Meteorological controls on snow and ice ablation for two contrasting months on Glacier de Saint-Sorlin, France

International audience The influence of meteorological variables on snow/ice melting has been analyzed for two very contrasting months, in summer 2006, on Glacier de Saint-Sorlin, French Alps. July 2006 was the warmest July since 1950, and August 2006 was the coldest August since 1979. The total ene...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of Glaciology
Main Authors: Six, Delphine, Wagnon, Patrick, Sicart, Jean-Emmanuel, Vincent, Christian
Other Authors: Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement (LGGE), Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (OSUG), Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Glaciers et ressources en eau d'altitude - Indicateurs climatiques et environnementaux (GREATICE)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00420643
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00420643/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00420643/file/meteorological-controls-on-snow-and-ice-ablation-for-two-contrasting-months-on-glacier-de-saint-sorlin-france.pdf
https://doi.org/10.3189/172756409787769537
Description
Summary:International audience The influence of meteorological variables on snow/ice melting has been analyzed for two very contrasting months, in summer 2006, on Glacier de Saint-Sorlin, French Alps. July 2006 was the warmest July since 1950, and August 2006 was the coldest August since 1979. The total energy available for melting was just over half as much in August as in July, due to a sharp decrease in net shortwave radiation and in turbulent flux. This decrease of net shortwave radiation was mainly controlled by a strong increase in albedo responsible for an increase of reflected shortwave radiation, as well as by a reduction in incident shortwave radiation. During the two months, net longwave radiation remained almost unchanged. The mass balance computed from energy-balance modelling or with a degree-day approach was in good agreement with measured mass balance. Differences were attributed to space and time surface aspect variations which mainly controlled the observed mass balance.