The longest continuous glaciological mass-balance time-series in the intertropical zone of South America goes back to 1991 on Glaciar Zongo, Bolivia. Photogrammetric and hydrological data have been used to (1) check the specific net balance over long periods and (2) extend the mass-balance time series over the last 50 years. These data reveal a bias in the glaciological mass balance which can be explained by the field-measurement sampling network. Our study shows a large temporal variability of the surface mass balances in the ablation area and reveals strong relationships between independent surface mass-balance data coming from selected ablation areas with numerous data. It demonstrates the very large contribution (80%) of low-elevation ranges (one-third of the surface) to the specific mass balance and, consequently, the importance of the reduction of the area of the tongue. With these new results, Glaciar Zongo offers the longest and most accurate mass-balance series in any Andean country. The dataset shows that Glaciar Zongo experienced a relatively steady state over the period 1956–75, with even a slight mass gain over 1963–75, and a rapid and continuous decrease since then.

Sensible-heat flux is obviously important for glacier ablation but is difficult to measure routinely. Sensible-heat flux can be estimated from wind-speed and temperature data using a dimensionless heat-transfer coefficient. Values of the heat-transfer coefficient are evaluated for six sites by correlating measured melt energy with a wind–temperature variable (product of daily mean wind speed, temperature and mean atmospheric pressure for the altitude in question). Data are available for short periods from two sites in Arctic Canada and two sites in North Greenland, and for hundreds of days of record at Nordbogletscher and Qamanârssûp sermia in South and West Greenland, respectively. Average transfer coefficients for four out of the six sites are close to 0.003, which is in reasonable agreement with values reported elsewhere, while larger values of 0.0047 and 0.0057 are found at the other two sites. Heat-transfer coefficients are also estimated on a monthly basis for the two long records, and substantial variations are found, suggesting that the method should not be used for <20–30 days of data. The present study is based on manually observed ablation and climate data, but the approach could be updated to use data from automatic recording stations using modern sensors.

We discuss the inclusion of the subsurface heat-conduction flux into the calculation of the energy balance and ablation at the glacier–atmosphere interface. Data from automatic weather stations are used to force an energy-balance model at several locations on alpine glaciers and at one site in the dry Andes of central Chile. The heat-conduction flux is computed using a two-layer scheme, assuming that 36% of the net shortwave radiation is absorbed by the surface layer and that the rest penetrates into the snowpack. We compare simulations conducted with and without subsurface heat flux. Results show that assuming a surface temperature of zero degrees leads to a larger overestimation of melt at the sites in the accumulation area (10.4–13.3%) than in the ablation area (0.5–2.8%), due to lower air temperatures and the presence of snow. The difference between simulations with and without heat conduction is also high at the beginning and end of the ablation season (up to 29% for the first 15 days of the season), when air temperatures are lower and snow covers the glacier surface, while they are of little importance during periods of sustained melt at all the locations investigated.

Conventional and reference-surface mass-balance data from Gulkana and Wolverine Glaciers, Alaska, USA, are used to address the questions of how rapidly these glaciers are adjusting (or ‘responding’) to climate, whether their responses are stable, and whether the glaciers are likely to survive in today’s climate. Instability means that a glacier will eventually vanish, or at least become greatly reduced in volume, if the climate stabilizes at its present state. A simple non-linear theory of response is presented for the analysis. The response of Gulkana Glacier is characterized by a timescale of several decades, but its stability and therefore its survival in today’s climate are uncertain. Wolverine seems to be responding to climate more slowly, on the timescale of one to several centuries. Its stability is also uncertain, but a slower response time would make it more susceptible to climate changes.

Early–mid Pliocene moraines in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, are more extensive than the present alpine glaciers in this region, indicating substantial climatic differences between the early–mid Pliocene and the present. To quantify this difference in the glacier–climate regime, we estimated the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) change since the early–mid Pliocene by calculating the modern ELA and reconstructing the ELAs of four alpine glaciers in Wright and Taylor Valleys at their early–mid Pliocene maxima. The area–altitude balance ratio method was used on modern and reconstructed early–mid Pliocene hypsometry. In Wright and Victoria Valleys, mass-balance data identify present-day ELAs of 800–1600ma.s.l. and an average balance ratio of 1.1. The estimated ELAs of the much larger early–mid Pliocene glaciers in Wright and Taylor Valleys range from 600 to 950±170ma.s.l., and thus are 250–600±170m lower than modern ELAs in these valleys. The depressed ELAs during the early–mid-Pliocene most likely indicate a wetter and therefore warmer climate in the Dry Valleys during this period than previous studies have recognized.

