---
_id: '12593'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  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.'
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Sam
  full_name: Herreid, Sam
  last_name: Herreid
- first_name: Francesca
  full_name: Pellicciotti, Francesca
  id: b28f055a-81ea-11ed-b70c-a9fe7f7b0e70
  last_name: Pellicciotti
citation:
  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>
  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>.
  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.
  ista: Herreid S, Pellicciotti F. 2020. The state of rock debris covering Earth’s
    glaciers. Nature Geoscience. 13(9), 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>.
  short: S. Herreid, F. Pellicciotti, Nature Geoscience 13 (2020) 621–627.
date_created: 2023-02-20T08:12:17Z
date_published: 2020-09-02T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2023-02-28T12:45:37Z
day: '02'
doi: 10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0
extern: '1'
intvolume: '        13'
issue: '9'
keyword:
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences
language:
- iso: eng
month: '09'
oa_version: None
page: 621-627
publication: Nature Geoscience
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 1752-0908
  issn:
  - 1752-0894
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
  link:
  - relation: erratum
    url: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0630-1
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: The state of rock debris covering Earth’s glaciers
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 13
year: '2020'
...