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You are browsing the archive for glacier mass loss Archives - From a Glacier's Perspective.

July 2, 2020

Global Glacier Change Bulletin 3 (WGMS) Reports Increasing Mass Balance Losses

Figure 1. Regionalized mean annual mass balance of WGMS reference glaciers 1980-2018, with 2019 being a mean of reference glaciers. Glaciers have been studied as sensitive indicators of climate for more than a century and are now experiencing a historically unprecedented decline (Zemp et al, 2015).  Glacier fluctuations in terminus position, mass balance and area are recognized as one of the most reliable indicators of climate change. This led to …

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August 1, 2018

Alpine Glacier-BAMS State of the Climate 2017

Global alpine glacier annual mass balance record of reference glaciers submitted to the World Glacier Monitoring Service, with 2017 continuing the trend of significant negative mass balance.  The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: State of the Climate 2017 has been published.  Since 2008 I have written the chapter on alpine glaciers. The World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS)record of mass balance and terminus behavior (WGMS 2017) provides a global index …

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August 2, 2016

Glaciers in BAMS State of Climate 2015

Decrease in Glacier Mass Balance uses measurements from 1980-2014 of the average mass balance for a group of North Cascade, WA glaciers. Mass balance is the annual budget for the glaciers: total snow accumulation minus total snow ablation. Not only are mass balances consistently negative, they are also continually decreasing. Glaciers have been one of the key and most iconic examples of the impact of global warming.   BAMS State of …

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