A new method was developed to estimate the mass balance in unsampled areas from existing datasets. Three years of mass-balance data from two glaciers in the central Italian Alps were used to develop and test a multiple-regression method based exclusively on a 10m resolution digital terrain model. The introduction of a relative elevation attribute, which expresses the degree of wind exposure of the gridcells, notably increased the amount of explainable variance in winter balance with respect to altitude itself. The summer balance is highly correlated with elevation, but, in order to obtain reliable extrapolations, the clear-sky shortwave radiation and the diurnal cloud-cover cycle had to be taken into account. The net annual mass balance on a glacier system comprising the two monitored glaciers was calculated by applying both a single regression of winter and summer balance with altitude and the new regression method. The consistency of results was assessed against measured net balances and snow-cover maps drawn in the ablation season. The results of the new method were in close agreement with observations and proved to be less sensitive to the spatial representation of the sampled areas.

This paper presents the first attempt to measure the calving rate and flow velocity of the front of a glacier using ground-based high-range resolution interferometric radar at a high temporal rate (2 Hz). The radar, operating at 5.75 GHz, is located ∽4 km from the calving front of Kronebreen, Svalbard. The radar measures a horizontal width of ∽700m of the front, and a range of 300 m. The latter includes the calving front and 250m up-glacier. We find that the glacier surface provides permanent scatterers, so spatially continuous movements at the front and at locations further up-glacier can be tracked. For ∽8 hours we measured a large increase in velocity at the calving front, which extended 30 m up-glacier, while further up-glacier the velocity was stable (∽2.5md–1) during the entire period. Two large calving events were identified during this survey, removing 25m of ice in the radar range direction normal to the ice front. The velocity of the front slowed to a stable 2.5md–1 after the events. During another data series the velocities were stable (∽2.5md–1) and no calving events were identified. The method is promising for carrying out studies of processes at a calving front, as it provides spatially continuous, high-frequency accurate velocities from a safe distance to the glacier.

All climate models participating in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as made available by the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI) as the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 3 (CMIP3) archive, predict a significant surface warming of Antarctica by the end of the 21st century under a moderate (SRESA1B) greenhouse-gas scenario. All models but one predict a concurrent precipitation increase but with a large scatter of results. The models with finer horizontal resolution tend to predict a larger precipitation increase. Because modeled Antarctic surface mass balance is known to be sensitive to horizontal resolution, extrapolating predictions from the different models with respect to model resolution may provide simple yet better multi-model estimates of Antarctic precipitation change than mere averaging or even more complex approaches. Using such extrapolation, a conservative estimate of the predicted precipitation increase at the end of the 21st century is +30 kg m–2 a–1 on the grounded ice sheet, corresponding to a >1m ma–1 sea-level rise. About three-quarters of this rise originates from the marginal regions of the Antarctic ice sheet with surface elevation below 2250 m. This is where field programs are most urgently needed to better understand and monitor accumulation at the surface of Antarctica, and to improve and verify prediction models.

It has been suggested that meteorological and climate models underestimate snow accumulation on the Antarctic plateau, because accumulation (or surface mass balance (SMB)) is dominated by clear-sky precipitation while this process is not properly taken into account in the models. Here, we show that differences between model and field SMB data are much reduced when the in situ SMB reports used to evaluate the models are filtered through quality-control criteria and less reliable reports are subsequently left out. We thus argue that, although not necessarily unsupported, model biases and their interpretations in terms of clear-sky vs synoptic precipitation on the Antarctic plateau may have been overstated in the past. To avoid such misleading issues, it is important that in situ SMB reports of insufficient or unassessed reliability are discarded, even at the cost of a strong reduction in spatial sampling and coverage.

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.

Numerous glaciological data have been obtained from measurements carried out on Glacier d’Argentière, Mont Blanc area, France, since the beginning of the 20th century. Moreover, data on annual mass balance, ice-flow velocity, thickness variation and length fluctuation have been obtained from yearly measurements performed since 1975. This dataset provides an excellent opportunity to analyze the relationships between surface mass balance and dynamic response over time periods during which net mass balance changed from positive to negative. Following a positive specific-net-balance period between 1960 and 1981, the ablation zone experienced a large increase in thickness and ice-flow velocities. Conversely, the highly negative specific-net-balance period since 1982 has led to strong thinning, deceleration and retreat of the tongue. The response of these observed dynamics to surface mass balance is analyzed from ice-flux calculations performed on three transverse cross-sections. Our results reveal that the ice fluxes are largely accommodated by ice-flow velocities. Velocity fluctuations are synchronous over the entire area studied. In the largest part of the glacier, no compressing/extending flow change has been observed over the last 30 years and thickness changes are solely driven by surface mass-balance changes. However, on the tongue of the glacier, thickness changes do not depend on surface mass balance but are mainly driven by changes in the longitudinal strain rate.

