Highlight articles

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This page features highlight articles from EGU's open access journals Geoscientific Model Development and The Cryosphere. These articles of particular interest are selected by journal editors.

182 items found

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Observed snow depth trends in the European Alps: 1971 to 2019

Here, we present an Alpine-wide analysis of snow depth from six Alpine countries – Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, and Switzerland – including altogether more than 2000 stations of which more than 800 were used for the trend assessment. Linear trends of monthly mean snow depth between1971 and 2019 showed decreases in snow depth for most stations from November to May.

The case of a southern European glacier which survived Roman and medieval warm periods but is disappearing under recent warming

We present here the first chronological study of a glacier located in the Central Pyrenees (NE Spain), Monte Perdido Glacier (MPG),carried out by different radiochronological techniques and a comparison with geochemical proxies from neighbouring palaeoclimate records. The chronological model evidences that the glacier persisted during the Roman period and the Medieval Climate Anomaly. The apparent absence of ice in the past∼ 600 years suggests that any ice accumulated during the Little Ice Age has since ablated.

Diverging responses of high-latitude CO2 and CH4 emissions in idealized climate change scenarios

The present study investigates the response of the high-latitude carbon cycle to changes in atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in idealized climate change scenarios. We find that at a global mean temperature of roughly 1.75 K (±0.5 K) above pre-industrial levels the high-latitude ecosystem turns from a CO2 sink into a source of atmospheric carbon, with the net fluxes into the atmosphere increasing substantially with rising atmospheric GHG concentrations. This is very different from scenario simulations with the standard version of the MPI-ESM, in which the region continues to take up atmospheric CO2 throughout the entire 21st century.

Mapping avalanches with satellites – evaluation of performance andcompleteness

The spatial distribution and size of avalanches are essential parameters for avalanche warning, avalanche documentation, mitigation measure design and hazard zonation. Despite its importance, this information is incomplete today and only available for limited areas and limited time periods.

Development of a MetUM (v 11.1) and NEMO (v 3.6) coupled operational forecastmodel for the Maritime Continent – Part 1: Evaluation of ocean forecasts

This article describes the development and ocean forecast evaluation of an atmosphere–ocean coupled prediction system for the Maritime Continent (MC) domain, which includes the eastern Indian and western Pacific oceans. Overall, the model forecast deviation of SST, SSH, and subsurface temperature and salinity fields relative to observation is within acceptable error limits of operational forecast models.

Coordinating an operational data distribution network for CMIP6 data

The distribution of data contributed to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) is via the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF). The ESGF is a network of internationally distributed sites that together work as a federated data archive.

Macroscopic water vapor diffusion is not enhanced in snow

The Cryosphere
DOI 10.5194/tc-15-389-2021
12 February 2021

Here we show using theory and numerical simulations of idealized and measured snow microstructures that, although sublimation and deposition of water vapor onto snow crystal surfaces do enhance microscopic diffusion in the pore space, this effect is more than countered by the restriction of diffusion space due to ice.

Review article: Earth’s ice imbalance

We combine satellite observations and numerical models to show that Earth lost 28 trillion tonnes of ice between 1994 and 2017.

Brief communication: Heterogenous thinning and subglacial lake activity on Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet has long been considered geometrically prone to collapse, and Thwaites Glacier, the largest glacier in the Amundsen Sea, is likely in the early stages of disintegration. Using observations of Thwaites Glacier velocity and elevation change, we show that the transport of ~2 km ³ of water beneath Thwaites Glacier has only a small and transient effect on glacier speed relative to ongoing thinning driven by ocean melt.

The Antarctic sea ice cover from ICESat-2 and CryoSat-2: freeboard, snow depth, and ice thickness

Our current understanding of Antarctic ice cover is largely informed by ice extent measurements from passive microwave sensors. These records, while useful, provide a limited picture of how the ice is responding to climate change. In this paper, we combine measurements from ICESat-2 and CryoSat-2 missions to assess snow depth and ice thickness of the Antarctic ice cover over an 8-month period (April through November 2019). The potential impact of salinity in the snow layer is discussed.

CR Cryospheric Sciences Highlight articles