Sensitivity of Rhonegletscher, Switzerland, to climate change : Experiments with a one-dimensional flowline model
A one-dimensional time-dependent flowline model of Rhonegletscher, Switzerland, has been used to test the glacier's response to climatic warming. Mass-balance variations over the last 100 years are obtained from observations of the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) and a reconstruction of the ELA...
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Online Access: | https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/sensitivity-of-rhonegletscher-switzerland-to-climate-change-exper https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022143000002719 |
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ftunivwagenin:oai:library.wur.nl:wurpubs/562331 2024-02-04T10:01:42+01:00 Sensitivity of Rhonegletscher, Switzerland, to climate change : Experiments with a one-dimensional flowline model Wallinga, Jakob 1998 text/html https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/sensitivity-of-rhonegletscher-switzerland-to-climate-change-exper https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022143000002719 en eng https://edepot.wur.nl/517635 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/sensitivity-of-rhonegletscher-switzerland-to-climate-change-exper doi:10.1017/S0022143000002719 info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Wageningen University & Research Journal of Glaciology 44 (1998) 147 ISSN: 0022-1430 Life Science info:eu-repo/semantics/article Article/Letter to editor info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 1998 ftunivwagenin https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022143000002719 2024-01-10T23:28:44Z A one-dimensional time-dependent flowline model of Rhonegletscher, Switzerland, has been used to test the glacier's response to climatic warming. Mass-balance variations over the last 100 years are obtained from observations of the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) and a reconstruction of the ELA based on a statistical correlation between temperature and ELA. For the period prior to AD 1882, for which no reliable climate data exist, we chose equilibrium-line altitudes that enabled us to simulate accurately the glacier length from AD 1602. The model simulates the historical glacier length almost perfectly and glacier geometry very well. It underestimates glacier-surface velocities by 1-18%. Following these reference experiments, we investigated the response of Rhonegletscher to a number of climate-change scenarios for the period AD 1990-2100. For a constant climate equal to the 1961-90 mean, the model predicts a 6% decrease in glacier volume by AD 2100. Rhonegletscher will retreat by almost 1 km over the next 100 years at this scenario. At a warming rate of 0.04 K a-1, only 4% of the glacier volume will be left by AD 2100. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library Ela ENVELOPE(9.642,9.642,63.170,63.170) Journal of Glaciology 44 147 383 393 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwagenin |
language |
English |
topic |
Life Science |
spellingShingle |
Life Science Wallinga, Jakob Sensitivity of Rhonegletscher, Switzerland, to climate change : Experiments with a one-dimensional flowline model |
topic_facet |
Life Science |
description |
A one-dimensional time-dependent flowline model of Rhonegletscher, Switzerland, has been used to test the glacier's response to climatic warming. Mass-balance variations over the last 100 years are obtained from observations of the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) and a reconstruction of the ELA based on a statistical correlation between temperature and ELA. For the period prior to AD 1882, for which no reliable climate data exist, we chose equilibrium-line altitudes that enabled us to simulate accurately the glacier length from AD 1602. The model simulates the historical glacier length almost perfectly and glacier geometry very well. It underestimates glacier-surface velocities by 1-18%. Following these reference experiments, we investigated the response of Rhonegletscher to a number of climate-change scenarios for the period AD 1990-2100. For a constant climate equal to the 1961-90 mean, the model predicts a 6% decrease in glacier volume by AD 2100. Rhonegletscher will retreat by almost 1 km over the next 100 years at this scenario. At a warming rate of 0.04 K a-1, only 4% of the glacier volume will be left by AD 2100. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wallinga, Jakob |
author_facet |
Wallinga, Jakob |
author_sort |
Wallinga, Jakob |
title |
Sensitivity of Rhonegletscher, Switzerland, to climate change : Experiments with a one-dimensional flowline model |
title_short |
Sensitivity of Rhonegletscher, Switzerland, to climate change : Experiments with a one-dimensional flowline model |
title_full |
Sensitivity of Rhonegletscher, Switzerland, to climate change : Experiments with a one-dimensional flowline model |
title_fullStr |
Sensitivity of Rhonegletscher, Switzerland, to climate change : Experiments with a one-dimensional flowline model |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sensitivity of Rhonegletscher, Switzerland, to climate change : Experiments with a one-dimensional flowline model |
title_sort |
sensitivity of rhonegletscher, switzerland, to climate change : experiments with a one-dimensional flowline model |
publishDate |
1998 |
url |
https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/sensitivity-of-rhonegletscher-switzerland-to-climate-change-exper https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022143000002719 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(9.642,9.642,63.170,63.170) |
geographic |
Ela |
geographic_facet |
Ela |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology 44 (1998) 147 ISSN: 0022-1430 |
op_relation |
https://edepot.wur.nl/517635 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/sensitivity-of-rhonegletscher-switzerland-to-climate-change-exper doi:10.1017/S0022143000002719 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Wageningen University & Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022143000002719 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
44 |
container_issue |
147 |
container_start_page |
383 |
op_container_end_page |
393 |
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1789967822861893632 |