Can the Mass Balance of a Glacier be Estimated from its Equilibrium-Line Altitude?
Abstract The possibility of replacing or supplementing direct measurements of mass balance by estimates calculated from equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) measurements is investigated by statistical analyses of data from 31 glaciers. A linear relationship between mass balance and ELA in terms of two pa...
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Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1984
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000006237 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000006237 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0022143000006237 2024-06-23T07:54:15+00:00 Can the Mass Balance of a Glacier be Estimated from its Equilibrium-Line Altitude? Braithwaite, Roger J. 1984 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000006237 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000006237 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) Journal of Glaciology volume 30, issue 106, page 364-368 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 journal-article 1984 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000006237 2024-06-12T04:03:00Z Abstract The possibility of replacing or supplementing direct measurements of mass balance by estimates calculated from equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) measurements is investigated by statistical analyses of data from 31 glaciers. A linear relationship between mass balance and ELA in terms of two parameters, the effective balance gradient and the balanced-budget ELA, is tested. It is concluded that existing mass-balance series can be usefully extrapolated by using ELA data for additional years. However, accurate mass balance cannot be calculated for glaciers where no such measurements have been made because of the difficulties in prescribing the two model parameters with sufficient accuracy. For example, the effective balance gradient is of the order of 5 mm water/m so that errors of only a few decametres in the estimation of the balanced-budget ELA can have a great effect upon calculations of mass balance. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Cambridge University Press Ela ENVELOPE(9.642,9.642,63.170,63.170) Journal of Glaciology 30 106 364 368 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract The possibility of replacing or supplementing direct measurements of mass balance by estimates calculated from equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) measurements is investigated by statistical analyses of data from 31 glaciers. A linear relationship between mass balance and ELA in terms of two parameters, the effective balance gradient and the balanced-budget ELA, is tested. It is concluded that existing mass-balance series can be usefully extrapolated by using ELA data for additional years. However, accurate mass balance cannot be calculated for glaciers where no such measurements have been made because of the difficulties in prescribing the two model parameters with sufficient accuracy. For example, the effective balance gradient is of the order of 5 mm water/m so that errors of only a few decametres in the estimation of the balanced-budget ELA can have a great effect upon calculations of mass balance. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Braithwaite, Roger J. |
spellingShingle |
Braithwaite, Roger J. Can the Mass Balance of a Glacier be Estimated from its Equilibrium-Line Altitude? |
author_facet |
Braithwaite, Roger J. |
author_sort |
Braithwaite, Roger J. |
title |
Can the Mass Balance of a Glacier be Estimated from its Equilibrium-Line Altitude? |
title_short |
Can the Mass Balance of a Glacier be Estimated from its Equilibrium-Line Altitude? |
title_full |
Can the Mass Balance of a Glacier be Estimated from its Equilibrium-Line Altitude? |
title_fullStr |
Can the Mass Balance of a Glacier be Estimated from its Equilibrium-Line Altitude? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Can the Mass Balance of a Glacier be Estimated from its Equilibrium-Line Altitude? |
title_sort |
can the mass balance of a glacier be estimated from its equilibrium-line altitude? |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1984 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000006237 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000006237 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(9.642,9.642,63.170,63.170) |
geographic |
Ela |
geographic_facet |
Ela |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology volume 30, issue 106, page 364-368 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000006237 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
30 |
container_issue |
106 |
container_start_page |
364 |
op_container_end_page |
368 |
_version_ |
1802646343454294016 |