---
_id: '14885'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: The near-surface boundary layer can mediate the response of mountain glaciers
to external climate, cooling the overlying air and promoting a density-driven
glacier wind. The fundamental processes are conceptually well understood, though
the magnitudes of cooling and presence of glacier winds are poorly quantified
in space and time, increasing the forcing uncertainty for melt models. We utilize
a new data set of on-glacier meteorological measurements on three neighboring
glaciers in the Swiss Alps to explore their distinct response to regional climate
under the extreme 2022 summer. We find that synoptic wind origins and local terrain
modifications, not only glacier size, play an important role in the ability of
a glacier to cool the near-surface air. Warm air intrusions from valley or synoptically-driven
winds onto the glacier can occur between ∼19% and 64% of the time and contribute
between 3% and 81% of the total sensible heat flux to the surface during warm
afternoon hours, depending on the fetch of the glacier flowline and its susceptibility
to boundary layer erosion. In the context of extreme summer warmth, indicative
of future conditions, the boundary layer cooling (up to 6.5°C cooler than its
surroundings) and resultant katabatic wind flow are highly heterogeneous between
the study glaciers, highlighting the complex and likely non-linear response of
glaciers to an uncertain future.
acknowledgement: This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon
2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement
No. 101026058. The authors acknowledge the invaluable field assistance of Marta
Corrà, Achille Jouberton, Marin Kneib, Stefan Fugger, Celine Ducret and Alexander
Groos. The authors would also like to thank Luca Carturan for advice regarding AWS
setup and maintenance and Simone Fatichi for provision and support in the use of
the Tethys-Chloris model. Open access funding provided by ETH-Bereich Forschungsanstalten.
article_number: e2023JD040214
article_processing_charge: Yes (in subscription journal)
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Thomas
full_name: Shaw, Thomas
id: 3caa3f91-1f03-11ee-96ce-e0e553054d6e
last_name: Shaw
orcid: 0000-0001-7640-6152
- first_name: Pascal
full_name: Buri, Pascal
id: 317987aa-9421-11ee-ac5a-b941b041abba
last_name: Buri
- first_name: Michael
full_name: Mccarthy, Michael
id: 22a2674a-61ce-11ee-94b5-d18813baf16f
last_name: Mccarthy
- first_name: Evan S.
full_name: Miles, Evan S.
last_name: Miles
- first_name: Francesca
full_name: Pellicciotti, Francesca
id: b28f055a-81ea-11ed-b70c-a9fe7f7b0e70
last_name: Pellicciotti
orcid: 0000-0002-5554-8087
citation:
ama: 'Shaw T, Buri P, McCarthy M, Miles ES, Pellicciotti F. Local controls on near-surface
glacier cooling under warm atmospheric conditions. Journal of Geophysical Research:
Atmospheres. 2024;129(2). doi:10.1029/2023JD040214'
apa: 'Shaw, T., Buri, P., McCarthy, M., Miles, E. S., & Pellicciotti, F. (2024).
Local controls on near-surface glacier cooling under warm atmospheric conditions.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD040214'
chicago: 'Shaw, Thomas, Pascal Buri, Michael McCarthy, Evan S. Miles, and Francesca
Pellicciotti. “Local Controls on Near-Surface Glacier Cooling under Warm Atmospheric
Conditions.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. Wiley, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD040214.'
ieee: 'T. Shaw, P. Buri, M. McCarthy, E. S. Miles, and F. Pellicciotti, “Local controls
on near-surface glacier cooling under warm atmospheric conditions,” Journal
of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, vol. 129, no. 2. Wiley, 2024.'
ista: 'Shaw T, Buri P, McCarthy M, Miles ES, Pellicciotti F. 2024. Local controls
on near-surface glacier cooling under warm atmospheric conditions. Journal of
Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 129(2), e2023JD040214.'
mla: 'Shaw, Thomas, et al. “Local Controls on Near-Surface Glacier Cooling under
Warm Atmospheric Conditions.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres,
vol. 129, no. 2, e2023JD040214, Wiley, 2024, doi:10.1029/2023JD040214.'
short: 'T. Shaw, P. Buri, M. McCarthy, E.S. Miles, F. Pellicciotti, Journal of Geophysical
Research: Atmospheres 129 (2024).'
