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| Titel |
Evidence of accelerated englacial warming in the Monte Rosa area, Switzerland/Italy |
| VerfasserIn |
M. Hoelzle, G. Darms, M. P. Lüthi, S. Suter |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1994-0416
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: The Cryosphere ; 5, no. 1 ; Nr. 5, no. 1 (2011-03-21), S.231-243 |
| Datensatznummer |
250002283
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/tc-5-231-2011.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
A range of englacial temperature measurements was acquired in the Monte Rosa
area at the border of Switzerland and Italy in the years 1982, 1991, 1994,
1995, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2008. Englacial temperatures revealed no
evidence of warming at the firn saddle of Colle Gnifetti at 4452 m a.s.l.
between 1982 and 1991, the 1991 to 2000 period showed an increase of
0.05 °C per year at a depth of 20 m. From 2000 to 2008 a further
increase of 1.3 °C or 0.16 °C per year was observed,
indicating that the amount of infiltrating and refreezing meltwater at Colle
Gnifetti has probably increased since 2000. The measured temperatures give
clear evidence of firn warming since 1991. This is confirmed by five existing
boreholes with measured temperature down to bedrock, which were drilled in
1982, 1995, 2003 and 2005. All the observed temperature profiles show a
slight bending to warmer temperatures in their uppermost part indicating a
warming of the firn, which can be related to the observed atmospheric warming
in the 20th century. However, the drilling sites on Colle Gnifetti are still
located in the recrystallisation-infiltration zone.
A much stronger warming of 6.8 °C or 0.4 °C per year was
found at locations beneath Colle Gnifetti on Grenzgletscher from 1991 to
2008. This warming is one order of magnitude greater than the atmospheric
warming and can be explained only by a strong increase in the latent heat
input by infiltrating and refreezing meltwater. The observations indicate
that since 1991, an important firn area beneath Colle Gnifetti has already
undergone a firn facies change from the recrystallisation-infiltration to the
cold infiltration zone due to an increasing supply of surface melt energy. |
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