C33E-0861
Very small glaciers under climate change: from the local to the global scale
Abstract:
Very small glaciers (<0.5km2) currently account for up to 80% of the total number of glaciers in mountain ranges around the globe. Although their total area and volume is small compared to larger glaciers, they are a relevant component of the cryosphere contributing to landscape formation, local hydrology and sea-level rise, and represent a valuable climate archive. Very small glaciers have generally shorter response times than valley glaciers and their mass balance is strongly dependent on snow redistribution processes. Worldwide glacier monitoring has focused on medium-sized to large glaciers leaving us with a relatively limited understanding of the behavior of very small glaciers. Grid-based modelling of surface mass balance and retreat for 1133 very small glaciers in Switzerland indicates that 70% of them will completely vanish within the next 25 years. However, a few avalanche-fed glaciers at low elevation might be able to survive even substantial atmospheric warming. We find relatively high static and dynamic sensitivities for gently-sloping glaciers. At the global scale, glaciers presently smaller than 1 km2 make up for only 0.7% of total ice volume but account for 6.7% of sea-level rise contribution during the period 2015-2025. This indicates that very small glaciers are a non-negligible component of global glacier change, at least in the near future.