Hydrology needed to manage droughts: the 2015 European case

Hydrology needed to manage droughts: the 2015 European cas

Modelling glaciers’ melting in Central Caucasus (the Djankuat and Bashkara Glacier case study)

The A-melt model was applied to assess the contribution snow and ice melting to river flow during the summer period of 2017 for the Bashkara and Djankuat glaciers located in the Caucasus. During the study period, the Djankuat river runoff amounted to 120 thousand m3, while the peak value of snow and ice melting was 300-400 thousand m3 per day, and on average 189 thousand m3. The significant influence of groundwater on the river flow is traced. The melt water contribution to the glacial lake Bashkara outburst manifested in the gradual accumulation of water large volumes over the summer period. The melting of snow and ice the day before the lake outburst reached 31 thousand m3, with an average value of 192 thousand m3 for the Bashkara basin. The total melting volume of the Djankuat basin was 0.016 km3, and of the Bashkara basin – 0.017 km3. As a result, the A-Melt model demonstrates the evaluation ability of glaciers’ impact on mountain rivers runoff

Mass Balance of Austre Grønfjordbreen, Svalbard, 2006–2020, Estimated by Glaciological, Geodetic and Modeling Aproaches

Glacier mass balance measurements, reconstructions and modeling are the precondition for assessing glacier sensitivity to regional climatic fluctuations. This paper presents new glaciological and geodetic mass balance data of Austre Grønfjordbreen located in the western part of Nordenskiöld Land in Central Spitsbergen. The average annual mass balance from 2014 to 2019 was −1.59 m w.e. The geodetic mass balance from 2008 to 2017 was −1.34 m w.e. The mass balance was also reconstructed by the temperature-index model from 2006 to 2020 and by spatially-distributed energy-balance models for 2011–2015 and 2019. We found a cumulative mass balance of −21.62 m w.e. over 2006–2020. The calculated mass-balance sensitivity to temperature was −1.04 m w.e. °C−1, which corresponds to the highest glacier mass balance sensitivity among Svalbard glaciers. Sensitivity to precipitation change was 0.10 m w.e. for a 10% increase in precipitation throughout the balance year. Comparing the results of the current study with other glacier mass balance assessments in Svalbard, we found that Austre Grønfjordbreen loses mass most rapidly due to its location, which is mostly influenced by the warm West Spitsbergen Current, small area and low elevation range