Cryospheric and Polar Processess Seminar

San Rafael Glacier in Patagonia, surface mass balance estimation of a complex glacier in a warm climate regime by Gabriela Collao-Barrios, Phd. Université Grenoble Alpes
San Rafael Glacier in the Northern Patagonia Icefield (NPI) have been losing mass at an accelerated rate during the last decades compared to the mean losses recorded since the Little Ice Age. Ice dynamics and ice discharge  have an important role on glacier mass budget due to the fast ice velocity of this glacier (>7 km a-1, within de faster glacier in the world). Here we use ice flow modelling to constraint the glacial mass budget components (mass balance, surface mass balance and ice discharge) and estimated the commited mass loss in the next century. This study is done using the full-Stokes model Elmer/Ice. Then, we model the surface mass balance and atmospheric conditions using the regional circulation model MAR (Modèle Atmosphérique Regional), and we relate glacier westage and climatic conditions.