@article{12622, abstract = {Air temperature is a key control of processes affecting snow and glaciers in high-elevation catchments, including melt, snowfall and sublimation. It is therefore a key input variable to models of land–surface–atmosphere interaction. Despite this importance, its spatial variability is poorly understood and simple assumptions are made to extrapolate it from point observations to the catchment scale. We use a dataset of 2.75 years of air temperature measurements (from May 2012 to November 2014) at a network of up to 27 locations in the Langtang River, Nepal, catchment to investigate air temperature seasonality and consistency between years. We use observations from high elevations and from the easternmost section of the basin to corroborate previous findings of shallow lapse rates. Seasonal variability is strong, with shallowest lapse rates during the monsoon season. Diurnal variability is also strong and should be taken into account since processes such as melt have a pronounced diurnal variability. Use of seasonal lapse rates seems crucial for glacio-hydrological modelling, but seasonal lapse rates seem stable over the 2–3 years investigated. Lateral variability at transects across valley is high and dominated by aspect, with south-facing sites being warmer than north-facing sites and deviations from the fitted lapse rates of up to several degrees. Local factors (e.g. topographic shading) can reduce or enhance this effect. The interplay of radiation, aspect and elevation should be further investigated with high-elevation transects.}, author = {Heynen, Martin and Miles, Evan and Ragettli, Silvan and Buri, Pascal and Immerzeel, Walter W. and Pellicciotti, Francesca}, issn = {1727-5644}, journal = {Annals of Glaciology}, keywords = {Earth-Surface Processes}, number = {71}, pages = {212--222}, publisher = {International Glaciological Society}, title = {{Air temperature variability in a high-elevation Himalayan catchment}}, doi = {10.3189/2016aog71a076}, volume = {57}, year = {2016}, } @article{12623, abstract = {Ice cliffs might be partly responsible for the high mass losses of debris-covered glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalaya region. The few existing models of cliff backwasting are point-scale models applied at few locations or assume cliffs to be planes with constant slope and aspect, a major simplification given the complex surfaces of most cliffs. We develop the first grid-based model of cliff backwasting for two cliffs on debris-covered Lirung Glacier, Nepal. The model includes an improved representation of shortwave and longwave radiation, and their interplay with the glacier topography. Shortwave radiation varies considerably across the two cliffs, mostly due to direct radiation. Diffuse radiation is the major shortwave component, as the direct component is strongly reduced by the cliffs’ aspect and slope through self-shading. Incoming longwave radiation is higher than the total incoming shortwave flux, due to radiation emitted by the surrounding terrain, which is 25% of the incoming flux. Melt is highly variable in space, suggesting that simple models provide inaccurate estimates of total melt volumes. Although only representing 0.09% of the glacier tongue area, the total melt at the two cliffs over the measurement period is 2313 and 8282 m3, 1.23% of the total melt simulated by a glacio-hydrological model for the glacier’s tongue.}, author = {Buri, Pascal and Pellicciotti, Francesca and Steiner, Jakob F. and Miles, Evan S. and Immerzeel, Walter W.}, issn = {1727-5644}, journal = {Annals of Glaciology}, keywords = {Earth-Surface Processes}, number = {71}, pages = {199--211}, publisher = {International Glaciological Society}, title = {{A grid-based model of backwasting of supraglacial ice cliffs on debris-covered glaciers}}, doi = {10.3189/2016aog71a059}, volume = {57}, year = {2016}, } @article{12624, abstract = {Supraglacial ponds on debris-covered glaciers present a mechanism of atmosphere/glacier energy transfer that is poorly studied, and only conceptually included in mass-balance studies of debris-covered glaciers. This research advances previous efforts to develop a model of mass and energy balance for supraglacial ponds by applying a free-convection approach to account for energy exchanges at the subaqueous bare-ice surfaces. We develop the model using field data from a pond on Lirung Glacier, Nepal, that was monitored during the 2013 and 2014 monsoon periods. Sensitivity testing is performed for several key parameters, and alternative melt algorithms are compared with the model. The pond acts as a significant recipient of energy for the glacier system, and actively participates in the glacier’s hydrologic system during the monsoon. Melt rates are 2-4 cm d-1 (total of 98.5 m3 over the study period) for bare ice in contact with the pond, and <1 mmd-1 (total of 10.6m3) for the saturated debris zone. The majority of absorbed atmospheric energy leaves the pond system through englacial conduits, delivering sufficient energy to melt 2612 m3 additional ice over the study period (38.4 m3 d-1). Such melting might be expected to lead to subsidence of the glacier surface. Supraglacial ponds efficiently convey atmospheric energy to the glacier’s interior and rapidly promote the downwasting process.}, author = {Miles, Evan S. and Pellicciotti, Francesca and Willis, Ian C. and Steiner, Jakob F. and Buri, Pascal and Arnold, Neil S.}, issn = {1727-5644}, journal = {Annals of Glaciology}, keywords = {Earth-Surface Processes}, number = {71}, pages = {29--40}, publisher = {International Glaciological Society}, title = {{Refined energy-balance modelling of a supraglacial pond, Langtang Khola, Nepal}}, doi = {10.3189/2016aog71a421}, volume = {57}, year = {2016}, } @article{12625, abstract = {Debris-covered glaciers play an important role in the high-altitude water cycle in the Himalaya, yet their dynamics are poorly understood, partly because of the difficult fieldwork conditions. In this study we therefore deploy an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) three times (May 2013, October 2013 and May 2014) over the debris-covered Lirung Glacier in Nepal. The acquired data are processed into orthomosaics and elevation models by a Structure from Motion workflow, and seasonal surface velocity is derived using frequency cross-correlation. In order to obtain optimal surface velocity products, the effects of different input data and correlator configurations are evaluated, which reveals that the orthomosaic as input paired with moderate correlator settings provides the best results. The glacier has considerable spatial and seasonal differences in surface velocity, with maximum summer and winter velocities 6 and 2.5 m a-1, respectively, in the upper part of the tongue, while the lower part is nearly stagnant. It is hypothesized that the higher velocities during summer are caused by basal sliding due to increased lubrication of the bed. We conclude that UAVs have great potential to quantify seasonal and annual variations in flow and can help to further our understanding of debris-covered glaciers.