Which glaciers are the largest in the world?
Glacier monitoring has been internationally coordinated for more than 125 years. Despite this long history, there is no authoritative answer to the popular question: ‘Which glaciers are the largest in the world?’ Here, we present the first systematic assessment of this question and identify the larg...
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International Glaciological Society
2023
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ftunivzuerich:oai:www.zora.uzh.ch:220836 2024-06-23T07:46:38+00:00 Which glaciers are the largest in the world? Windnagel, Ann Hock, Regine Maussion, Fabien Paul, Frank Rastner, Philipp Raup, Bruce Zemp, Michael 2023-04-01 application/pdf https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/220836/ https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/220836/1/ZORA_div_class_title_which_glaciers_are_the_largest_in_the_world_div.pdf https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-220836 https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.61 eng eng International Glaciological Society https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/220836/1/ZORA_div_class_title_which_glaciers_are_the_largest_in_the_world_div.pdf doi:10.5167/uzh-220836 doi:10.1017/jog.2022.61 urn:issn:0022-1430 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Windnagel, Ann; Hock, Regine; Maussion, Fabien; Paul, Frank; Rastner, Philipp; Raup, Bruce; Zemp, Michael (2023). Which glaciers are the largest in the world? Journal of Glaciology, 69(274):301-310. Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Earth-Surface Processes Journal Article PeerReviewed info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2023 ftunivzuerich https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-22083610.1017/jog.2022.61 2024-05-29T01:13:38Z Glacier monitoring has been internationally coordinated for more than 125 years. Despite this long history, there is no authoritative answer to the popular question: ‘Which glaciers are the largest in the world?’ Here, we present the first systematic assessment of this question and identify the largest glaciers in the world – distinct from the two ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica but including the glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula. We identify the largest glaciers in two domains: on each of the seven geographical continents and in the 19 first-order glacier regions defined by the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers. Ranking glaciers by area is non-trivial. It depends on how a glacier is defined and mapped and also requires differentiating between a glacier and a glacier complex, i.e. glaciers that meet at ice divides such as ice caps and icefields. It also depends on the availability of a homogenized global glacier inventory. Using separate rankings for glaciers and glacier complexes, we find that the largest glacier complexes have areas on the order of tens of thousands of square kilometers whereas the largest glaciers are several thousands of square kilometers. The world's largest glaciers and glacier complexes are located in the Antarctic, Arctic and Patagonia. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Arctic glacier Greenland Journal of Glaciology University of Zurich (UZH): ZORA (Zurich Open Repository and Archive Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Arctic Greenland Patagonia The Antarctic |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Zurich (UZH): ZORA (Zurich Open Repository and Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivzuerich |
language |
English |
topic |
Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Earth-Surface Processes |
spellingShingle |
Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Earth-Surface Processes Windnagel, Ann Hock, Regine Maussion, Fabien Paul, Frank Rastner, Philipp Raup, Bruce Zemp, Michael Which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
topic_facet |
Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Earth-Surface Processes |
description |
Glacier monitoring has been internationally coordinated for more than 125 years. Despite this long history, there is no authoritative answer to the popular question: ‘Which glaciers are the largest in the world?’ Here, we present the first systematic assessment of this question and identify the largest glaciers in the world – distinct from the two ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica but including the glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula. We identify the largest glaciers in two domains: on each of the seven geographical continents and in the 19 first-order glacier regions defined by the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers. Ranking glaciers by area is non-trivial. It depends on how a glacier is defined and mapped and also requires differentiating between a glacier and a glacier complex, i.e. glaciers that meet at ice divides such as ice caps and icefields. It also depends on the availability of a homogenized global glacier inventory. Using separate rankings for glaciers and glacier complexes, we find that the largest glacier complexes have areas on the order of tens of thousands of square kilometers whereas the largest glaciers are several thousands of square kilometers. The world's largest glaciers and glacier complexes are located in the Antarctic, Arctic and Patagonia. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Windnagel, Ann Hock, Regine Maussion, Fabien Paul, Frank Rastner, Philipp Raup, Bruce Zemp, Michael |
author_facet |
Windnagel, Ann Hock, Regine Maussion, Fabien Paul, Frank Rastner, Philipp Raup, Bruce Zemp, Michael |
author_sort |
Windnagel, Ann |
title |
Which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
title_short |
Which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
title_full |
Which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
title_fullStr |
Which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
title_sort |
which glaciers are the largest in the world? |
publisher |
International Glaciological Society |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/220836/ https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/220836/1/ZORA_div_class_title_which_glaciers_are_the_largest_in_the_world_div.pdf https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-220836 https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.61 |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Arctic Greenland Patagonia The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Arctic Greenland Patagonia The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Arctic glacier Greenland Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Arctic glacier Greenland Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Windnagel, Ann; Hock, Regine; Maussion, Fabien; Paul, Frank; Rastner, Philipp; Raup, Bruce; Zemp, Michael (2023). Which glaciers are the largest in the world? Journal of Glaciology, 69(274):301-310. |
op_relation |
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/220836/1/ZORA_div_class_title_which_glaciers_are_the_largest_in_the_world_div.pdf doi:10.5167/uzh-220836 doi:10.1017/jog.2022.61 urn:issn:0022-1430 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-22083610.1017/jog.2022.61 |
_version_ |
1802647226711801856 |