Understanding glacial processes is key to assessing the sensitivity of glacier systems to changing climate. Glaciers are monitored on different spatio-temporal scales, from extensive seasonal mass balance studies at selected glaciers to multi-decadal repeat inventories over entire mountain ranges. Internationally coordinated glacier monitoring aims at combining in-situ measurement with remotely sensed data, and local process understanding with global coverage. Bringing together studies from the tropics to polar regions as well as from different disciplines, this session invites presentations on both in-situ and remotely sensed monitoring of glaciers, and on related uncertainty assessments.


Invited speakers:

Bruce Raup (GLIMS/NSIDC): Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers: Databases and Web interfaces

Patrick Wagnon (IRD/LGGE): Long-term mass and energy balance monitoring of Himalayan glaciers