Sensitivity of mountain glacier mass balance to changes in bare-ice albedo
ABSTRACT Albedo is an important parameter in the energy balance of bare-ice surfaces and modulates glacier melt rates. The prolongation of the ablation period enforces the albedo feedback and highlights the need for profound knowledge on impacts of bare-ice albedo on glacier mass balance. In this st...
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2017
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.25 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305517000258 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/aog.2017.25 2024-09-15T17:39:52+00:00 Sensitivity of mountain glacier mass balance to changes in bare-ice albedo Naegeli, Kathrin Huss, Matthias 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.25 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305517000258 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) Annals of Glaciology volume 58, issue 75pt2, page 119-129 ISSN 0260-3055 1727-5644 journal-article 2017 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.25 2024-08-14T04:04:12Z ABSTRACT Albedo is an important parameter in the energy balance of bare-ice surfaces and modulates glacier melt rates. The prolongation of the ablation period enforces the albedo feedback and highlights the need for profound knowledge on impacts of bare-ice albedo on glacier mass balance. In this study, we assess the mass balance sensitivity of 12 Swiss glaciers with abundant long-term in-situ data on changes in bare-ice albedo. We use pixel-based bare-ice albedo derived from Landsat 8. A distributed mass-balance model is applied to the period 1997–2016 and experiments are performed to assess the impact of albedo changes on glacier mass balance. Our results indicate that glacier-wide mass-balance sensitivities to changes in bare-ice albedo correlate strongly with mean annual mass balances ( r 2 = 0.81). Large alpine glaciers react more sensitively to bare-ice albedo changes due to their ablation areas being situated at lower elevations. We find average sensitivities of glacier-wide mass balance of −0.14 m w.e. a −1 per 0.1 albedo decrease. Although this value is considerably smaller than sensitivity to air temperature change, we stress the importance of the enhanced albedo feedback that will be amplified due to atmospheric warming and a suspected darkening of glacier surface in the near future. Article in Journal/Newspaper Annals of Glaciology Cambridge University Press Annals of Glaciology 58 75pt2 119 129 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT Albedo is an important parameter in the energy balance of bare-ice surfaces and modulates glacier melt rates. The prolongation of the ablation period enforces the albedo feedback and highlights the need for profound knowledge on impacts of bare-ice albedo on glacier mass balance. In this study, we assess the mass balance sensitivity of 12 Swiss glaciers with abundant long-term in-situ data on changes in bare-ice albedo. We use pixel-based bare-ice albedo derived from Landsat 8. A distributed mass-balance model is applied to the period 1997–2016 and experiments are performed to assess the impact of albedo changes on glacier mass balance. Our results indicate that glacier-wide mass-balance sensitivities to changes in bare-ice albedo correlate strongly with mean annual mass balances ( r 2 = 0.81). Large alpine glaciers react more sensitively to bare-ice albedo changes due to their ablation areas being situated at lower elevations. We find average sensitivities of glacier-wide mass balance of −0.14 m w.e. a −1 per 0.1 albedo decrease. Although this value is considerably smaller than sensitivity to air temperature change, we stress the importance of the enhanced albedo feedback that will be amplified due to atmospheric warming and a suspected darkening of glacier surface in the near future. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Naegeli, Kathrin Huss, Matthias |
spellingShingle |
Naegeli, Kathrin Huss, Matthias Sensitivity of mountain glacier mass balance to changes in bare-ice albedo |
author_facet |
Naegeli, Kathrin Huss, Matthias |
author_sort |
Naegeli, Kathrin |
title |
Sensitivity of mountain glacier mass balance to changes in bare-ice albedo |
title_short |
Sensitivity of mountain glacier mass balance to changes in bare-ice albedo |
title_full |
Sensitivity of mountain glacier mass balance to changes in bare-ice albedo |
title_fullStr |
Sensitivity of mountain glacier mass balance to changes in bare-ice albedo |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sensitivity of mountain glacier mass balance to changes in bare-ice albedo |
title_sort |
sensitivity of mountain glacier mass balance to changes in bare-ice albedo |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.25 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305517000258 |
genre |
Annals of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Annals of Glaciology |
op_source |
Annals of Glaciology volume 58, issue 75pt2, page 119-129 ISSN 0260-3055 1727-5644 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.25 |
container_title |
Annals of Glaciology |
container_volume |
58 |
container_issue |
75pt2 |
container_start_page |
119 |
op_container_end_page |
129 |
_version_ |
1810483156308983808 |