Decadal evolution of a very small heavily debris-covered glacier in an Alpine permafrost environment
Glacier response to climate forcing can be heterogeneous and complex, depending on glacier system characteristics. This article presents the decadal evolution of the Tsarmine Glacier (Swiss Alps), a very small and heavily debris-covered cirque glacier located in the Alpine periglacial belt. Archival...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:b9811adf291943ca87104bb5213cf21e 2023-05-15T16:57:32+02:00 Decadal evolution of a very small heavily debris-covered glacier in an Alpine permafrost environment M. CAPT J.-B. BOSSON M. FISCHER N. MICHELETTI C. LAMBIEL 2016-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.56 https://doaj.org/article/b9811adf291943ca87104bb5213cf21e EN eng Cambridge University Press https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143016000563/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2016.56 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/b9811adf291943ca87104bb5213cf21e Journal of Glaciology, Vol 62, Pp 535-551 (2016) climate change debris-covered glaciers glacier mass balance mountain glaciers permafrost Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.56 2023-03-12T01:30:59Z Glacier response to climate forcing can be heterogeneous and complex, depending on glacier system characteristics. This article presents the decadal evolution of the Tsarmine Glacier (Swiss Alps), a very small and heavily debris-covered cirque glacier located in the Alpine periglacial belt. Archival aerial photogrammetry and autocorrelation of orthophotos were used to compute surface elevation, volume and geodetic mass changes, as well as horizontal displacement rates for several periods between 1967 and 2012. A GPR survey allowed us to investigate glacier thickness (15 m mean) and volume (4 × 106 m3) in 2015 and to anticipate its future evolution. Different dynamics occurred in recent decades because of the heterogeneous surface characteristics. The climate-sensitive upper debris-free zone contrasts with the progressively stagnant heavily debris-covered glacier tongue. Between 1967 and 2012, the glacier lost 1/3 of its initial volume (2 × 106 m3). The average mass balance stabilised at ~−0.3 m w.e. a−1 since 1999. Compared with other local glaciers, the Tsarmine Glacier shows a particular decadal behaviour both in time (divergence of mass balance since the 2000s) and space (inverted ablation pattern). This might be explained by the combined influence of debris cover, shadow, snow redistribution and permafrost conditions on this very small glacier. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology permafrost Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Journal of Glaciology 62 233 535 551 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
climate change debris-covered glaciers glacier mass balance mountain glaciers permafrost Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
spellingShingle |
climate change debris-covered glaciers glacier mass balance mountain glaciers permafrost Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 M. CAPT J.-B. BOSSON M. FISCHER N. MICHELETTI C. LAMBIEL Decadal evolution of a very small heavily debris-covered glacier in an Alpine permafrost environment |
topic_facet |
climate change debris-covered glaciers glacier mass balance mountain glaciers permafrost Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
description |
Glacier response to climate forcing can be heterogeneous and complex, depending on glacier system characteristics. This article presents the decadal evolution of the Tsarmine Glacier (Swiss Alps), a very small and heavily debris-covered cirque glacier located in the Alpine periglacial belt. Archival aerial photogrammetry and autocorrelation of orthophotos were used to compute surface elevation, volume and geodetic mass changes, as well as horizontal displacement rates for several periods between 1967 and 2012. A GPR survey allowed us to investigate glacier thickness (15 m mean) and volume (4 × 106 m3) in 2015 and to anticipate its future evolution. Different dynamics occurred in recent decades because of the heterogeneous surface characteristics. The climate-sensitive upper debris-free zone contrasts with the progressively stagnant heavily debris-covered glacier tongue. Between 1967 and 2012, the glacier lost 1/3 of its initial volume (2 × 106 m3). The average mass balance stabilised at ~−0.3 m w.e. a−1 since 1999. Compared with other local glaciers, the Tsarmine Glacier shows a particular decadal behaviour both in time (divergence of mass balance since the 2000s) and space (inverted ablation pattern). This might be explained by the combined influence of debris cover, shadow, snow redistribution and permafrost conditions on this very small glacier. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
M. CAPT J.-B. BOSSON M. FISCHER N. MICHELETTI C. LAMBIEL |
author_facet |
M. CAPT J.-B. BOSSON M. FISCHER N. MICHELETTI C. LAMBIEL |
author_sort |
M. CAPT |
title |
Decadal evolution of a very small heavily debris-covered glacier in an Alpine permafrost environment |
title_short |
Decadal evolution of a very small heavily debris-covered glacier in an Alpine permafrost environment |
title_full |
Decadal evolution of a very small heavily debris-covered glacier in an Alpine permafrost environment |
title_fullStr |
Decadal evolution of a very small heavily debris-covered glacier in an Alpine permafrost environment |
title_full_unstemmed |
Decadal evolution of a very small heavily debris-covered glacier in an Alpine permafrost environment |
title_sort |
decadal evolution of a very small heavily debris-covered glacier in an alpine permafrost environment |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.56 https://doaj.org/article/b9811adf291943ca87104bb5213cf21e |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology permafrost |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology permafrost |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology, Vol 62, Pp 535-551 (2016) |
op_relation |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143016000563/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2016.56 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/b9811adf291943ca87104bb5213cf21e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.56 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
62 |
container_issue |
233 |
container_start_page |
535 |
op_container_end_page |
551 |
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1766049105183768576 |