Which glaciers are the largest in the world?
Abstract Glacier monitoring has been internationally coordinated for more than 125 years. Despite this long history, there is no authoritative answer to the popular question: ‘Which glaciers are the largest in the world?’ Here, we present the first systematic assessment of this question and identify...
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ftoslouniv:oai:www.duo.uio.no:10852/101342 2023-05-15T13:40:00+02:00 Which glaciers are the largest in the world? ENEngelskEnglishWhich glaciers are the largest in the world? Windnagel, Ann Hock, Regine Maussion, Fabien Paul, Frank Rastner, Philipp Raup, Bruce Zemp, Michael 2023-02-17T20:05:17Z http://hdl.handle.net/10852/101342 https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.61 EN eng Windnagel, Ann Hock, Regine Maussion, Fabien Paul, Frank Rastner, Philipp Raup, Bruce Zemp, Michael . Which glaciers are the largest in the world?. Journal of Glaciology. 2022, 1-10 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/101342 2127169 info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=Journal of Glaciology&rft.volume=&rft.spage=1&rft.date=2022 Journal of Glaciology 1 10 https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.61 Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 0022-1430 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed PublishedVersion 2023 ftoslouniv https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.61 2023-03-15T23:36:44Z Abstract Glacier monitoring has been internationally coordinated for more than 125 years. Despite this long history, there is no authoritative answer to the popular question: ‘Which glaciers are the largest in the world?’ Here, we present the first systematic assessment of this question and identify the largest glaciers in the world – distinct from the two ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica but including the glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula. We identify the largest glaciers in two domains: on each of the seven geographical continents and in the 19 first-order glacier regions defined by the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers. Ranking glaciers by area is non-trivial. It depends on how a glacier is defined and mapped and also requires differentiating between a glacier and a glacier complex, i.e. glaciers that meet at ice divides such as ice caps and icefields. It also depends on the availability of a homogenized global glacier inventory. Using separate rankings for glaciers and glacier complexes, we find that the largest glacier complexes have areas on the order of tens of thousands of square kilometers whereas the largest glaciers are several thousands of square kilometers. The world's largest glaciers and glacier complexes are located in the Antarctic, Arctic and Patagonia. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Arctic glacier Greenland Journal of Glaciology Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Arctic Greenland Patagonia The Antarctic Journal of Glaciology 69 274 301 310 |
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Open Polar |
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Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) |
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ftoslouniv |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Glacier monitoring has been internationally coordinated for more than 125 years. Despite this long history, there is no authoritative answer to the popular question: ‘Which glaciers are the largest in the world?’ Here, we present the first systematic assessment of this question and identify the largest glaciers in the world – distinct from the two ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica but including the glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula. We identify the largest glaciers in two domains: on each of the seven geographical continents and in the 19 first-order glacier regions defined by the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers. Ranking glaciers by area is non-trivial. It depends on how a glacier is defined and mapped and also requires differentiating between a glacier and a glacier complex, i.e. glaciers that meet at ice divides such as ice caps and icefields. It also depends on the availability of a homogenized global glacier inventory. Using separate rankings for glaciers and glacier complexes, we find that the largest glacier complexes have areas on the order of tens of thousands of square kilometers whereas the largest glaciers are several thousands of square kilometers. The world's largest glaciers and glacier complexes are located in the Antarctic, Arctic and Patagonia. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Windnagel, Ann Hock, Regine Maussion, Fabien Paul, Frank Rastner, Philipp Raup, Bruce Zemp, Michael |
spellingShingle |
Windnagel, Ann Hock, Regine Maussion, Fabien Paul, Frank Rastner, Philipp Raup, Bruce Zemp, Michael Which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
author_facet |
Windnagel, Ann Hock, Regine Maussion, Fabien Paul, Frank Rastner, Philipp Raup, Bruce Zemp, Michael |
author_sort |
Windnagel, Ann |
title |
Which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
title_short |
Which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
title_full |
Which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
title_fullStr |
Which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
title_sort |
which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10852/101342 https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.61 |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Arctic Greenland Patagonia The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Arctic Greenland Patagonia The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Arctic glacier Greenland Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Arctic glacier Greenland Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
0022-1430 |
op_relation |
Windnagel, Ann Hock, Regine Maussion, Fabien Paul, Frank Rastner, Philipp Raup, Bruce Zemp, Michael . Which glaciers are the largest in the world?. Journal of Glaciology. 2022, 1-10 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/101342 2127169 info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=Journal of Glaciology&rft.volume=&rft.spage=1&rft.date=2022 Journal of Glaciology 1 10 https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.61 |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.61 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
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69 |
container_issue |
274 |
container_start_page |
301 |
op_container_end_page |
310 |
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1766126809060999168 |