Glacier mass-balance models that employ the degree-day method of melt modeling are most commonly driven by surface air temperatures that have been downscaled over the area of interest, using digital elevation models and assuming a constant free air lapse rate that is often taken to be the moist adiabatic lapse rate (MALR: –6.5°Ckm–1). Air-temperature lapse rates measured over melting glacier surface are, however, consistently less steep than free air values and have been shown to vary systematically with lower-tropospheric temperatures. In this study, the implications of including a variable near-surface lapse rate in a 26 year (1980–2006) degree-day model simulation of the surface mass balance of Devon Ice Cap, Nunavut, Canada, are examined and compared with estimates derived from surface air temperatures downscaled using a constant near-surface lapse rate equal to the measured summer mean (–4.9°Ckm–1) and the MALR. Our results show that degree-day models are highly sensitive to the choice of lapse rate. When compared with 23 years of surface mass-balance measurements from the northwest sector of the ice cap, model estimates are significantly better when surface air temperatures are downscaled using a modeled daily lapse rate rather than a constant lapse equal to either the summer mean or the MALR.

In this study, long-term series of winter mass balances from two neighbouring glaciers in the southern Oetztal Alps, Austria, i.e. Hintereisferner and Vernagtferner, are analyzed with respect to the methods used in their determination. For this purpose, (1) some basic data of field surveys are presented, (2) the influence of different temporal systems is discussed, and (3) the profile, contour and a ‘model’ method based on energy-balance ablation modelling and measured net mass balance are discussed with respect to the reliability of the resulting series. The main findings of the investigations are: (1) The winter mass-balance series for Hintereisferner and Vernagtferner as determined with all applied methods result in a reliable climatologic average of 1000±100mmw.e. (2) When using the profile method, different spatial integration approaches are quite sensitive to the altitudinal coverage and the spatial pattern of observations. (3) The error of the model method occurs randomly, whereas contour as well as profile-method errors are more systematic. (4) Filtered time series from the two glaciers show similar tendencies for the last three decades.

This paper describes a new compilation of both direct and geodetic mass-balance measurements, develops a procedure to reduce diverse balance measurements over different time-spans to common time-spans, and presents updated estimates of global average balance of small glaciers based on the enlarged compilation. Although geodetic measurements are fewer than direct measurements, they cover four times as many balance years. Direct and geodetic measurements are unbiased with respect to one another, but differences are often substantial. The statistical procedure can be understood by imagining that an n-year balance measurement is an average of a series of 1 year measurements. The series is hypothetical but we can calculate the uncertainty of each of its elements if, in addition to its measured average, we can also estimate its standard deviation. For this claim to be valid, the annual series must be stationary and normally distributed with independent (roughly, uncorrelated) elements, for which there is reasonable evidence. The need to know the standard deviation means that annual direct measurements from a nearby glacier, or equally reliable information about variability, are indispensable. Given this information, the new methodology results in moderately more negative balances. This is probably because tidewater glaciers are better represented in the geodetic data. In any case, the most recent published estimate of global average balance, 0.8–1.0mma–1 of sea-level equivalent for 2001–04, is now increased substantially to 1.1–1.4 mma–1 for 2001–05.

Glacier mass balance is the direct and undelayed response to atmospheric conditions and hence is among the essential variables required for climate system monitoring. It has been recognized as the largest non-steric contributor to the present rise in sea level. Six decades of annual mass-balance data have been compiled and made easily available by the World Glacier Monitoring Service and its predecessor organizations. In total, there have been 3480 annual mass-balance measurements reported from 228 glaciers around the globe. However, the present dataset is strongly biased towards the Northern Hemisphere and Europe and there are only 30 ‘reference’ glaciers that have uninterrupted series going back to 1976. The available data from the six decades indicate a strong ice loss as early as the 1940s and 1950s followed by a moderate mass loss until the end of the 1970s and a subsequent acceleration that has lasted until now, culminating in a mean overall ice loss of over 20mw.e. for the period 1946–2006. In view of the discrepancy between the relevance of glacier mass-balance data and the shortcomings of the available dataset it is strongly recommended to: (1) continue the long-term measurements; (2) resume interrupted long-term data series; (3) replace vanishing glaciers by early-starting replacement observations; (4) extend the monitoring network to strategically important regions; (5) validate, calibrate and accordingly flag field measurements with geodetic methods; and (6) make systematic use of remote sensing and geo-informatics for assessment of the representativeness of the available data series for their entire mountain range and for the extrapolation to regions without in situ observations; and (7) make all these data and related meta-information available.

