---
_id: '12607'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Supraglacial ice cliffs exist on debris-covered glaciers worldwide, but despite
    their importance as melt hot spots, their life cycle is little understood. Early
    field observations had advanced a hypothesis of survival of north-facing and disappearance
    of south-facing cliffs, which is central for predicting the contribution of cliffs
    to total glacier mass losses. Their role as windows of energy transfer suggests
    they may explain the anomalously high mass losses of debris-covered glaciers in
    High Mountain Asia (HMA) despite the insulating debris, currently at the center
    of a debated controversy. We use a 3D model of cliff evolution coupled to very
    high-resolution topographic data to demonstrate that ice cliffs facing south (in
    the Northern Hemisphere) disappear within a few months due to enhanced solar radiation
    receipts and that aspect is the key control on cliffs evolution. We reproduce
    continuous flattening of south-facing cliffs, a result of their vertical gradient
    of incoming solar radiation and sky view factor. Our results establish that only
    north-facing cliffs are recurrent features and thus stable contributors to the
    melting of debris-covered glaciers. Satellite observations and mass balance modeling
    confirms that few south-facing cliffs of small size exist on the glaciers of Langtang,
    and their contribution to the glacier volume losses is very small (∼1%). This
    has major implications for the mass balance of HMA debris-covered glaciers as
    it provides the basis for new parameterizations of cliff evolution and distribution
    to constrain volume losses in a region where glaciers are highly relevant as water
    sources for millions of people.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Pascal
  full_name: Buri, Pascal
  last_name: Buri
- first_name: Francesca
  full_name: Pellicciotti, Francesca
  id: b28f055a-81ea-11ed-b70c-a9fe7f7b0e70
  last_name: Pellicciotti
citation:
  ama: Buri P, Pellicciotti F. Aspect controls the survival of ice cliffs on debris-covered
    glaciers. <i>PNAS</i>. 2018;115(17):4369-4374. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713892115">10.1073/pnas.1713892115</a>
  apa: Buri, P., &#38; Pellicciotti, F. (2018). Aspect controls the survival of ice
    cliffs on debris-covered glaciers. <i>PNAS</i>. Proceedings of the National Academy
    of Sciences. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713892115">https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713892115</a>
  chicago: Buri, Pascal, and Francesca Pellicciotti. “Aspect Controls the Survival
    of Ice Cliffs on Debris-Covered Glaciers.” <i>PNAS</i>. Proceedings of the National
    Academy of Sciences, 2018. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713892115">https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713892115</a>.
  ieee: P. Buri and F. Pellicciotti, “Aspect controls the survival of ice cliffs on
    debris-covered glaciers,” <i>PNAS</i>, vol. 115, no. 17. Proceedings of the National
    Academy of Sciences, pp. 4369–4374, 2018.
  ista: Buri P, Pellicciotti F. 2018. Aspect controls the survival of ice cliffs on
    debris-covered glaciers. PNAS. 115(17), 4369–4374.
  mla: Buri, Pascal, and Francesca Pellicciotti. “Aspect Controls the Survival of
    Ice Cliffs on Debris-Covered Glaciers.” <i>PNAS</i>, vol. 115, no. 17, Proceedings
    of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018, pp. 4369–74, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713892115">10.1073/pnas.1713892115</a>.
  short: P. Buri, F. Pellicciotti, PNAS 115 (2018) 4369–4374.
date_created: 2023-02-20T08:13:41Z
date_published: 2018-04-09T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2023-02-28T11:35:18Z
day: '09'
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1713892115
extern: '1'
intvolume: '       115'
issue: '17'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713892115
month: '04'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: 4369-4374
publication: PNAS
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 1091-6490
  issn:
  - 0027-8424
publication_status: published
publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Aspect controls the survival of ice cliffs on debris-covered glaciers
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 115
year: '2018'
...