In: Water Resources Research, 2011, vol. 47, p. W07511
The contribution of glaciers to runoff from large-scale drainage basins in Europe is analyzed for the major streams originating in the Alps: Rhine, Rhone, Po, and Danube. Detailed information on glacier storage change is available from monthly mass balance data of 50 Swiss glaciers for the period 1908–2008. Storage changes are extrapolated to all glaciers in the European Alps. By comparing...
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In: Mathematical Modelling of Natural Phenomena, 2011, vol. 6, no. 05, p. 263-280
A numerical model to compute the dynamics of glaciers is presented. Ice damage due to cracks or crevasses can be taken into account whenever needed. This model allows simulations of the past and future retreat of glaciers, the calving process or the break-off of hanging glaciers. All these phenomena are strongly affected by climate change.Ice is assumed to behave as an incompressible fluid with...
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In: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 2011, vol. 15, p. 1227-1241
The hydrology of high mountainous catchments is often predicted with conceptual precipitation-discharge models that simulate the snow accumulation and ablation behavior of a very complex environment using as only input temperature and precipitation. It is hereby often assumed that some glacier-wide annual balance estimates, in addition to observed discharge, are sufficient to reliably calibrate...
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In: The Cryosphere, 2011, vol. 5, no. 1, p. 231-243
A range of englacial temperature measurements was acquired in the Monte Rosa area at the border of Switzerland and Italy in the years 1982, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2008. Englacial temperatures revealed no evidence of warming at the firn saddle of Colle Gnifetti at 4452 m a.s.l. between 1982 and 1991, the 1991 to 2000 period showed an increase of 0.05 °C per year at a depth...
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In: The Cryosphere, 2011, vol. 4, p. 489-500
The Gouffre des Diablotins is a deep cave system located in the Swiss Prealps. In 1991, the lower entrance zone of the cave was almost free of ice. Nevertheless the ice volume sharply increased in 1994, plugging almost totally the gallery from the lower entrance. The ice cave has also experienced a flood period between 1996 and 2007 and very heterogeneous ice surface morphologies and textures...
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In: Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 2011, vol. 21, no. 4, p. 325–334
A coupled heat and mass transfer model simulating mass and energy balance of the soil-snow-atmosphere boundary layer was applied to simulate ground temperatures, together with water and ice content evolution, in the active layer of an alpine permafrost site on Schilthorn, Swiss Alps. Abrupt shifts and subsequent fluctuations in ground temperature observed in alpine permafrost boreholes at the...
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In: The Cryosphere Discussions, 2010, vol. 4, no. 2, p. 787-821
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In: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 2010, vol. 14, no. 5, p. 815-829
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In: Geophysical Research Letters, 2009, vol. 36, p. L23501
A 94-year time series of annual glacier melt at four high elevation sites in the European Alps is used to investigate the effect of global dimming and brightening of solar radiation on glacier mass balance. Snow and ice melt was stronger in the 1940s than in recent years, in spite of significantly higher air temperatures in the present decade. An inner Alpine radiation record shows that in the...
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In: Journal of Geophysical Research, 2009, vol. 114, p. D19106
This study aims at giving a methodical description of the use of gridded output from a regional climate model (RCM) for the calculation of glacier mass balance distribution for the perimeter of the Swiss Alps. The mass balance model runs at daily steps and 100 m spatial resolution, while the regional model (REMO) RCM provides daily grids (∼18 km resolution) of dynamically downscaled reanalysis...
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