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2024-01-28T23:01:42Z
date_published: 2024-01-28T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-09-04T11:58:38Z
day: '28'
ddc:
- '550'
department:
- _id: FrPe
doi: 10.1029/2023JD040214
external_id:
isi:
- '001146838000001'
file:
- access_level: open_access
checksum: cad5b93caadb40c14e5faedc34f7bba7
content_type: application/pdf
creator: dernst
date_created: 2024-02-06T08:38:27Z
date_updated: 2024-02-06T08:38:27Z
file_id: '14943'
file_name: 2024_JGRAtmospheres_Shaw.pdf
file_size: 7481087
relation: main_file
success: 1
file_date_updated: 2024-02-06T08:38:27Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 129'
isi: 1
issue: '2'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '01'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
publication: 'Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres'
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 2169-8996
issn:
- 2169-897X
publication_status: published
publisher: Wiley
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
record:
- id: '14919'
relation: research_data
status: public
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Local controls on near-surface glacier cooling under warm atmospheric conditions
tmp:
image: /images/cc_by.png
legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345
volume: 129
year: '2024'
...
---
_id: '17435'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: 'The Mediterranean region is experiencing pronounced aridification and in
certain areas higher occurrence of intense precipitation. In this work, we analyze
the evolution of the precipitation probability distribution in terms of precipitating
days (or “wet-days”) and all-days quantile trends, in Europe and the Mediterranean,
using the ERA5 reanalysis. Looking at the form of wet-days quantile trends curves,
we identify four regimes. Two are predominant: in most of northern Europe the
precipitation quantiles all intensify, while in the Mediterranean the low-medium
quantiles are mostly decreasing as extremes intensify or decrease. The wet-days
distribution is then modeled by a Weibull law with two parameters, whose changes
capture the four regimes. Assessing the significance of the parameters'' changes
over 1950–2020 shows that a signal on wet-days distribution has already emerged
in northern Europe (where the distribution shifts to more intense precipitation),
but not yet in the Mediterranean, where the natural variability is stronger. We
extend the results by describing the all-days distribution change as the wet-days’
change plus a contribution from the dry-days frequency change, and study their
relative contribution. In northern Europe, the wet-days distribution change is
the dominant driver, and the contribution of dry-days frequency change can be
neglected for wet-days percentiles above about 50%. In the Mediterranean, however,
the change of precipitation distribution comes from the significant increase of
dry-days frequency instead of an intensity change during wet-days. Therefore,
in the Mediterranean the increase of dry-days frequency is crucial for all-days
trends, even for heavy precipitation.'
acknowledgement: CJM gratefully acknowledge funding from the European Research Council
(ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Project
CLUSTER, Grant Agreement No 805041). The authors also thank Samuel Somot (Centre
National de Recherches Météorologiques, Toulouse) and Juliette Blanchet (Institut
des Géosciences de l’Environnement, Grenoble) for their fruitful discussions on
the project.
article_number: e2023JD040413
article_processing_charge: Yes (in subscription journal)
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Julie
full_name: André, Julie
last_name: André
- first_name: Fabio
full_name: D'Andrea, Fabio
last_name: D'Andrea
- first_name: Philippe
full_name: Drobinski, Philippe
last_name: Drobinski
- first_name: Caroline J
full_name: Muller, Caroline J
id: f978ccb0-3f7f-11eb-b193-b0e2bd13182b
last_name: Muller
orcid: 0000-0001-5836-5350
citation:
ama: 'André J, D’Andrea F, Drobinski P, Muller CJ. Regimes of precipitation change
over Europe and the Mediterranean. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.
