EarthRef.org Reference Database (ERR)
Development and Maintenance by the EarthRef.org Database Team

Detailed Reference Information
Vincent et al. 2004
Vincent, C., Kappenberger, G., Valla, F., Bauder, A., Funk, M. and Le Meur, E. (2004). Ice ablation as evidence of climate change in the Alps over the 20th century. Journal of Geophysical Research 109: doi: 10.1029/2003JD003857. issn: 0148-0227.

Over fifty years of cumulative annual mass balance data for several glaciers in the Alps shows similar fluctuations which seem to provide evidence of a common climatic signal. Separate winter and summer mass balance measurements from the Claridenfirn (glacier in Switzerland) since 1914 and the Sarennes glacier (France) since 1949 show that (1) the annual mass balance is primarily driven by the summer mass balance term and (2) melting rate variations with time are very similar for these two glaciers located 290 km apart. The increase in the ablation rate of 0.5 cm w.e. day-1 between the two periods 1954--1981 and 1982--2002 over these two glaciers corresponds to a 20 Wm-2 rise in the energy flux at the glacier surface. These results suggest that a common summer melting rate change may have affected the Alps as a whole. Detailed observations on the Sarennes glacier show that the origin of this strong increase in summer ablation since 1982 is not only a rise in the summer melting rate, but also an increase in the ablation period during the months of September and October.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Global Change, Climate dynamics, Hydrology, Glaciology, Hydrology, Snow and ice, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Climatology, glacier, climate signal, mass balance
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
2000 Florida Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009-1277
USA
1-202-462-6900
1-202-328-0566
service@agu.org
Click to clear formClick to return to previous pageClick to submit