{"intvolume":"        13","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"issue":"9","oa_version":"None","title":"The state of rock debris covering Earth’s glaciers","scopus_import":"1","quality_controlled":"1","keyword":["General Earth and Planetary Sciences"],"date_published":"2020-09-02T00:00:00Z","article_type":"original","publisher":"Springer Nature","year":"2020","day":"02","publication_identifier":{"issn":["1752-0894"],"eissn":["1752-0908"]},"volume":13,"date_updated":"2023-02-28T12:45:37Z","type":"journal_article","extern":"1","publication":"Nature Geoscience","publication_status":"published","abstract":[{"text":"Rock debris can accumulate on glacier surfaces and dramatically reduce glacier melt. The structure of a debris cover is unique to each glacier and sensitive to climate. Despite this, debris cover has been omitted from global glacier models and forecasts of their response to a changing climate. Fundamental to resolving these omissions is a global map of debris cover and an estimate of its future spatial evolution. Here we use Landsat imagery and a detailed correction to the Randolph Glacier Inventory to show that 7.3% of mountain glacier area is debris covered and over half of Earth’s debris is concentrated in three regions: Alaska (38.6% of total debris-covered area), Southwest Asia (12.6%) and Greenland (12.0%). We use a set of new metrics, which include stage, the current position of a glacier on its trajectory towards reaching its spatial carrying capacity of debris cover, to quantify the state of glaciers. Debris cover is present on 44% of Earth’s glaciers and prominent (>1.0 km2) on 15%. Of Earth’s glaciers, 20% have a substantial percentage of debris cover for which the net stage is 36% and the bulk of individual glaciers have evolved beyond an optimal moraine configuration favourable for debris-cover expansion. Use of this dataset in global-scale models will enable improved estimates of melt over 10.6% of the global glacier domain.","lang":"eng"}],"author":[{"first_name":"Sam","full_name":"Herreid, Sam","last_name":"Herreid"},{"last_name":"Pellicciotti","id":"b28f055a-81ea-11ed-b70c-a9fe7f7b0e70","first_name":"Francesca","full_name":"Pellicciotti, Francesca"}],"doi":"10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0","_id":"12593","related_material":{"link":[{"relation":"erratum","url":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0630-1"}]},"citation":{"apa":"Herreid, S., &#38; Pellicciotti, F. (2020). The state of rock debris covering Earth’s glaciers. <i>Nature Geoscience</i>. Springer Nature. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0\">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0</a>","chicago":"Herreid, Sam, and Francesca Pellicciotti. “The State of Rock Debris Covering Earth’s Glaciers.” <i>Nature Geoscience</i>. Springer Nature, 2020. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0\">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0</a>.","ista":"Herreid S, Pellicciotti F. 2020. The state of rock debris covering Earth’s glaciers. Nature Geoscience. 13(9), 621–627.","ieee":"S. Herreid and F. Pellicciotti, “The state of rock debris covering Earth’s glaciers,” <i>Nature Geoscience</i>, vol. 13, no. 9. Springer Nature, pp. 621–627, 2020.","short":"S. Herreid, F. Pellicciotti, Nature Geoscience 13 (2020) 621–627.","mla":"Herreid, Sam, and Francesca Pellicciotti. “The State of Rock Debris Covering Earth’s Glaciers.” <i>Nature Geoscience</i>, vol. 13, no. 9, Springer Nature, 2020, pp. 621–27, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0\">10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0</a>.","ama":"Herreid S, Pellicciotti F. The state of rock debris covering Earth’s glaciers. <i>Nature Geoscience</i>. 2020;13(9):621-627. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0\">10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0</a>"},"date_created":"2023-02-20T08:12:17Z","month":"09","article_processing_charge":"No","user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","page":"621-627","status":"public"}