2024;129(15). doi:10.1029/2023JD040413'
apa: 'André, J., D’Andrea, F., Drobinski, P., & Muller, C. J. (2024). Regimes
of precipitation change over Europe and the Mediterranean. Journal of Geophysical
Research: Atmospheres. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD040413'
chicago: 'André, Julie, Fabio D’Andrea, Philippe Drobinski, and Caroline J Muller.
“Regimes of Precipitation Change over Europe and the Mediterranean.” Journal
of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. Wiley, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD040413.'
ieee: 'J. André, F. D’Andrea, P. Drobinski, and C. J. Muller, “Regimes of precipitation
change over Europe and the Mediterranean,” Journal of Geophysical Research:
Atmospheres, vol. 129, no. 15. Wiley, 2024.'
ista: 'André J, D’Andrea F, Drobinski P, Muller CJ. 2024. Regimes of precipitation
change over Europe and the Mediterranean. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.
129(15), e2023JD040413.'
mla: 'André, Julie, et al. “Regimes of Precipitation Change over Europe and the
Mediterranean.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, vol. 129,
no. 15, e2023JD040413, Wiley, 2024, doi:10.1029/2023JD040413.'
short: 'J. André, F. D’Andrea, P. Drobinski, C.J. Muller, Journal of Geophysical
Research: Atmospheres 129 (2024).'
date_created: 2024-08-18T22:01:04Z
date_published: 2024-08-16T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-09-08T08:56:53Z
day: '16'
ddc:
- '550'
department:
- _id: CaMu
doi: 10.1029/2023JD040413
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
isi:
- '001285897600001'
file:
- access_level: open_access
checksum: 71d7f966318e11ce474737f4e37405ef
content_type: application/pdf
creator: dernst
date_created: 2024-08-19T06:32:21Z
date_updated: 2024-08-19T06:32:21Z
file_id: '17438'
file_name: 2024_JGRAtmospheres_Andre.pdf
file_size: 8126046
relation: main_file
success: 1
file_date_updated: 2024-08-19T06:32:21Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 129'
isi: 1
issue: '15'
language:
- iso: eng
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
month: '08'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
project:
- _id: 629205d8-2b32-11ec-9570-e1356ff73576
call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '805041'
name: Organization of CLoUdS, and implications of Tropical cyclones and for the
Energetics of the tropics, in current and waRming climate
publication: 'Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres'
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 2169-8996
issn:
- 2169-897X
publication_status: published
publisher: Wiley
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Regimes of precipitation change over Europe and the Mediterranean
tmp:
image: /images/cc_by_nc.png
legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
short: CC BY-NC (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345
volume: 129
year: '2024'
...
---
_id: '12583'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: Peruvian glaciers are important contributors to dry season runoff for agriculture
and hydropower, but they are at risk of disappearing due to climate change. We
applied a physically based, energy balance melt model at five on-glacier sites
within the Peruvian Cordilleras Blanca and Vilcanota. Net shortwave radiation
dominates the energy balance, and despite this flux being higher in the dry season,
melt rates are lower due to losses from net longwave radiation and the latent
heat flux. The sensible heat flux is a relatively small contributor to melt energy.
At three of the sites the wet season snowpack was discontinuous, forming and melting
within a daily to weekly timescale, and resulting in highly variable melt rates
closely related to precipitation dynamics. Cold air temperatures due to a strong
La Niña year at Shallap Glacier (Cordillera Blanca) resulted in a continuous wet
season snowpack, significantly reducing wet season ablation. Sublimation was most
important at the highest site in the accumulation zone of the Quelccaya Ice Cap
(Cordillera Vilcanota), accounting for 81% of ablation, compared to 2%–4% for
the other sites. Air temperature and precipitation inputs were perturbed to investigate
the climate sensitivity of the five glaciers. At the lower sites warmer air temperatures
resulted in a switch from snowfall to rain, so that ablation was increased via
the decrease in albedo and increase in net shortwave radiation. At the top of
Quelccaya Ice Cap warming caused melting to replace sublimation so that ablation
increased nonlinearly with air temperature.
article_number: e2021JD034911
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Catriona L.
full_name: Fyffe, Catriona L.
