

Intention to Engage in Winter Sport in Climate Change Affected Environments

The potentials of high-resolution photogrammetry for analyzing glacier retreat in the Ötztal Alps, Austria

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