Glacier-wide summer surface mass-balance calculation: hydrological balance applied to the Argentière and Mer de Glace drainage basins (Mont Blanc)

ABSTRACT We 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.

[1]  H. Price.  Past and future , 1990, Nature.

[2]  S. Solomon.  The Physical Science Basis : Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , 2007 .

[3]  Walter W. Immerzeel,et al.  Hydrological response to climate change in a glacierized catchment in the Himalayas , 2011, Climatic Change.

[4]  J. Maréchal.  Les circulations d'eau dans les massifs cristallins alpins et leurs relations avec les ouvrages souterrains , 1998 .

[5]  Yves Durand,et al.  Variational assimilation of albedo in a snowpack model and reconstruction of the spatial mass-balance distribution of an alpine glacier , 2012, Journal of Glaciology.

[6]  F. Anctil,et al.  Which potential evapotranspiration input for a lumped rainfall-runoff model?. Part 2: Towards a simple and efficient potential evapotranspiration model for rainfall-runoff modelling , 2005 .

[7]  L. Lliboutry.  Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Glacier Annual Balances , 1974, Journal of Glaciology.

[8]  Peter Jansson,et al.  The concept of glacier storage: a review , 2003 .

[9]  Florence Habets,et al.  Analysis of Near-Surface Atmospheric Variables: Validation of the SAFRAN Analysis over France , 2008 .

[10]  T. Barnett,et al.  Potential impacts of a warming climate on water availability in snow-dominated regions , 2005, Nature.

[11]  B. Menounos,et al.  Quantifying the contribution of glacier runoff to streamflow in the upper Columbia River Basin, Canada , 2011 .

[12]  Andrew J. Plater,et al.  Book reviewSea-level change: Roger Revelle; Studies in Geophysics, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1990; xii + 246 pp.; USD 29.95, GBP 25.75; ISBN 0-309-04039 , 1992 .

[13]  D. Six,et al.  Sensitivity of mass balance and equilibrium-line altitude to climate change in the French Alps , 2014 .

[14]  J. Stedinger,et al.  Contrasting trends in floods for two sub-arctic catchments in northern Sweden – does glacier presence matter? , 2012 .

[15]  D. Six,et al.  Glacier thickening and decay analysis from 50 years of glaciological observations performed on Glacier d’Argentière, Mont Blanc area, France , 2009, Annals of Glaciology.

[16]  F. I. Morton.  Operational estimates of areal evapotranspiration and their significance to the science and practice of hydrology , 1983 .

[17]  H. Fowler,et al.  Climate change and mountain water resources: overview and recommendations for research, management and policy , 2011 .

[18]  E. Bazile,et al.  Numerical Weather Forecasts at Kilometer Scale in the French Alps: Evaluation and Application for Snowpack Modeling , 2016 .

[19]  D. Viviroli,et al.  The hydrological significance of mountains: from regional to global scale , 2004 .

[20]  Antoine Rabatel,et al.  Multitemporal glacier inventory of the French Alps from the late 1960s to the late 2000s , 2014 .

[21]  M. Meybeck,et al.  Mountains of the world, water towers for humanity: Typology, mapping, and global significance , 2007 .

[22]  J. Mahfouf,et al.  Precipitation Analysis over the French Alps Using a Variational Approach and Study of Potential Added Value of Ground-Based Radar Observations , 2017 .

[23]  M. Gerbaux,et al.  Surface mass balance of glaciers in the French Alps: distributed modeling and sensitivity to climate change , 2005 .

[24]  L. A. Rasmussen,et al.  Glossary of glacier mass balance and related terms , 2010 .

[25]  P. Wagnon,et al.  Meteorological controls on snow and ice ablation for two contrasting months on Glacier de Saint-Sorlin, France , 2009, Annals of Glaciology.

[26]  E. Martin,et al.  A computer-based system simulating snowpack structures as a tool for regional avalanche forecasting , 1999, Journal of Glaciology.

[27]  Alexander H. Jarosch,et al.  Past and future sea-level change from the surface mass balance of glaciers , 2012 .

[28]  Pierre Etchevers,et al.  Reanalysis of 44 Yr of Climate in the French Alps (1958-2002): Methodology, Model Validation, Climatology, and Trends for Air Temperature and Precipitation , 2009 .

[29]  Frédéric Gottardi.  Estimation statistique et réanalyse des précipitations en montagne Utilisation d'ébauches par types de temps et assimilation de données d'enneigement Application aux grands massifs montagneux français , 2009 .

[30]  T. Jóhannesson.  The response of two Icelandic glaciers to climatic warming computed with a degree-day glacier mass-balance model coupled to a dynamic glacier model , 1997, Journal of Glaciology.

[31]  E. Berthier,et al.  Future fluctuations of Mer de Glace, French Alps, assessed using a parameterized model calibrated with past thickness changes , 2014, Annals of Glaciology.

[32]  E. Martin,et al.  A meteorological estimation of relevant parameters for snow models , 1993 .

[33]  P. Rich,et al.  A geometric solar radiation model with applications in agriculture and forestry , 2002 .

[34]  Y. Rolland,et al.  Stable isotope and Ar/Ar evidence of prolonged multiscale fluid flow during exhumation of orogenic crust: Example from the Mont Blanc and Aar Massifs (NW Alps) , 2014 .

[35]  C. Mayer,et al.  Common climatic signal from glaciers in the European Alps over the last 50 years , 2017 .

[36]  Finnur Pálsson,et al.  Glacier topography and elevation changes derived from Pléiades sub-meter stereo images , 2014 .

[37]  J. Dedieu,et al.  Spatio-temporal changes in glacier-wide mass balance quantified by optical remote sensing on 30 glaciers in the French Alps for the period 1983–2014 , 2016, Journal of Glaciology.

[38]  Antoine Rabatel,et al.  Which empirical model is best suited to simulate glacier mass balances , 2017 .

[39]  H. Lang,et al.  Energy Balance and Evapotranspiration in a High Mountain Area during Summer , 1997 .

[40]  M. Zappa,et al.  Runoff modelling of the glacierized Alpine Upper Salzach basin (Austria): multi‐criteria result validation , 2008 .

[41]  Jean-Christophe Maréchal.  Massif du Mont-Blanc : identification d'une structure hydrogéologique majeure , 2000 .

[42]  Antoine Rabatel,et al.  Changes in glacier equilibrium-line altitude in the western Alps from 1984 to 2010: evaluation by remote sensing and modeling of the morpho-topographic and climate controls , 2013 .

[43]  V. V. Salomonsona,et al.  Estimating fractional snow cover from MODIS using the normalized difference snow index , 2004 .

[44]  Massimiliano Zappa,et al.  The hydrological role of snow and glaciers in alpine river basins and their distributed modeling , 2003 .

[45]  Mountain Glaciers in Global Climate-related Observing Systems , 2005 .

[46]  S. Cox,et al.  Rare earth and trace element mobility in mid-crustal shear zones: insights from the Mont Blanc Massif (Western Alps) , 2003 .

[47]  S. Hagemann,et al.  Validation of the hydrological cycle of ERA 40 , 2005 .

[48]  L. S. Pereira,et al.  Crop evapotranspiration : guidelines for computing crop water requirements , 1998 .

[49]  J. Oerlemans.  Glaciers as indicators of a carbon dioxide warming , 1986, Nature.