Glaciers in The Earth’s Hydrological Cycle : Assessments of Glacier Mass and Runoff Changes on Global and Regional Scales

• Changes in mass contained by mountain glaciers and ice caps can modify theEarth’s hydrological cycle on multiple scales. On a global scale, the mass loss fromglaciers contributes to sea-level rise. On regional and local scales, glacier meltwater is animportant contributor to and modulator of river flow. In light of strongly acceleratedworldwide glacier retreat, the associated glacier mass losses raise concerns over the sus-tainability of water supplies in many parts of the world. Here, we review recent attempts toquantify glacier mass changes and their effect on river runoff on regional and global scales.We find that glacier runoff is defined ambiguously in the literature, hampering directcomparison of findings on the importance of glacier contribution to runoff. Despite con-sensus on the hydrological implications to be expected from projected future warming,there is a pressing need for quantifying the associated regional-scale changes in glacierrunoff and responses in different climate regimes.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Naturgeografi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Physical Geography (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Glaciers Mass balance

Glacier runoff

Sea-level rise

Mass-balance observations

Glacier projections

Modeling

Naturgeografi

Physical Geography

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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