In this study, we apply a glacier mass balance and ice redistribution model to examine the sensitivity of glaciers in the Everest region of Nepal to climate change. Highresolution temperature and precipitation fields derived from gridded station data, and bias-corrected with independent station observations, are used to drive the historical model from 1961 to 2007. The model is calibrated again...

Evolution of glaciers in response to climate change has mostly been simulated using simplified dynamical models. Because these models do not account for the influence of high-order physics, corresponding results may exhibit some biases. For Haig Glacier in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, we test this hypothesis by comparing simulation results obtained from 3-D numerical models that deal with diff...

Nathorstbreen glacier system (NGS) recently experienced the largest surge in Svalbard since 1936, and this was examined using spatial and temporal observations from DEM differencing, time series of surface velocities from satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and other sources. The upper basins with maximum accumulation during quiescence corresponded to regions of initial lowering. Initial s...

Most small glaciers in the world have significantly decreased their volume during the last century, which has caused water shortage problems. Glacier No. 1, at the headwaters of the Urumqi River, Tianshan, China, has been monitored since 1959 and similarly has experienced significant mass and volume losses over the last few decades. Thus, we examined the trend and potential abrupt changes of th...

We present a set of new volume scaling relationships specific to Svalbard glaciers, derived from a sample of 60 volume–area pairs. Glacier volumes are computed from ground-penetrating radar (GPR)-retrieved ice thickness measurements, which have been compiled from different sources for this study. The most precise scaling models, in terms of lowest cross-validation errors, are obtained using a m...

Volume–area scaling is the most popular method for estimating the ice volume of large glacier samples. Here, a series of resampling experiments based on different sets of synthetic data is presented in order to derive an upperbound estimate (i.e. a level achieved only within ideal conditions) for its accuracy. For real-world applications, a lower accuracy has to be expected. We also quantify th...

To clarify altitudinal changes in the bacterial community on Gulkana Glacier in Alaska, we analyzed bacterial 16S rRNA gene by low-cycle PCR amplification, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), and culturing in a snowmelt medium at 4°C. Low-cycle PCR-based cloning revealed the presence of 100 bacterial OTUs; however, 41 OTUs were identified only in a single clone, suggesting that thei...

Samples of snow and firn from accumulation zones on Clark Glacier, Commonwealth Glacier, Blue Glacier and Victoria Upper Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (�77–788S and 161– 1648E), Antarctica, are evaluated chemically and isotopically to determine the relative importance of local (site-specific) factors versus regional-scale influences in defining glaciochemistry. Spatial variation in snow an...

Glacier surface mass balance evaluated over the actual glacier geometry depends not only on climatic variations, but also on the dynamic adjustment of glacier geometry. Therefore, it has been proposed that reference-surface balances calculated over a constant glacier hypsometry are better suited for climatic interpretation. Here we present a comparison of 82 year modelled time series (1926– 200...

We examine the validity of two methods for estimating glacier equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) from topographic maps. The ELA determined by contour inflection (the kinematic ELA) and the mean elevation of the glacier correlate extremely well with the ELA determined from mass-balance data (observed ELA). However, the range in glacier elevations above sea level is much larger than the variation ...