In order to develop and evaluate a method for the determination of glacier volume from ice-thickness data, the volume of Schaufelferner, Austria, is calculated (1) by manual interpolation of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data based on measurements at 36 locations in 1995, (2) by manual interpolation of 144 GPR measurements acquired for a higher-resolution estimate in 2003 and 2006, (3) by mult...

Worldwide, the rapid shrinking of glaciers in response to ongoing climate change is modifying the glacial meltwater contribution to hydrosystems in glacierized catchments. Determining the influence of glacial runoff to streams is therefore of critical importance to evaluate potential impact of glacier retreat on water quality and aquatic biota. This task has challenged both glacier hydrologists...

Ongoing glacial retreat is expected to lead to numerous changes in glacier-fed rivers. This study documents the development of community composition of the hitherto widely neglected micro- and meiobenthos (MMB: bacteria, fungi, algae, protists, and meiofauna) in glacier rivers in response to the distinct habitat conditions driven by different stages of (de)glacierization. Our model is based on ...

We characterize the seasonal variation in the geochemical and isotopic content of the outflow of the Green Lake 5 rock glacier (RG5), located in the Green Lakes Valley of the Colorado Front Range, USA. Between June and August, the geochemical content of rock glacier outflow does not appear to differ substantially from that of other surface waters in the Green Lakes Valley. Thus, for this alpine...

Complete Swiss glacier inventories are available for 1850 (reconstructed) and 1973 (from aerial photography). Connected to the GLIMS project a new Swiss glacier inventory for approximately the year 2000 (SGI 2000) is compiled mainly based on satellite imagery. The developed and applied remote sensing and GIS methods are described in part I of the contribution. In part II, the inventory design, ...

Analyses of multispectral satellite data indicate accelerated glacier decline around the globe since the 1980s. By using digitized glacier outlines inferred from the 1973 inventory and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite data from 1985 to 1999, we obtained area changes of about 930 Alpine glaciers. The 18% area reduction as observed for the period 1985 to 1999 (−1.3% a�1) corresponds to a se...

In the course of glacier retreat, new glacier lakes can develop. As such lakes can be a source of natural hazards, strategies for predicting future glacier lake formation are important for an early planning of safety measures. In this article, a multi-level strategy for the identification of overdeepened parts of the glacier beds and, hence, sites with potential future lake formation, is presen...

Glacier surfaces are not only composed of ice or snow but are heterogeneousmixtures of different materials. The occurrence and dynamics of light-absorbing impurities affect ice surface characteristics and strongly influence glacier melt processes. However, our understanding of the spatial distribution of impurities and their impact on ice surface characteristics and the glacier's energy budget ...

The glaciers of the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, are rapidly retreating and thinning as a result of climate change, altering the timing, quantity and quality of water available to downstream users. Furthermore, increases in the number and size of proglacial lakes associated with these melting glaciers is increasing potential exposure to glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Understanding how these ...

Glacier-fed rivers are among the most sensitive and endangered habitat types nowadays. Their upper reaches are located within areas of economic interest (e.g. skiing and glacier skiing, hydropower generation), but also within protected areas such as, for example, National Parks worldwide (e.g. Hohe Tauern, Pyrenees, Rocky Mountains). The majority of glacial river studies has focused on the macr...