Variance analysis of the long time series of mass balances recorded on Glacier de Sarennes (45°07’ N, 6°07’ E) France, since 1949 shows that the variability can be separated linearly in two spatial and temporal terms. Annual balances deviate from their mean values over the period of record by an annual amount that is uniform over the glacier. Annual balances at each stake are therefore highly correlated, and sampling at a single site would be acceptable to record the annual deviation. A result of the linear character of the variance is the possibility of obtaining a systematic error-free estimate of the annual glacier-total budget by combining the mean annual balance obtained from photogrammetry and the annual deviation obtained from the variance analysis, rather than using the traditional area integration of balances at each stake.

The geodetic mass balance of the western Svartisen ice cap in northern Norway is determined, in this work, from photogrammetry on vertical aerial photographs taken in 1968, 1985 and 2002. The existing 1968 digital terrain model (DTM) was generated using analogue photogrammetry, and the 1985 and 2002 DTMs are newly generated using digital photogrammetry. The geodetic mass balance for 1968–85 is –2.6±0.8mw.e., and for 1985–2002 it is –2.0±1.6mw.e. The area of western Svartisen decreased from 190 km2 in 1968, to 187 km2 in 1985 and to 184 km2 in 2002. The outlet glacier Flatisen in the southeast retreated 1700 m over the two periods. The geodetic mass balance is also determined for Engabreen drainage basin, as –2.1±0.9mw.e. for the first period, and –0.3±2.4mw.e. for the second. The results for Engabreen are compared to traditional mass balances, and the large deviations cannot be explained from uncertainties determined for the geodetic method. The assessed errors contributing to the uncertainty in the geodetic mass balance are elevation errors, uncertainties from the applied melt correction, and the use of Sorge’s law, assuming constant snow thickness and density.

We have reconstructed the annual balance of Vadret da Morteratsch, Engadine, Switzerland, with a two-dimensional energy-balance model for the period 1865–2005. The model takes into account a parameterization of the surface energy fluxes, an albedo that decreases exponentially with snow depth as well as the shading effect of the surrounding mountains. The model was first calibrated with a 5 year record of annual balance measurements made at 20 different sites on the glacier between 2001 and 2006 using meteorological data from surrounding weather stations as input. To force the model for the period starting in 1865, we employed monthly temperature and precipitation records from nearby valley stations. The model reproduces the observed annual balance reasonably well, except for the lower part during the warmest years. Most crucial to the results is the altitudinal precipitation gradient, but this factor is hard to quantify from the limited precipitation data at high elevations. The simulation shows an almost continuous mass loss since 1865, with short interruptions around 1920, 1935 and 1980. A trend towards a more negative annual balance can be observed since the beginning of the 1980s. The simulated cumulative mass balance for the entire period 1865–2005 was found to be –46mw.e.

Mass-balance measurements were initiated on Engabreen, an outlet glacier from the Svartisen ice cap, Norway, in 1970. The glacier boundary was defined based on where meltwater drained, as the interest in Engabreen was mainly hydrological. However, the apparent discrepancy between the calculated cumulative glacier mass balance since 1970 and changes in glacier geometry prompted a re-examination of the glacier boundary. The glaciological drainage boundary is defined by studying whether ice flow physically contributes to Engabreen tongue and corresponds to a glacier with an area of 27.2 km2, significantly smaller than that defined by the hydrological drainage boundary at 39.6 km2. This glaciological drainage boundary is here named the ice-flow perimeter. The area difference between this and the hydrological drainage boundary is largest for the altitudinal range 1300–1400ma.s.l. Generally, the ‘glaciological’ glacier is lower in mean altitude than the ‘hydrological’ glacier, and this affects the calculated specific mass balance. Using the glaciological boundary leads to reductions in mean annual winter and summer balance (when spatial differences are ignored) of 0.12 mw.e. (from 2.92 to 2.80mw.e.) and 0.15 mw.e. (from –2.32 to –2.47mw.e.), respectively. The reduction in mean net balance for the period 1970–2006 is 0.27mw.e. (from +0.59 to +0.32mw.e.) which is about 50% of the calculated mass surplus in this period. This illustrates that the choice of glacier outline can significantly influence the long-term cumulative mass balance and that results from outlet glaciers must be interpreted with care when used for regional estimates of glacier change.