last_name: Fyffe
- first_name: Emily
full_name: Potter, Emily
last_name: Potter
- first_name: Stefan
full_name: Fugger, Stefan
last_name: Fugger
- first_name: Andrew
full_name: Orr, Andrew
last_name: Orr
- first_name: Simone
full_name: Fatichi, Simone
last_name: Fatichi
- first_name: Edwin
full_name: Loarte, Edwin
last_name: Loarte
- first_name: Katy
full_name: Medina, Katy
last_name: Medina
- first_name: Robert Å.
full_name: Hellström, Robert Å.
last_name: Hellström
- first_name: Maud
full_name: Bernat, Maud
last_name: Bernat
- first_name: Caroline
full_name: Aubry‐Wake, Caroline
last_name: Aubry‐Wake
- first_name: Wolfgang
full_name: Gurgiser, Wolfgang
last_name: Gurgiser
- first_name: L. Baker
full_name: Perry, L. Baker
last_name: Perry
- first_name: Wilson
full_name: Suarez, Wilson
last_name: Suarez
- first_name: Duncan J.
full_name: Quincey, Duncan J.
last_name: Quincey
- first_name: Francesca
full_name: Pellicciotti, Francesca
id: b28f055a-81ea-11ed-b70c-a9fe7f7b0e70
last_name: Pellicciotti
citation:
ama: 'Fyffe CL, Potter E, Fugger S, et al. The energy and mass balance of Peruvian
Glaciers. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 2021;126(23). doi:10.1029/2021jd034911'
apa: 'Fyffe, C. L., Potter, E., Fugger, S., Orr, A., Fatichi, S., Loarte, E., …
Pellicciotti, F. (2021). The energy and mass balance of Peruvian Glaciers. Journal
of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. American Geophysical Union. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021jd034911'
chicago: 'Fyffe, Catriona L., Emily Potter, Stefan Fugger, Andrew Orr, Simone Fatichi,
Edwin Loarte, Katy Medina, et al. “The Energy and Mass Balance of Peruvian Glaciers.”
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. American Geophysical Union,
2021. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021jd034911.'
ieee: 'C. L. Fyffe et al., “The energy and mass balance of Peruvian Glaciers,”
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, vol. 126, no. 23. American
Geophysical Union, 2021.'
ista: 'Fyffe CL, Potter E, Fugger S, Orr A, Fatichi S, Loarte E, Medina K, Hellström
RÅ, Bernat M, Aubry‐Wake C, Gurgiser W, Perry LB, Suarez W, Quincey DJ, Pellicciotti
F. 2021. The energy and mass balance of Peruvian Glaciers. Journal of Geophysical
Research: Atmospheres. 126(23), e2021JD034911.'
mla: 'Fyffe, Catriona L., et al. “The Energy and Mass Balance of Peruvian Glaciers.”
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, vol. 126, no. 23, e2021JD034911,
American Geophysical Union, 2021, doi:10.1029/2021jd034911.'
short: 'C.L. Fyffe, E. Potter, S. Fugger, A. Orr, S. Fatichi, E. Loarte, K. Medina,
R.Å. Hellström, M. Bernat, C. Aubry‐Wake, W. Gurgiser, L.B. Perry, W. Suarez,
D.J. Quincey, F. Pellicciotti, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 126
(2021).'
date_created: 2023-02-20T08:10:43Z
date_published: 2021-12-16T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2023-02-28T13:31:08Z
day: '16'
doi: 10.1029/2021jd034911
extern: '1'
intvolume: ' 126'
issue: '23'
keyword:
- Space and Planetary Science
- Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Atmospheric Science
- Geophysics
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
url: https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD034911
month: '12'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
publication: 'Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres'
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 2169-8996
issn:
- 2169-897X
publication_status: published
publisher: American Geophysical Union
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: The energy and mass balance of Peruvian Glaciers
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 126
year: '2021'
...
