Constraining regional glacier reconstructions using past ice thickness of deglaciating areas – a case study in the European Alps

IF 4.4 2区 地球科学 Q1 GEOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL Cryosphere Pub Date : 2023-06-08 DOI:10.5194/tc-17-2285-2023
C. Sommer, J. Fürst, M. Huss, M. Braun
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Abstract. In order to assess future glacier evolution and meltwater runoff, accurate knowledge on the volume and the ice thickness distribution of glaciers is crucial. However, in situ observations of glacier thickness are sparse in many regions worldwide due to the difficulty of undertaking field surveys. This lack of in situ measurements can be partially overcome by remote-sensing information. Multi-temporal and contemporaneous data on glacier extent and surface elevation provide past information on ice thickness for retreating glaciers in the newly deglacierized regions. However, these observations are concentrated near the glacier snouts, which is disadvantageous because it is known to introduce biases in ice thickness reconstruction approaches. Here, we show a strategy to overcome this generic limitation of so-called retreat thickness observations by applying an empirical relationship between the ice viscosity at locations with in situ observations and observations from digital elevation model (DEM) differencing at the glacier margins. Various datasets from the European Alps are combined to model the ice thickness distribution of Alpine glaciers for two time steps (1970 and 2003) based on the observed thickness in regions uncovered from ice during the study period. Our results show that the average ice thickness would be substantially underestimated (∼ 40 %) when relying solely on thickness observations from previously glacierized areas. Thus, a transferable topography-based viscosity scaling is developed to correct the modelled ice thickness distribution. It is shown that the presented approach is able to reproduce region-wide glacier volumes, although larger uncertainties remain at a local scale, and thus might represent a powerful tool for application in regions with sparse observations.
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利用冰川消融地区过去的冰层厚度限制区域冰川重建——以欧洲阿尔卑斯山为例
摘要为了评估未来冰川的演变和融水径流,准确了解冰川的体积和厚度分布至关重要。然而,由于难以进行实地调查,全球许多地区对冰川厚度的现场观测很少。遥感信息可以部分克服这种缺乏现场测量的问题。关于冰川范围和表面高程的多时间和同期数据为新去冰川化地区的冰川退缩提供了冰厚度的模拟信息。然而,这些观测结果集中在冰川口附近,这是不利的,因为众所周知,在冰厚度重建方法中会引入偏差。在这里,我们展示了一种策略,通过应用现场观测的位置冰粘度与冰川边缘数字高程模型(DEM)差异观测之间的经验关系,来克服所谓后退厚度观测的普遍局限性。根据研究期间观测到的冰川覆盖区域的厚度,将来自欧洲阿尔卑斯山的各种数据集结合起来,在两个时间步长(1970年和2003年)对阿尔卑斯山冰川的冰厚度分布进行建模。我们的结果表明,平均冰厚度将被大大低估(~ 40 %) 当仅依靠以前冰川化区域的厚度观测时。因此,开发了一种基于可转移地形的粘度刻度来校正模拟的冰厚度分布。结果表明,尽管在局部尺度上仍存在较大的不确定性,但所提出的方法能够再现整个区域的冰川体积,因此可能代表了在观测稀疏的区域应用的强大工具。
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来源期刊
Cryosphere
Cryosphere GEOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL-GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY
CiteScore
8.70
自引率
17.30%
发文量
240
审稿时长
4-8 weeks
期刊介绍: The Cryosphere (TC) is a not-for-profit international scientific journal dedicated to the publication and discussion of research articles, short communications, and review papers on all aspects of frozen water and ground on Earth and on other planetary bodies. The main subject areas are the following: ice sheets and glaciers; planetary ice bodies; permafrost and seasonally frozen ground; seasonal snow cover; sea ice; river and lake ice; remote sensing, numerical modelling, in situ and laboratory studies of the above and including studies of the interaction of the cryosphere with the rest of the climate system.
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