Interactice comment on "What glaciers are telling us about Earth's changing climate" by W. Tangborn and M. Mosteller

• Main Author: Braithwaite, Roger J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: glacier; climate; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/publications/fd85947b-f209-4ed9-9d2b-8cb74e8c1ba0; http://www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/8/C1569/2014/tcd-8-C1569-2014.pdf

This glossary, produced by a Working Group of the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS), is the first comprehensive update of glaciermass-balance terms for more than 40 years. The mass balance of a glacier is a measure of the change in mass of the glacier, or part of it, over a period of time. Mass-balance data help to explain why a particular glacier system may be advancing or retreating and what climate drivers (e.g. decreased snow accumulation; increased surface melt) are responsible for the changes. Fluctuations of the si ze (most typically length, but also area and/or surface elevation) are observed for several thousand of the well over 100,000 glaciers distributedglobally from equatorial mountains to polar ice sheets. However regular annual mass-balance measurements are made on fewer than 200 glaciers. Mass-balance information is essential for defining the links between past, present and future climate ch anges and changes to glaciers in assessments such as those made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Having a systematic, concise and unambiguous mass-balance terminology is a critical part of this. The first systematic attempts to define mass-balance terminology (UNESCO/IASH, 1970; Anonymous, 1969) were made during the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) International Hydrologic al Decade (IHD, 1965-1974). The IHD programme provided an important impetus to international collaboration in hydrology and, in 1975, was succeeded by the UNESCO International Hydrol ogical Programme (IHP). IHP has an emphasis on methodologies for hydrological studies, training and education in the water sciences and on the adaptation of the hydrological sciences to cope with the expected changing climate and environmental conditions. It is hence fitting that this glossary is published as part of the IHP series of Technical Documents in Hydrology . This publication is also a crucial early milestone in the work of the International Association of ...