RESEARCH

Glacier variations in the Alps and in Scandinavia

The understanding of long-term, natural climate variability on different spatial and temporal scales is crucial to assess the recent climate change in a global to regional context. Since glaciers are considered as very important climate indicators, the understanding of past and present glacier variations is a key task for evaluating current climate change.

Alpine and Scandinavian glaciers react differently to variations of energy balance, temperature, precipitation and atmospheric circulation. The project Continental-scale glacier variations in Europe (Alps, Scandinavia) and their connection to climate (GLACIAS) investigates the importance of regional/continental temperature and precipitation as driving factors for glacier dynamics (retreats, advances) during the period from the Little Ice Age (LIA) to the early 21st century.

Research summary

Historical information from different sources and archives allows the reconstruction of glacier length fluctuations and mass balances from (western) Scandinavian glaciers and of a transect from the western to the eastern Alps. Further, the sensitivity of Alpine and Scandinavian glaciers to variations in temperature and precipitation, including glacier advances and retreats covering half a millennium, are studied by means of (non-linear) statistical approaches. A complementary method by reconstruction of mass balances for the Alps and Scandinavia using a continuity approach will also be applied. Finally, in combination with climate data based on multi-proxy reconstructions, this enables a synoptical analysis of European climate related to its significance for glacier fluctuations for the last half millennium.

We also address the question of a changing perception of the glaciers in the Alps and in Scandinavia for the last few centuries. The fear of threat by glaciers in early times has changed today to a fear of loss of glaciers as beautiful landscape by the current rapid change of climate.

The long-term glacier length record for the Alps and Scandinavia is stored in the existing database of the Global Terrestrial Network on Glaciers (GTN-G) as part of the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS). A close cooperation between the Universities in Bern/Zurich and Bergen, Norway (Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research), ensures a mutual enrichment of the scientific research by data and knowledge exchange. Finally, to inform the public about the consequences of the current glacier change is crucial, and glaciers are excellent indicators for the public perception of climate change in mountainous areas.

Keywords

Glacier reconstructions, historical data, glacier mass balance, glacier variations, glacier simulations, Alps, Scandinavia, Little Ice Age (LIA), synoptic climatology, perception.