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| Titel |
The third dimension of the RGI: Ice thickness distribution and volume of all glaciers around the globe |
| VerfasserIn |
Matthias Huss, Daniel Farinotti |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2013
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 15 (2013) |
| Datensatznummer |
250073285
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) provides outlines of all glaciers around the globe.
This exceptional data set thus provides 2D information on the earth’s glaciers. For climate
impact studies (e.g. sea-level rise contribution, mountain hydrology) the third dimension of
glacier inventory data, i.e. glacier ice volume and thickness distribution, is however urgently
needed.
Here, a new physically-based approach is presented that allows calculating spatially
distributed ice thickness and glacier volume for each individual glacier of the RGI.
We apply this method to all glaciers and ice caps worldwide. Combining glacier
outlines with terrain elevation models (SRTM/ASTER), we use a simple dynamic
model to obtain ice thickness on a 25 to 200 m grid for about 170’000 glaciers by
inverting their surface topography. Results are validated against a comprehensive set
of thickness observations for 300 glaciers from most glacierized regions of the
world.
For all mountain glaciers and ice caps outside of the two ice sheets (Greenland,
Antarctica) we find a total ice volume of 170 Ã 103 ± 21 Ã 103 km3, or 0.43±0.06 m of
potential sea-level rise. We investigate the uncertainties in the RGI-based estimate of global
glacier volume, compare our results with alternative approaches to calculate ice volume and
thickness, and discuss the potential of this new, complete data set of glacier ice thickness. |
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