Research Activities in the Tropical Cryosphere A Focus on East Africa Lewis Glacier Mt Kenya, Feb 2012; R. Prinz Rainer Prinz – University of Graz, Austria 170705 | GCW Arusha

Content Overview Results Status Eddy-covariance experiment, Kilimanjaro, Oct 2011; M. Winkler 170705 | GCW Arusha

Overview 170705 | GCW Arusha

Myths East African glaciers are regional water reservoirs. NO: e.g. ice volume of Kilimanjaro = 13 mm precipitation Recent glacier recession in East Africa occurs at an unprecedented pace. NO, but strong recession throughout period of records (~130 y) Climatic drivers of glacier change are unclear. NO: atmospheric moisture -> snowfall, albedo, cloudiness Mölg et al. 2013 170705 | GCW Arusha

Value Climate proxy potential for the mid troposphere (cf. UN Sustainable Development Goal #13) Glaciers translate weather into climate glaciers as climate change indicators If we understand this translation process we can decode climate signals from glaciers at varoius scales from local climate sensitivities to regional / global teleconnections Process resolving models surface energy balance models limitted area atmosphere models 170705 | GCW Arusha

Scale issue Mölg & Kaser 2011 170705 | GCW Arusha

A second hypothesis Kaser & Osmaston 2002, modified How does the shape and the elevation of the mountain control the glacier regime and thus the 'translation process'? 170705 | GCW Arusha

Glacier area changes Mölg et al. 2013 170705 | GCW Arusha

Mt Kenya – observed glacier changes ~1880 Lewis Glacier 1880 – 2010: – 80% of area – 90% of volume 170705 | GCW Arusha Prinz et al. 2011

Historical surveys – geodetic mass balance 170705 | GCW Arusha Prinz et al. 2011

Glaciological mass balance – Lewis Glacier WGMS 170705 | GCW Arusha

Mt Kenya – AWS on glacier Oct 2010 Sep 2009 170705 | GCW Arusha

Mt Kenya – AWS off glacier Feb 2014 170705 | GCW Arusha

170705 | GCW Arusha Prinz et al. 2016

WET + CD CD + WW WW + CD -20% prec. +50% prec. -1°C Tair +1°C Tair Prinz et al. 2016 WET + CD CD + WW WW + CD -20% prec. +50% prec. -1°C Tair +1°C Tair 2011/12 170705 | GCW Arusha

Results - Kilimanjaro Cullen et al. 2013 170705 | GCW Arusha

Foto: L. Nicholson Oct 2009 170705 | GCW Arusha

Results - Kilimanjaro 3 glacier regimes slope glaciers Kaser et al. 2010 3 glacier regimes slope glaciers tabular glaciers vertical ice cliffs Winkler et al. 2010 170705 | GCW Arusha

Summary results The recession of East African glaciers is not a warming signal – it is a drying signal. This drying is linked to changes in the sea surface patterns over the Indian Ocean, which are very likely induced by Global Warming. 170705 | GCW Arusha

Status – not available; o historic; + ongoing 170705 | GCW Arusha

Status - Rwenzori Elena glacier AWS: Lentini et al. 2011 EV-K2-CNR http://www.evk2cnr.org last visit 2015 – future unclear – lack of funding: contact: elisa.vuillermoz@evk2cnr.org Glacier inventory 2003: Taylor et al. 2006 – controversial interpretation of glacier retreat (see comment: Mölg et al. 2006) updated glacier inventory to be done: TanDEM-X DEM is not accessible in the Democratic Republic of Congo 170705 | GCW Arusha

Status - Rwenzori Lentini et al. 2011 170705 | GCW Arusha

Status - Rwenzori Taylor et al. 2006 Lentini et al. 2011 170705 | GCW Arusha

Status – Mt Kenya Lewis Glacier - 2012 Lewis Glacier Mt Kenya, Feb 2012; R. Prinz 170705 | GCW Arusha

Status – Mt Kenya Lewis Glacier - 2017 Foto: Ladner M. 18.02.2017 170705 | GCW Arusha

Status – Mt Kenya mass balance measurements: cancelled freely available 1979-1996 and 2010-2014 meteorological measurements on glacier: cancelled freely available Sep 2009 – Feb 2012 meteorological measurements off glacier: ongoing freely available Feb 2012 – now no cryospheric parameters, no precipitation (precip manually by KWS) glacier inventory 2016 in preparation contact: rainer.prinz@uni-graz.at Lewis Glacier - 2017 170705 | GCW Arusha

Status - Kilimanjaro Mölg & Kaser 2011 170705 | GCW Arusha

Status - Kilimanjaro AWS 1) Northern Ice Field ~Continously operating since 2000 http://kiboice.blogspot.com/ contact: Douglas Hardy, University of Massachussetts dhardy@geo.umass.edu "support any idea of data sharing" global radiation albedo longwave radiation?? air temperature humidity wind speed wind direction surface height change (=accumulation & ablation) time lapse camera 170705 | GCW Arusha

