Abstract
ABSTRACTWe present the glacier-wide summer surface mass balances determined by a detailed hydrological balance (sSMBhydro) and the quantification of the uncertainties of the calculations on the Argentière and Mer de Glace-Leschaux drainage basins, located in the upper Arve watershed (French Alps), over the period 1996–2004. The spatial distribution of precipitation within the study area was adjusted using in situ winter mass-balance measurements. The sSMBhydro performance was assessed via a comparison with the summer surface mass balances based on in situ glaciological observations (sSMBglacio). Our results show that the sSMBhydro has an uncertainty of ± 0.67 m w.e. a−1 at Argentière and ± 0.66 m w.e. a−1 at Mer de Glace-Leschaux. Estimates of the Argentière sSMBhydro values are in good agreement with the sSMBglacio values. These time series show almost the same interannual variability. From the marked difference between the sSMBhydro and sSMBglacio values for the Mer de Glace-Leschaux glacier, we suspect a significant role of groundwater fluxes in the hydrological balance. This study underlines the importance of taking into account the groundwater transfers to represent and predict the hydro-glaciological behaviour of a catchment.
Highlights
The role of mountains in sustaining the social and economic wellbeing of millions of people is well known and unquestioned since snow fields and glaciers provide indispensable water resources for municipal and industrial water supplies, irrigation, hydropower production and other environmental services (e.g., Viviroli and Weingartner, 2004; Barnett and others, 2005; Viviroli and others, 2007, 2011).Glaciers are considered as one of the most reliable indicators of climate variations, having either an anthropogenic or natural origin (Oerlemans, 1986; Haeberli, 1995, 2005; Johannesson, 1997)
Hereafter we present a quantification of each term of the hydrological balance equation (Eqn (1)) using both the original and adjusted SAFRAN reanalysis during the summer season (JJAS) over the period 1996–2004 for the Arveyron d’Argentière and Arveyron de la Mer de Glace catchments
After the quantification of all components of the summer hydrological balance equation for each study catchment, it can be seen that the contributions of the simulated glacierwide summer surface mass balance obtained using the original and adjusted SAFRAN data to the discharge are estimated to be 58% and 49% for the Arveyron d’Argentière catchment and 54% and 42% for the Arveyron de la Mer de Glace catchment
Summary
The role of mountains in sustaining the social and economic wellbeing of millions of people is well known and unquestioned since snow fields and glaciers provide indispensable water resources for municipal and industrial water supplies, irrigation, hydropower production and other environmental services (e.g., Viviroli and Weingartner, 2004; Barnett and others, 2005; Viviroli and others, 2007, 2011).Glaciers are considered as one of the most reliable indicators of climate variations, having either an anthropogenic or natural origin (Oerlemans, 1986; Haeberli, 1995, 2005; Johannesson, 1997). In highly glacierized catchments, glacier melt provides an important contribution to the river discharge, during the summer (Verbunt and others, 2003; Koboltschnig and others, 2008; Jost and others, 2012). Glaciers have been the biggest source of the observed sea-level rise since 1900 (Vaughan and others, 2013) and they will potentially contribute more strongly to sea-level rise within the 21st century than the ice sheets (Church and others, 2013). For this reason, it is important to have a good understanding of the summer glacier surface mass-balance evolution in order to improve the knowledge of the interaction between glaciers, climate and hydrology. The assessment of meltwater runoff is crucial for both water supply and hydropower applications
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