Surface undulations of Antarctic ice streams tightly controlled by bedrock topography The Cryosphere DOI 10.5194/tc-7-407-2013 1 March 2013 In our work we use recently acquired airborne radar data for the Rutford Ice Stream and Evans Ice Stream, and we show that the surface response of fast-flowing ice is highly sensitive to bedrock irregularities with wavelengths of several ice thicknesses. Read more
Brief Communication: Expansion of meltwater lakes on the Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere DOI 10.5194/tc-7-201-2013 1 February 2013 Forty years of satellite imagery reveal that meltwater lakes on the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet have expanded substantially inland to higher elevations with warming. These lakes are important because they provide a mechanism for bringing water to the ice bed, causing sliding. Read more
Current state of glaciers in the tropical Andes: a multi-century perspective on glacier evolution and climate change The Cryosphere DOI 10.5194/tc-7-81-2013 22 January 2013 The aim of this paper is to provide the community with a comprehensive overview of the studies of glaciers in the tropical Andes conducted in recent decades leading to the current status of the glaciers in the context of climate change. In terms of changes in surface area and length, we show that the glacier retreat in the tropical Andes over the last three decades is unprecedented since the maximum extension of the Little Ice Age (LIA, mid-17th–early 18th century). Read more
The stability of grounding lines on retrograde slopes The Cryosphere DOI 10.5194/tc-6-1497-2012 12 December 2012 The stability of marine ice sheets grounded on beds that slope upwards in the overall direction of flow is investigated numerically in two horizontal dimensions. We give examples of stable grounding lines on such retrograde slopes illustrating that marine ice sheets are not unconditionally unstable in two horizontal dimensions. Read more
Transition in the fractal geometry of Arctic melt ponds The Cryosphere DOI 10.5194/tc-6-1157-2012 19 October 2012 By analyzing data from hundreds of thousands of melt ponds, we find an unexpected separation of scales, where pond fractal dimension D transitions from 1 to 2 around a critical length scale of 100 m2 in area. The results impact sea ice albedo, the transmitted radiation fields under melting sea ice, the heat balance of sea ice and the upper ocean, and biological productivity such as under ice phytoplankton blooms. Read more
Statistical adaptation of ALADIN RCM outputs over the French Alps – application to future climate and snow cover The Cryosphere DOI 10.5194/tc-6-785-2012 24 July 2012 In this study, snowpack scenarios are modelled across the French Alps using dynamically downscaled variables from the ALADIN Regional Climate Model (RCM) for the control period (1961–1990) and three emission scenarios (SRES B1, A1B and A2) for the mid- and late 21st century (2021–2050 and 2071–2100). ALADIN RCM outputs over the French Alps – application to future climate and snow cover">Read more
Extrapolating glacier mass balance to the mountain-range scale: the European Alps 1900–2100 The Cryosphere DOI 10.5194/tc-6-713-2012 6 July 2012 This study addresses the extrapolation of in-situ glacier mass balance measurements to the mountain-range scale and aims at deriving time series of area-averaged mass balance and ice volume change for all glaciers in the European Alps for the period 1900–2100. Read more
