Volumetric variations of Glacier de Sarennes, French Alps, during the last two centuries

Abstract

Glacier de Sarennes, located in the heart of the French Alps, has been observed closely since 1906 and regularly measured (snow accumulation, ablation and mass balance) since 1948. Several publications have stemmed from this research, such as the 1906 and 1958 glaciological maps and the 1981 and 1991 photogrammetric analyses. In 1992, a field radar campaign determined the ice thickness and allowed the drawing of the bedrock map with reasonable accuracy. The Little Ice Age stage was reconstructed with the bedrock tracks, in 1995. The above-mentioned documents were digitized, and the computer program Arc-Info permitted the calculation of the successive volume stages occupied by the glacier from 1850 to 1991. Cross-sections and slope profiles illustrate the evolution of the thickness of Glacier de Sarennes during the last 150 years. All of these results, consistent with the variation of the mass balance observed or estimated, show the main conclusion: compared with today, the glacier was about four times more voluminous 90 years ago (i.e. it has lost three-quarters of its ice volume) and five times bigger one and a half centuries ago.