Global glacier mass changes and their contributions to sea-level rise from 1961 to 2016. - Zemp et al (2019)

Flashcards about global glacier mass change from 1961 to 2016

What is the estimated global area covered by glaciers, excluding the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets?

Approximately 706,000 square kilometers

What is the estimated total volume of glaciers globally?

170,000 cubic kilometers

What is the potential sea-level-rise equivalent of the total volume of glaciers?

0.4 meters

How much did glaciers contribute to global mean sea-level rise from 1961 to 2016?

27 ± 22 millimeters

What range did regional specific-mass-change rates for 2006–2016 fall between?

−0.1 meters to −1.2 meters of water equivalent per year

What was the global sea-level contribution from glaciers between 2006-2016?

335 ± 144 gigatonnes, or 0.92 ± 0.39 millimeters, per year

Which region had the largest contribution to global sea level rise from 1961 to 2016?

Alaska

Which region exhibited mass gain over the full observation period (1961-2016)?

South Asia West

What was the observed global mean sea-level rise over the satellite altimetry era (1993 to mid-2014)?

Between 2.6 mm yr−1 and 2.9 ± 0.4 mm yr−1

Which region had the most negative specific mass changes (exceeding −1.0 m water equivalent per year) from 2006 to 2016?

South America

Which region experienced record mass losses between 2006 and 2016?

Alaska (-73 Gt yr-1)

Under present ice-loss rates, where would most of today's glacier volume vanish in the second half of this century?

Caucasus, Central Europe, the Low Latitudes, Western Canada and the USA, and New Zealand

What type of error accounts for the largest contribution to the total error bars related to regional mass changes?

Geodetic error

What approach facilitates the inference of mass changes at annual resolution for all regions, back to the hydrological year 1961/62?

Combining temporal variability from glaciological samples with large-scale observations from geodetic samples

How much larger, is the central estimate for the global rate of glacier mass loss than that reported in IPCC AR5 for the period 2003 to 2009?

47 Gt yr−1 (or 18%) larger

Changes in glacier volume and mass are observed by what methods?

Glaciological and geodetic methods

What percentage of the observed global mean sea-level rise is contributed by glaciers?

25% to 30%

Over the full observation period from 1961 to 2016, what was the global glacier mass changes cumulated to?

−9,625 ± 7,975 Gt

What is the reference approach used to calculate the regional specific mass change?

Spatial interpolation

What is the assumed general uncertainty for the total area derived from RGI 6.0?

± 5%