ESA CCI CMUG Integration Meeting , Exeter, UK 2-4 June 2014The importance of observations for understanding the role of glaciers in the Earth climate system-Glaciers_cci contributions to the internationally coordinated glacier monitoring efforts

Michael Zemp

Director WGMS, PD Dr. sc. nat.

World Glacier Monitoring Service,Department of Geography, University of Zurich,Switzerland

Fiddlers Ferry coal fired power station near Liverpool, England Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters Global climate is changing

1862Findelengletscher, Switzerland, at its Little Ice Age maximum extentso are glaciers around the globeVisualization of Findelengletscher, Zermatt, by P. Rastner

1894F.-A. Forel (1841-1912) initiates internationally coordinated glacier observations in 1894 so are glaciers around the globeVisualization of Findelengletscher, Zermatt, by P. Rastner

2010ESA Glaciers_cci Phase 1so are glaciers around the globeVisualization of Findelengletscher, Zermatt, by P. Rastner

impacts of glaciers changes on hazards, run-off, and sea levelPhotos by J. Alean.Photos by Focus Online and J. Alean.Thames Barrier. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.Male, Maledives. Photo from photos4travel.

Huss et al. (2014)intro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusionObservations are essential for- setting initial model conditions- comparing scenario ensembles with real development

Climate-glacier processes

Glacier distribution

Glacier change rates

Secondary impacts

Grand challenges in climate-glacier researchintro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusion

Internationally coordinated glacier monitoringwww.wgms.ch www.nsidc.org www.glims.org www.gtn-g.org

intro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusion

intro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusion

c. 1,000 pages of documentationbutnot (yet) much data products!

Randolph Glacier Inventoryintro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusion

Randolph Dataset 2.0

Randolph Dataset by A. Arendt et al. (2012) from different source main purpose: global SLR modelling vector outlines of different levels of detail and quality limited meta-data (e.g., time stamp, elevation range, length, classification)

How to bridge to last mile to GLIMS database?

intro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusion

How (fast) are glaciers changing? Gardner et al. (2013)intro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusion

Data sources: WGMSintro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusion

Data sources: WGMSintro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusion

Data sources: WGMS, Jacob et al. 2012intro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusion

Elevation changes from ICESat Gardner et al. (2013)intro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusion

Kb et al. (2013)Elevation changes from ICESat intro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusion

www.dlr.deFloricioiu, Jaber and Rott (2012)Opportunities:High spatial resolutionCovering entire mountain rangesChallenges:Mountain topographyHow bridging the last mile?intro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusion

Glaciers observations are a fundamental requirement for assessing climate change impacts on glacier hazards, runoff, and global sea level rise.

Growing number of remote sensing data have a great potential for boosting glacier monitoring but requires additional capacities at the international data centers to tap the full potential of these data and to truly link traditional methods with new technologies.

Thereto, the explicit focus of ESAs Glaciers_cci on monitoring is highly appreciated.

Phase 2 hopefully will produce less documentation but more data products!

intro glacier distribution glacier changes conclusion

Hintergrund: vollerz Zyklus zwischen zwei Interglazialen ca. 100,000 a fr die letzen 700,000 a; davor nur ca. 40,000 a*AR5 to be published in 2014*Changes in (a) glacier area, (b) annual runoff, (c) runoff hydrographs based on different assumitions of initial ice volume (+/-30%). Relative changes compared to glacier area in 2007 and mean runoff 1962-2010 are given in % for the year 2075.***AR5 to be published in 2014*