---
_id: '12631'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: Air temperature is one of the most relevant input variables for snow and ice
melt calculations. However, local meteorological conditions, complex topography,
and logistical concerns in glacierized regions make the measuring and modeling
of air temperature a difficult task. In this study, we investigate the spatial
distribution of 2 m air temperature over mountain glaciers and propose a modification
to an existing model to improve its representation. Spatially distributed meteorological
data from Haut Glacier d'Arolla (Switzerland), Place (Canada), and Juncal Norte
(Chile) Glaciers are used to examine approximate flow line temperatures during
their respective ablation seasons. During warm conditions (off-glacier temperatures
well above 0°C), observed air temperatures in the upper reaches of Place Glacier
and Haut Glacier d'Arolla decrease down glacier along the approximate flow line.
At Juncal Norte and Haut Glacier d'Arolla, an increase in air temperature is observed
over the glacier tongue. While the temperature behavior over the upper part can
be explained by the cooling effect of the glacier surface, the temperature increase
over the glacier tongue may be caused by several processes induced by the surrounding
warm atmosphere. In order to capture the latter effect, we add an additional term
to the Greuell and Böhm (GB) thermodynamic glacier wind model. For high off-glacier
temperatures, the modified GB model reduces root-mean-square error up to 32% and
provides a new approach for distributing air temperature over mountain glaciers
as a function of off-glacier temperatures and approximate glacier flow lines.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: A.
full_name: Ayala, A.
last_name: Ayala
- first_name: Francesca
full_name: Pellicciotti, Francesca
id: b28f055a-81ea-11ed-b70c-a9fe7f7b0e70
last_name: Pellicciotti
- first_name: J. M.
full_name: Shea, J. M.
last_name: Shea
citation:
ama: 'Ayala A, Pellicciotti F, Shea JM. Modeling 2 m air temperatures over mountain
glaciers: Exploring the influence of katabatic cooling and external warming. Journal
of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 2015;120(8):3139-3157. doi:10.1002/2015jd023137'
apa: 'Ayala, A., Pellicciotti, F., & Shea, J. M. (2015). Modeling 2 m air temperatures
over mountain glaciers: Exploring the influence of katabatic cooling and external
warming. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. American Geophysical
Union. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015jd023137'
chicago: 'Ayala, A., Francesca Pellicciotti, and J. M. Shea. “Modeling 2 m Air Temperatures
over Mountain Glaciers: Exploring the Influence of Katabatic Cooling and External
Warming.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. American Geophysical
Union, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015jd023137.'
ieee: 'A. Ayala, F. Pellicciotti, and J. M. Shea, “Modeling 2 m air temperatures
over mountain glaciers: Exploring the influence of katabatic cooling and external
warming,” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, vol. 120, no. 8.
American Geophysical Union, pp. 3139–3157, 2015.'
ista: 'Ayala A, Pellicciotti F, Shea JM. 2015. Modeling 2 m air temperatures over
mountain glaciers: Exploring the influence of katabatic cooling and external warming.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 120(8), 3139–3157.'
mla: 'Ayala, A., et al. “Modeling 2 m Air Temperatures over Mountain Glaciers: Exploring
the Influence of Katabatic Cooling and External Warming.” Journal of Geophysical
Research: Atmospheres, vol. 120, no. 8, American Geophysical Union, 2015,
pp. 3139–57, doi:10.1002/2015jd023137.'
short: 'A. Ayala, F. Pellicciotti, J.M. Shea, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
120 (2015) 3139–3157.'
date_created: 2023-02-20T08:16:28Z
date_published: 2015-04-18T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2023-02-24T09:16:26Z
day: '18'
doi: 10.1002/2015jd023137
extern: '1'
intvolume: ' 120'
issue: '8'
keyword:
- Space and Planetary Science
- Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Atmospheric Science
- Geophysics
language:
- iso: eng
month: '04'
oa_version: Published Version
page: 3139-3157
publication: 'Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres'
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 2169-8996
issn:
- 2169-897X
publication_status: published
publisher: American Geophysical Union
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: 'Modeling 2 m air temperatures over mountain glaciers: Exploring the influence
of katabatic cooling and external warming'
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 120
year: '2015'
...