Université de Fribourg

Reconstructions of the 1900–2015 Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance using the regional climate MAR model

Fettweis, Xavier ; Box, Jason E. ; Agosta, Cécile ; Amory, Charles ; Kittel, Christoph ; Lang, Charlotte ; As, Dirk van ; Machguth, Horst ; Gallée, Hubert

In: The Cryosphere, 2017, vol. 11, no. 2, p. 1015–1033

With the aim of studying the recent Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) surface mass balance (SMB) decrease relative to the last century, we have forced the regional climate MAR (Modèle Atmosphérique Régional; version 3.5.2) model with the ERA-Interim (ECMWF Interim Re-Analysis; 1979–2015), ERA-40 (1958–2001), NCEP–NCARv1 (National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for...

Université de Fribourg

Re-establishing glacier monitoring in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, Central Asia

Hoelzle, Martin ; Azisov, Erlan ; Barandun, Martina ; Huss, Matthias ; Farinotti, Daniel ; Gafurov, Abror ; Hagg, Wilfried ; Kenzhebaev, Ruslan ; Kronenberg, Marlene ; Machguth, Horst ; Merkushkin, Alexandr ; Moldobekov, Bolot ; Petrov, Maxim ; Saks, Tomas ; Salzmann, Nadine ; Schöne, Tilo ; Tarasov, Yuri ; Usubaliev, Ryskul ; Vorogushyn, Sergiy ; Yakovlev, Andrey ; Zemp, Michael

In: Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems, 2017, vol. 6, no. 2, p. 397–418

Glacier mass loss is among the clearest indicators of atmospheric warming. The observation of these changes is one of the major objectives of the international climate monitoring strategy developed by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). Long-term glacier mass balance measurements are furthermore the basis for calibrating and validating models simulating future runoff of glacierised...

Université de Fribourg

A snow density dataset for improving surface boundary conditions in greenland ice sheet firn modeling

Fausto, Robert S. ; Box, Jason E. ; Vandecrux, Baptiste ; As, Dirk van ; Steffen, Konrad ; MacFerrin, Michael J. ; Machguth, Horst ; Colgan, William ; Koenig, Lora S. ; McGrath, Daniel ; Charalampidis, Charalampos ; Braithwaite, Roger J.

In: Frontiers in Earth Science, 2018, vol. 6, p. -

The surface snow density of glaciers and ice sheets is of fundamental importance in converting volume to mass in both altimetry and surface mass balance studies, yet it is often poorly constrained. Site-specific surface snow densities are typically derived from empirical relations based on temperature and wind speed. These parameterizations commonly calculate the average density of the top...

Université de Fribourg

Strong contrast in mass and energy balance between a coastal mountain glacier and the Greenland ice sheet

Abermann, Jakob ; As, Dirk Van ; Wacker, Stefan ; Langley, Kirsty ; Machguth, Horst ; Fausto, Robert Schjøtt

In: Journal of Glaciology, 2019, vol. 65, no. 250, p. 263–269

We show a strong difference in surface mass and energy balance of a mountain glacier and two sites on the ice sheet at 64°N in West Greenland using stake and automated weather station observations. Net surface mass balance is on average 2.2 m w.e. less negative at the coast compared with the ice sheet in the same elevation. We find a larger energy turnover at the ice sheet margin on...

Université de Fribourg

The Swiss Alpine glaciers' response to the global '2 °C air temperature target'

Salzmann, Nadine ; Machguth, Horst ; Linsbauer, Andreas

In: Environmental Research Letters, 2012, vol. 7, no. 4, p. 044001

While there is general consensus that observed global mean air temperature has increased during the past few decades and will very likely continue to rise in the coming decades, the assessment of the effective impacts of increased global mean air temperature on a specific regional-scale system remains highly challenging. This study takes up the widely discussed concept of limiting global mean...

Université de Fribourg

Three decades of volume change of a small greenlandic glacier using ground penetrating radar, structure from motion, and aerial photogrammetry

Marcer, M. ; Stentoft, P. A. ; Bjerre, E. ; Cimoli, E. ; Bjørk, A. ; Stenseng, L. ; Machguth, Horst

In: Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 2017, vol. 49, no. 3, p. 411–425

Glaciers in the Arctic are losing mass at an increasing rate. Here we use surface topography derived from Structure from Motion (SfM) and ice volume from ground penetrating radar (GPR) to describe the 2014 state of Aqqutikitsoq glacier (2.85 km2) on Greenland's west coast. A photogrammetrically derived 1985 digital elevation model (DEM) was subtracted from a 2014 DEM obtained using land-based...

Université de Fribourg

A tipping point in refreezing accelerates mass loss of Greenland’s glaciers and ice caps

Noël, B. ; Berg, W. J van de ; Lhermitte, S. ; Wouters, B. ; Machguth, Horst ; Howat, I. ; Citterio, M. ; Moholdt, G. ; Lenaerts, J. T. M. ; Broeke, M. R. van den

In: Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, p. 14730

Melting of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) and its peripheral glaciers and ice caps (GICs) contributes about 43% to contemporary sea level rise. While patterns of GrIS mass loss are well studied, the spatial and temporal evolution of GICs mass loss and the acting processes have remained unclear. Here we use a novel, 1 km surface mass balance product, evaluated against in situ and remote...

Université de Fribourg

Worldwide version-controlled database of glacier thickness observations

Welty, Ethan ; Zemp, Michael ; Navarro, Francisco ; Huss, Matthias ; Fürst, Johannes J. ; Gärtner-Roer, Isabelle ; Landmann, Johannes ; Machguth, Horst ; Naegeli, Kathrin ; Andreassen, Liss M. ; Farinotti, Daniel ; Li, Huilin ; GlaThiDa Contributors

In: Earth System Science Data, 2020, vol. 12, no. 4, p. 3039–3055

Although worldwide inventories of glacier area have been coordinated internationally for several decades, a similar effort for glacier ice thicknesses was only initiated in 2013. Here, we present the third version of the Glacier Thickness Database (GlaThiDa v3), which includes 3 854 279 thickness measurements distributed over roughly 3000 glaciers worldwide. Overall, 14 % of global...