Summary: | This chapter reviews key approaches used to determine the mass balance of valley glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets and monitor their mass changes over time. The methods discussed include in situ, satellite/airborne and gravimetric observations, and modelling driven by outputs from climate models. The chapter describes their specific application to valley glaciers and ice caps, the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Greenland Ice Sheet, and the corresponding spatial and temporal mass-balance variations found over the past few decades.
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