In: The Cryosphere, 2014, vol. 8, no. 5, p. 1741–1755
Glacier length is an important measure of glacier geometry. Nevertheless, global glacier inventories are mostly lacking length data. Only recently semi-automated approaches to measure glacier length have been developed and applied regionally. Here we present a first global assessment of glacier length using an automated method that relies on glacier surface slope, distance to the glacier margins...
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In: Water Resources Research, 2014, p. -
Projections of discharge are key for future water resources management. These projections are subject to uncertainties, which are difficult to handle in the decision process on adaptation strategies. Uncertainties arise from different sources such as the emission scenarios, the climate models and their post-processing, the hydrological models and natural variability. Here we present a detailed...
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In: The Cryosphere, 2014, vol. 8, no. 4, p. 1261–1273
Assessing and projecting the dynamic response of glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula to changed atmospheric and oceanic forcing requires high-resolution ice thickness data as an essential geometric constraint for ice flow models. Here, we derive a complete bedrock data set for the Antarctic Peninsula north of 70° S on a 100 m grid. We calculate distributed ice thickness based on surface...
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In: Geosciences, 2014, vol. 4, no. 3, p. 73–92
Snow is an excellent water reservoir, naturally storing large quantities of water at time scales from a few days to several months. In summer-dry countries, like Armenia, runoff due to snow melt from mountain regions is highly important for a sustained water supply (irrigation, hydropower). Snow fields on Mount Aragats, Armenia’s highest peak, often persist until July, providing vital amounts...
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In: Annals of Glaciology, 2014, vol. 55, no. 66, p. 34–44
Kyagar glacier is located in the Chinese Karakoram mountains. The glacier tongue entirely blocks the riverbed in the upper Shaksgam valley and impounds a glacial lake, which was the source of several violent and disastrous glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). A GLOF early warning system was implemented between 2011 and 2013. We present an integrative analysis of the hazard potential of Kyagar...
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In: Annals of Glaciology, 2014, vol. 55, no. 67, p. 22–28
A glacier-wide ice-thickness distribution and bedrock topography is presented for Starbuck Glacier, Antarctic Peninsula. The results are based on 90 km of ground-based radio-echo sounding lines collected during the 2012/13 field season. Cross-validation with ice-thickness measurements provided by NASA's IceBridge project reveals excellent agreement. Glacier-wide estimates are derived using a...
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In: Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2014, p. 1–24
We present and test a conceptual and methodological approach for interdisciplinary sustainability assessments of water governance systems based on what we call the sustainability wheel. The approach combines transparent identification of sustainability principles, their regional contextualization through sub-principles (indicators), and the scoring of these indicators through deliberative...
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In: The Cryosphere Discuss., 2012, vol. 6, p. 1117-1156
This study addresses the extrapolation of single glacier mass balance measurements to the mountain range scale and aims at deriving time series of area-averaged mass balance and ice volume change for all glaciers in the European Alps for the period 1900–2100. Long-term mass balance series for 50 Swiss glaciers based on a combination of field data and modelling, and WGMS data for glaciers in...
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In: Climatic Change, 2011, vol. 110, no. 3-4, p. 845-878
We discuss potential transitions of six climatic subsystems with large-scale impact on Europe, sometimes denoted as tipping elements. These are the ice sheets on Greenland and West Antarctica, the Atlantic thermohaline circulation, Arctic sea ice, Alpine glaciers and northern hemisphere stratospheric ozone. Each system is represented by co-authors actively publishing in the corresponding field....
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In: Hydrological Sciences Journal, 2011, vol. 56, no. 6, p. 981–993
The runoff regime of glacierized headwater catchments in the Alps is essentially characterized by snow and ice melt. High Alpine drainage basins influence distant downstream catchments of the Rhine River basin. In particular, during the summer months, low-flow conditions are probable with strongly reduced snow and ice melt under climate change conditions. This study attempts to quantify present...
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