Status - Kilimanjaro AWS 2) Southern Ice Field ~Continously operating since 2005 contact: Thomas Mölg, University of Erlangen-Nuernberg, Germany data access restricted for self-publication – after that free of use (2005-2010 should be available) Foto: Nicholson Oct 2009 170705 | GCW Arusha

ongoing research on Klilimanjaro Ice Memory: UNESCO – Kibo ice as climate archive: ice cores from Kilimanjaro: M. Schwikowski – PSI, Switzerland http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2015/EGU2015-5091.pdf ENSO impact on glaciers: T. Mölg – University of Erlangen Nuernberg, Germany https://www.nat.fau.eu/2015/10/28/pacific-glaciers/ http://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/278205752?language=en 170705 | GCW Arusha

for GCW Rwenzori and Mt Kenya Kilimanjaro currently no cryospheric observations good process understanding available high altitude AWS lack of funding Kilimanjaro >15 years of meteorological and cryospheric observations ongoing observation and modelling studies promote Kilimanjaro as CryoNet station 170705 | GCW Arusha

Cullen, N. J. , P. Sirguey, T. Mölg, G. Kaser, M. Winkler, and S. J Cullen, N. J., P. Sirguey, T. Mölg, G. Kaser, M. Winkler, and S. J. Fitzsimons (2013), A century of ice retreat on Kilimanjaro: the mapping reloaded, The Cryosphere, 7(2), 419–431, doi:10.5194/tc-7-419-2013. Kaser, G., and H. Osmaston (2002), Tropical Glaciers, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Kaser, G., T. Mölg, N. J. Cullen, D. R. Hardy, and M. Winkler (2010), Is the decline of ice on Kilimanjaro unprecedented in the Holocene?, The Holocene, 20(7), 1079–1091, doi:10.1177/0959683610369498. Lentini, G., P. Cristofanelli, R. Duchi, A. Marinoni, G. Verza, E. Vuillermoz, R. Toffolon, and P. Bonasoni (2011), Mount Rwenzori (4750 m a.s.l., Uganda): Meteorological characterization and air-mass transport analysis, Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria, 34, 183–193, doi:10.4461/GFDQ.2011.34.17. Mölg, T., and G. Kaser (2011), A new approach to resolving climate-cryosphere relations: Downscaling climate dynamics to glacier-scale mass and energy balance without statistical scale linking, Journal of Geophysical Research, 116(D16), 1–13, doi:10.1029/2011JD015669. Mölg, T., H. Rott, G. Kaser, A. Fischer, and N. J. Cullen (2006a), Comment on “Recent glacial recession in the Rwenzori Mountains of East Africa due to rising air temperature” by Richard G. Taylor, Lucinda Mileham, Callist Tindimugaya, Abushen Majugu, Andrew Muwanga, and Bob Nakileza, Geophysical Research Letters, 33(20), 33–36, doi:10.1029/2006GL027254. Mölg, T., M. Renold, M. Vuille, N. J. Cullen, T. F. Stocker, and G. Kaser (2006b), Indian Ocean zonal mode activity in a multicentury integration of a coupled AOGCM consistent with climate proxy data, Geophysical Research Letters, 33(18), 1–5, doi:10.1029/2006GL026384. Mölg, T., N. J. Cullen, D. R. Hardy, G. Kaser, L. Nicholson, R. Prinz, and M. Winkler (2013), East African glacier loss and climate change: Corrections to the UNEP article “Africa without ice and snow,” Environmental Development, 6, 1–6, doi:10.1016/j.envdev.2013.02.001. Prinz, R., A. Fischer, L. Nicholson, and G. Kaser (2011), Seventy-six years of mean mass balance rates derived from recent and re-evaluated ice volume measurements on tropical Lewis Glacier, Mount Kenya, Geophysical Research Letters, 38(20), L20502, doi:10.1029/2011GL049208. Prinz, R., L. Nicholson, T. Mölg, W. Gurgiser, and G. Kaser (2016), Climatic controls and climate proxy potential of Lewis Glacier, Mt. Kenya, The Cryosphere, 10(1), 133–148, doi:10.5194/tc-10-133-2016. Taylor, R. G., L. Mileham, C. Tindimugaya, A. Majugu, A. Muwanga, and B. Nakileza (2006), Recent glacial recession in the Rwenzori Mountains of East Africa due to rising air temperature, Geophysical Research Letters, 33(10), L10402, doi:10.1029/2006GL025962. Winkler, M., G. Kaser, N. J. Cullen, T. Mölg, D. R. Hardy, and W. T. Pfeffer (2010), Land-based marginal ice cliffs: Focus on Kilimanjaro, Erdkunde, 64(2), 179–193, doi:10.3112/erdkunde.2010.02.05. 170705 | GCW Arusha