TY - JOUR
T1 - Supraglacial ice cliffs can substantially increase the mass loss of debris‐covered glaciers
AU - Buri, Pascal
AU - Miles, Evan S.
AU - Steiner, Jakob F.
AU - Ragettli, Silvan
AU - Pellicciotti, Francesca
PY - 2021/2/10
Y1 - 2021/2/10
N2 - The thinning patterns of debris‐covered glaciers in High Mountain Asia are not well understood. Here we calculate the effect of supraglacial ice cliffs on the mass balance of all glaciers in a Himalayan catchment, using a process‐based ice cliff melt model. We show that ice cliffs are responsible for higher than expected thinning rates of debris‐covered glacier tongues, leading to an underestimation of their ice mass loss of 17 ±4 % in the catchment if not considered. We also show that cliffs do enhance melt where other processes would suppress it, i.e. at high elevations, or where debris is thick, and that they contribute relatively more to glacier mass loss if oriented north. Our approach provides a key contribution to our understanding of the mass losses of debris‐covered glaciers, and a new quantification of their catchment wide melt and mass balance.
AB - The thinning patterns of debris‐covered glaciers in High Mountain Asia are not well understood. Here we calculate the effect of supraglacial ice cliffs on the mass balance of all glaciers in a Himalayan catchment, using a process‐based ice cliff melt model. We show that ice cliffs are responsible for higher than expected thinning rates of debris‐covered glacier tongues, leading to an underestimation of their ice mass loss of 17 ±4 % in the catchment if not considered. We also show that cliffs do enhance melt where other processes would suppress it, i.e. at high elevations, or where debris is thick, and that they contribute relatively more to glacier mass loss if oriented north. Our approach provides a key contribution to our understanding of the mass losses of debris‐covered glaciers, and a new quantification of their catchment wide melt and mass balance.
KW - supraglacial ice cliffs
KW - Nepalese Himalayas
KW - contribution of ice cliffs to glacier melt
U2 - 10.1029/2020gl092150
DO - 10.1029/2020gl092150
M3 - Article
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
SN - 0094-8276
M1 - e2020GL092150
ER -