---
DOAJ_listed: '1'
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
PlanS_conform: '1'
_id: '20728'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Glaciers are often located in steep mountain settings and avalanches from
    surrounding slopes can strongly influence snow accumulation patterns on their
    surface. This effect has however never been quantified for more than a few glaciers
    and the impact on the future evolution of glaciers is unclear. We coupled an avalanche
    and a glacier model to estimate the contribution of avalanches to the accumulation
    of all glaciers in the world and how this affects their evolution throughout the
    21st century. Globally, 3% of the snow accumulation on glaciers comes from avalanches
    and 1% is removed by avalanches. This net contribution varies between regions
    and glaciers, with a maximum of 15% for New Zealand. Accounting for avalanches
    modifies the altitudinal pattern of glacier mass balance and the projected evolution
    of individual glaciers. The main effects include (1) a longer persistence of small
    glaciers, with for example three times more ice retained by glaciers smaller than
    1 km2 in Central Europe under a low-emission scenario, and (2) an increased sensitivity
    of high-elevation accumulation zones to future warming. We anticipate the relative
    influence of avalanches to increase in the future and advocate for a better monitoring
    of this process and representation in glacier models.
acknowledgement: This project has received funding from the Swiss National Science
  Foundation (SNSF) under the Postdoc. Mobility programme, grant agreement P500PN_210739,
  CAIRN (MK), “Contribution of avalanches to glacier mass balance”, and grant agreement
  P5R5PN_225605, CAIRN-GLOBAL (MK), “Contribution of avalanches to glacier mass balance
  at the global scale”. The authors would like to acknowledge the OGGM community for
  the extensive online documentation, data resources (OGGM-shop) and computing infrastructure
  that were used as part of this study.
article_number: '10122'
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Marin
  full_name: Kneib, Marin
  last_name: Kneib
- first_name: Fabien
  full_name: Maussion, Fabien
  last_name: Maussion
- first_name: Fanny
  full_name: Brun, Fanny
  last_name: Brun
- first_name: Guillem
  full_name: Carcanade, Guillem
  last_name: Carcanade
- first_name: Daniel
  full_name: Farinotti, Daniel
  last_name: Farinotti
- first_name: Matthias
  full_name: Huss, Matthias
  last_name: Huss
- first_name: Marit
  full_name: Van Tiel, Marit
  last_name: Van Tiel
- first_name: Achille
  full_name: Jouberton, Achille
  id: f2426a39-920b-11f0-ac40-cbeda2086b9c
  last_name: Jouberton
- first_name: Patrick
  full_name: Schmitt, Patrick
  last_name: Schmitt
- first_name: Lilian
  full_name: Schuster, Lilian
  last_name: Schuster
- first_name: Amaury
  full_name: Dehecq, Amaury
  last_name: Dehecq
- first_name: Nicolas
  full_name: Champollion, Nicolas
  last_name: Champollion
citation:
  ama: Kneib M, Maussion F, Brun F, et al. Topographically-controlled contribution
    of avalanches to glacier mass balance in the 21st century. <i>Nature Communications</i>.
    2025;16. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65608-z">10.1038/s41467-025-65608-z</a>
  apa: Kneib, M., Maussion, F., Brun, F., Carcanade, G., Farinotti, D., Huss, M.,
    … Champollion, N. (2025). Topographically-controlled contribution of avalanches
    to glacier mass balance in the 21st century. <i>Nature Communications</i>. Springer
    Nature. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65608-z">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65608-z</a>
  chicago: Kneib, Marin, Fabien Maussion, Fanny Brun, Guillem Carcanade, Daniel Farinotti,
    Matthias Huss, Marit Van Tiel, et al. “Topographically-Controlled Contribution
    of Avalanches to Glacier Mass Balance in the 21st Century.” <i>Nature Communications</i>.
    Springer Nature, 2025. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65608-z">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65608-z</a>.
  ieee: M. Kneib <i>et al.</i>, “Topographically-controlled contribution of avalanches
    to glacier mass balance in the 21st century,” <i>Nature Communications</i>, vol.
    16. Springer Nature, 2025.
  ista: Kneib M, Maussion F, Brun F, Carcanade G, Farinotti D, Huss M, Van Tiel M,
    Jouberton A, Schmitt P, Schuster L, Dehecq A, Champollion N. 2025. Topographically-controlled
    contribution of avalanches to glacier mass balance in the 21st century. Nature
    Communications. 16, 10122.
  mla: Kneib, Marin, et al. “Topographically-Controlled Contribution of Avalanches
    to Glacier Mass Balance in the 21st Century.” <i>Nature Communications</i>, vol.
    16, 10122, Springer Nature, 2025, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65608-z">10.1038/s41467-025-65608-z</a>.
  short: M. Kneib, F. Maussion, F. Brun, G. Carcanade, D. Farinotti, M. Huss, M. Van
    Tiel, A. Jouberton, P. Schmitt, L. Schuster, A. Dehecq, N. Champollion, Nature
    Communications 16 (2025).
date_created: 2025-12-07T23:02:00Z
date_published: 2025-12-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-12-09T12:38:44Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '550'
department:
- _id: FrPe
doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-65608-z
external_id:
  pmid:
  - '41298449'
file:
- access_level: open_access
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  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2025-12-09T12:37:14Z
  date_updated: 2025-12-09T12:37:14Z
  file_id: '20740'
  file_name: 2025_NatureComm_Kneib.pdf
  file_size: 2749558
  relation: main_file
  success: 1
file_date_updated: 2025-12-09T12:37:14Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '        16'
language:
- iso: eng
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
month: '12'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
pmid: 1
publication: Nature Communications
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 2041-1723
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Topographically-controlled contribution of avalanches to glacier mass balance
  in the 21st century
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: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 16
year: '2025'
...