Université de Fribourg

Partitioning the uncertainty of ensemble projections of global glacier mass change

Marzeion, Ben ; Hock, Regine ; Anderson, Brian ; Bliss, Andrew ; Champollion, Nicolas ; Fujita, Koji ; Huss, Matthias ; Immerzeel, Walter W. ; Kraaijenbrink, Philip ; Malles, Jan‐Hendrik ; Maussion, Fabien ; Radić, Valentina ; Rounce, David R. ; Sakai, Akiko ; Shannon, Sarah ; Wal, Roderik ; Zekollari, Harry

In: Earth’s Future, 2020, vol. 8, no. 7, p. -

Glacier mass loss is recognized as a major contributor to current sea level rise. However, large uncertainties remain in projections of glacier mass loss on global and regional scales. We present an ensemble of 288 glacier mass and area change projections for the 21st century based on 11 glacier models using up to 10 general circulation models and four Representative Concentration Pathways...

Université de Fribourg

The impact of climate change and glacier mass loss on the hydrology in the Mont-Blanc massif

Laurent, Léa ; Buoncristiani, Jean‑François ; Pohl, Benjamin ; Zekollari, Harry ; Farinotti, Daniel ; Huss, Matthias ; Mugnier, Jean‑Louis ; Pergaud, Julien

In: Scientific Reports, 2020, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 10420

The Mont-Blanc massif, being iconic with its large glaciers and peaks of over 4,000 m, will experience a sharp increase in summer temperatures during the twenty-first century. By 2100, the impact of climate change on the cryosphere and hydrosphere in the Alps is expected to lead to a decrease in annual river discharge. In this work, we modelled the twenty-first century evolution of runoff in...

Université de Fribourg

On the imbalance and response time of glaciers in the european alps

Zekollari, Harry ; Huss, Matthias ; Farinotti, Daniel

In: Geophysical Research Letters, 2020, vol. 47, no. 2, p. e2019GL085578

Glaciers in the European Alps rapidly lose mass to adapt to changes in climate conditions. Here, we investigate the relationship and lag between climate forcing and geometric glacier response with a regional glacier evolution model accounting for ice dynamics. The volume loss occurring as a result of the glacier‐climate imbalance increased over the early 21st century, from about 35% in...

Université de Fribourg

Large hydropower and water-storage potential in future glacier-free basins

Farinotti, Daniel ; Round, Vanessa ; Huss, Matthias ; Compagno, Loris ; Zekollari, Harry

In: Nature, 2019, vol. 575, no. 7782, p. 341–344

Climate change is causing widespread glacier retreat1, and much attention is devoted to negative impacts such as diminishing water resources2, shifts in runoff seasonality3, and increases in cryosphere-related hazards4. Here we focus on a different aspect, and explore the water-storage and hydropower potential of areas that are expected to become ice-free during the course of this century....

Université de Fribourg

Future shifts in extreme flow regimes in Alpine regions

Brunner, Manuela I. ; Farinotti, Daniel ; Zekollari, Harry ; Huss, Matthias ; Zappa, Massimiliano

In: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 2019, vol. 23, no. 11, p. 4471–4489

Extreme low and high flows can have negative economic, social, and ecological effects and are expected to become more severe in many regions due to climate change. Besides low and high flows, the whole flow regime, i.e., annual hydrograph comprised of monthly mean flows, is subject to changes. Knowledge on future changes in flow regimes is important since regimes contain information on both ...

Université de Fribourg

Modelling the future evolution of glaciers in the European Alps under the EURO-CORDEX RCM ensemble

Zekollari, Harry ; Huss, Matthias ; Farinotti, Daniel

In: The Cryosphere, 2019, vol. 13, no. 4, p. 1125–1146

Glaciers in the European Alps play an important role in the hydrological cycle, act as a source for hydroelectricity and have a large touristic importance. The future evolution of these glaciers is driven by surface mass balance and ice flow processes, of which the latter is to date not included explicitly in regional glacier projections for the Alps. Here, we model the future evolution of...