Brief communication: Non-linear sensitivity of glacier mass balance to climate attested by temperature-index models

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: Vincent, Christian, Thibert, Emmanuel
• Other Authors: Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: [SHS.GEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04305821; https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04305821/document; https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04305821/file/tc-17-1989-2023.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1989-2023

International audience Abstract. Temperature-index models have been widely used for glacier-mass projections spanning the 21st century. The ability of temperature-index models to capture non-linear responses of glacier surface mass balance (SMB) to high deviations in air temperature and solid precipitation was recently discussed in the context of mass-balance simulations employing advanced machine-learning techniques. Here, we performed numerical experiments with a classic temperature-index model and confirmed that such models are capable of detecting non-linear responses of glacier SMB to temperature and precipitation changes. Non-linearities derive from the change in the degree-day factor over the ablation season and from the lengthening of the ablation season.