Numerical modeling of the dynamics of the Mer de Glace glacier, French Alps: comparison with past observations and forecasting of near-future evolution
Alpine glaciers are shrinking and rapidly loosing mass in a warming climate. Glacier modeling is required to assess the future consequences of these retreats on water resources, the hydropower industry and risk management. However, the performance of such ice flow modeling is generally difficult to...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3979-2020 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/3979/2020/tc-14-3979-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/368e8b2c2014458fa85b86d3d3887842 |
id |
fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:368e8b2c2014458fa85b86d3d3887842 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:368e8b2c2014458fa85b86d3d3887842 2023-05-15T18:32:17+02:00 Numerical modeling of the dynamics of the Mer de Glace glacier, French Alps: comparison with past observations and forecasting of near-future evolution V. Peyaud C. Bouchayer O. Gagliardini C. Vincent F. Gillet-Chaulet D. Six O. Laarman 2020-11-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3979-2020 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/3979/2020/tc-14-3979-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/368e8b2c2014458fa85b86d3d3887842 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-14-3979-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/3979/2020/tc-14-3979-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/368e8b2c2014458fa85b86d3d3887842 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 3979-3994 (2020) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2020 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3979-2020 2023-01-22T18:19:34Z Alpine glaciers are shrinking and rapidly loosing mass in a warming climate. Glacier modeling is required to assess the future consequences of these retreats on water resources, the hydropower industry and risk management. However, the performance of such ice flow modeling is generally difficult to evaluate because of the lack of long-term glaciological observations. Here, we assess the performance of the Elmer/Ice full Stokes ice flow model using the long dataset of mass balance, thickness change, ice flow velocity and snout fluctuation measurements obtained between 1979 and 2015 on the Mer de Glace glacier, France. Ice flow modeling results are compared in detail to comprehensive glaciological observations over 4 decades including both a period of glacier expansion preceding a long period of decay. To our knowledge, a comparison to data at this detail is unprecedented. We found that the model accurately reconstructs the velocity, elevation and length variations of this glacier despite some discrepancies that remain unexplained. The calibrated and validated model was then applied to simulate the future evolution of Mer de Glace from 2015 to 2050 using 26 different climate scenarios. Depending on the climate scenarios, the largest glacier in France, with a length of 20 km, could retreat by 2 to 6 km over the next 3 decades. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Unknown The Cryosphere 14 11 3979 3994 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
geo envir |
spellingShingle |
geo envir V. Peyaud C. Bouchayer O. Gagliardini C. Vincent F. Gillet-Chaulet D. Six O. Laarman Numerical modeling of the dynamics of the Mer de Glace glacier, French Alps: comparison with past observations and forecasting of near-future evolution |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
Alpine glaciers are shrinking and rapidly loosing mass in a warming climate. Glacier modeling is required to assess the future consequences of these retreats on water resources, the hydropower industry and risk management. However, the performance of such ice flow modeling is generally difficult to evaluate because of the lack of long-term glaciological observations. Here, we assess the performance of the Elmer/Ice full Stokes ice flow model using the long dataset of mass balance, thickness change, ice flow velocity and snout fluctuation measurements obtained between 1979 and 2015 on the Mer de Glace glacier, France. Ice flow modeling results are compared in detail to comprehensive glaciological observations over 4 decades including both a period of glacier expansion preceding a long period of decay. To our knowledge, a comparison to data at this detail is unprecedented. We found that the model accurately reconstructs the velocity, elevation and length variations of this glacier despite some discrepancies that remain unexplained. The calibrated and validated model was then applied to simulate the future evolution of Mer de Glace from 2015 to 2050 using 26 different climate scenarios. Depending on the climate scenarios, the largest glacier in France, with a length of 20 km, could retreat by 2 to 6 km over the next 3 decades. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
V. Peyaud C. Bouchayer O. Gagliardini C. Vincent F. Gillet-Chaulet D. Six O. Laarman |
author_facet |
V. Peyaud C. Bouchayer O. Gagliardini C. Vincent F. Gillet-Chaulet D. Six O. Laarman |
author_sort |
V. Peyaud |
title |
Numerical modeling of the dynamics of the Mer de Glace glacier, French Alps: comparison with past observations and forecasting of near-future evolution |
title_short |
Numerical modeling of the dynamics of the Mer de Glace glacier, French Alps: comparison with past observations and forecasting of near-future evolution |
title_full |
Numerical modeling of the dynamics of the Mer de Glace glacier, French Alps: comparison with past observations and forecasting of near-future evolution |
title_fullStr |
Numerical modeling of the dynamics of the Mer de Glace glacier, French Alps: comparison with past observations and forecasting of near-future evolution |
title_full_unstemmed |
Numerical modeling of the dynamics of the Mer de Glace glacier, French Alps: comparison with past observations and forecasting of near-future evolution |
title_sort |
numerical modeling of the dynamics of the mer de glace glacier, french alps: comparison with past observations and forecasting of near-future evolution |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3979-2020 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/3979/2020/tc-14-3979-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/368e8b2c2014458fa85b86d3d3887842 |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 3979-3994 (2020) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-14-3979-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/3979/2020/tc-14-3979-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/368e8b2c2014458fa85b86d3d3887842 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3979-2020 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
3979 |
op_container_end_page |
3994 |
_version_ |
1766216378769997824 |