}, author = {Kraaijenbrink, Philip and Meijer, Sander W. and Shea, Joseph M. and Pellicciotti, Francesca and De Jong, Steven M. and Immerzeel, Walter W.}, issn = {1727-5644}, journal = {Annals of Glaciology}, keywords = {Earth-Surface Processes}, number = {71}, pages = {103--113}, publisher = {International Glaciological Society}, title = {{Seasonal surface velocities of a Himalayan glacier derived by automated correlation of unmanned aerial vehicle imagery}}, doi = {10.3189/2016aog71a072}, volume = {57}, year = {2016}, } @article{12641, abstract = {We investigate the sensitivity of a distributed enhanced temperature-index (ETI) melt model, in order to understand which parameters have the largest influence on model outputs and thus need to be accurately known. We use melt and meteorological data from two Alpine glaciers and one glacier in the Andes of Chile. Sensitivity analysis is conducted in a systematic way in terms of parameters and the different conditions (day, night, clear-sky, overcast), melt seasons and glaciers examined. The sensitivity of total melt to changes in individual parameters is calculated using a local method around the optimal value of the parameters. We verify that the parameters are optimal at the distributed scale and assess the model uncertainty induced by uncertainty in the parameters using a Monte Carlo technique. Model sensitivity to parameters is consistent across melt seasons, glaciers, different conditions and the daily statistics examined. The parameters to which the model is most sensitive are the shortwave-radiation factor, the temperature lapse rate for extrapolation of air temperature, the albedo parameters, the temperature threshold and the cloud transmittance factor parameters. A parameter uncertainty of 5% results in a model uncertainty of 5.6% of mean melt on Haut Glacier d’Arolla, Switzerland.}, author = {Heynen, Martin and Pellicciotti, Francesca and Carenzo, Marco}, issn = {1727-5644}, journal = {Annals of Glaciology}, number = {63}, pages = {311--321}, publisher = {International Glaciological Society}, title = {{Parameter sensitivity of a distributed enhanced temperature-index melt model}}, doi = {10.3189/2013aog63a537}, volume = {54}, year = {2013}, } @article{12642, abstract = {Near-surface air temperature, typically measured at a height of 2 m, is the most important control on the energy exchange and the melt rate at a snow or ice surface. It is distributed in a simplistic manner in most glacier melt models by using constant linear lapse rates, which poorly represent the actual spatial and temporal variability of air temperature. In this paper, we test a simple thermodynamic model proposed by Greuell and Böhm in 1998 as an alternative, using a new dataset of air temperature measurements from along the flowline of Haut Glacier d’Arolla, Switzerland. The unmodified model performs little better than assuming a constant linear lapse rate. When modified to allow the ratio of the boundary layer height to the bulk heat transfer coefficient to vary along the flowline, the model matches measured air temperatures better, and a further reduction of the root-mean-square error is obtained, although there is still considerable scope for improvement. The modified model is shown to perform best under conditions favourable to the development of katabatic winds – few clouds, positive ambient air temperature, limited influence of synoptic or valley winds and a long fetch – but its performance is poor under cloudy conditions.}, author = {Petersen, Lene and Pellicciotti, Francesca and Juszak, Inge and Carenzo, Marco and Brock, Ben}, issn = {1727-5644}, journal = {Annals of Glaciology}, keywords = {Earth-Surface Processes}, number = {63}, pages = {120--130}, publisher = {International Glaciological Society}, title = {{Suitability of a constant air temperature lapse rate over an Alpine glacier: Testing the Greuell and Böhm model as an alternative}}, doi = {10.3189/2013aog63a477}, volume = {54}, year = {2013}, } @article{12655, abstract = {We discuss the inclusion of the subsurface heat-conduction flux into the calculation of the energy balance and ablation at the glacier–atmosphere interface. Data from automatic weather stations are used to force an energy-balance model at several locations on alpine glaciers and at one site in the dry Andes of central Chile. The heat-conduction flux is computed using a two-layer scheme, assuming that 36% of the net shortwave radiation is absorbed by the surface layer and that the rest penetrates into the snowpack. We compare simulations conducted with and without subsurface heat flux. Results show that assuming a surface temperature of zero degrees leads to a larger overestimation of melt at the sites in the accumulation area (10.4–13.3%) than in the ablation area (0.5–2.8%), due to lower air temperatures and the presence of snow. The difference between simulations with and without heat conduction is also high at the beginning and end of the ablation season (up to 29% for the first 15 days of the season), when air temperatures are lower and snow covers the glacier surface, while they are of little importance during periods of sustained melt at all the locations investigated.}, author = {Pellicciotti, Francesca and Carenzo, Marco and Helbing, Jakob and Rimkus, Stefan and Burlando, Paolo}, issn = {1727-5644}, journal = {Annals of Glaciology}, number = {50}, pages = {16--24}, publisher = {International Glaciological Society}, title = {{On the role of subsurface heat conduction in glacier energy-balance modelling}}, doi = {10.3189/172756409787769555}, volume = {50}, year = {2009}, }