World Glacier Monitoring Service self-evaluation report Michael Zemp, Isabelle Gärtner-Roer, Wilfried Haeberli, Martin Hoelzle, Samuel U. Nussbaumer and Frank Paul Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Switzerland

The beginning : PSFG & TTS/WGI = WGMS organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks 2014 operational & strategic teams...today’s team

WGMS Funding Research Group infrastructure Swiss GCOS 280 KCHF per year (=2 FTE+expenses) organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

WGMS: a worldwide scientific collaboration network organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks NZ IR MX UZ IS AT DE CO NO GL EC AR CH SE JP RU KE CN KZ FR CL NP AQ General Assembly of National Correspondents 2010

WGMS: a worldwide scientific collaboration network WGMS (2008) WGMS National Correspondents for: Antarctica, Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, Tanzania, Uganda, U.S.A., Uzbekistan organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

 Annual calls-for-data  Sent out early October to National Correspondents (&PIs & CRYOLIST)  One-year retention period  First (mass balance) results published online by end of the year  Glacier changes in:  Length  Area  Thickness/volume  Mass  Addition glacier data and information:  Special events (avalanche, glof, surge, …)  Glacier maps  Index datasets (e.g, end-of-summer snow lines, point mass balance) WGMS datasets FoG WGMS organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

Glacier changes in length WGMS (2008) photo by S. Kappeler WGMS (2012, and earlier series) The Swiss Glaciers (2011, and earlier series) organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks 2,000 glaciers 41,000 observ.

Glacier changes in area UNEP (2007) Joerg et al. (2010) organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

Glacier changes in mass photos by M. Zemp and H. Machguth WGMS (2013) organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks 270 glaciers 4,500 observ.

Glacier changes in mass, e.g. Freya, Greenland WGMS (2011) based on data from Hynek et al. ZAMG organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

Glacier changes in thickness/volume WGMS (2013)Joerg et al. (2012) organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks 450 glaciers 1,100 observ.

Floricioiu, Jaber and Rott (2012) Opportunities: o High spatial resolution o Covering entire mountain ranges Challenges: o Mountain topography o How bridging the last mile? Great potential of geodetic methods organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

Other global datasets not (yet) included The Alps Jacob et al. (2012) Kääb et al. (2013) organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

Data access organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

FoG database and MetaData Browser infrastructure organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

WGMS data reports FLUCTUATIONS OF GLACIERS 2005–2010 (Vol. X) A contribution to the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers (GTN-G) as part of the Global Terrestrial/Climate Observing System (GTOS/GCOS), the Division of Early Warning and Assessment and the Global Environment Outlook as part of the United Nations Environment Programme (DEWA and GEO, UNEP), and the International Hydrological Programme (IHP, UNESCO) Prepared by the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) ICSU (WDS) – IUGG (IACS) – UNEP – UNESCO – WMO 2012 WGMS (2012, and earlier issues) WGMS (2013, and earlier issues)WGMS (2008) organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

Data citation: an example for glaciological mass balance data WGMS-FoG  IPCC AR5 Draft: “[…] Cogley (2009) compiled 4,146 annually directly measured mass budgets from 344 glaciers. […]”  IPCC AR5 Final: The correct statement would read, e.g.: "Cogley (2009) compiled 4,817 directly measured annual mass budgets, […] by extending from the data set by WGMS (2009, and earlier issues)." 90% 10% organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

Citation recommendations and digital object identifiers (doi) FLUCTUATIONS OF GLACIERS 2005–2010 (Vol. X) A contribution to the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers (GTN-G) as part of the Global Terrestrial/Climate Observing System (GTOS/GCOS), the Division of Early Warning and Assessment and the Global Environment Outlook as part of the United Nations Environment Programme (DEWA and GEO, UNEP), and the International Hydrological Programme (IHP, UNESCO) Prepared by the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) ICSU (WDS) – IUGG (IACS) – UNEP – UNESCO – WMO 2012 When using these data, please cite as WGMS (2012, and earlier issues) and/or the original investigators and sponsoring agencies according to the available meta-information: WGMS (2012): Fluctuations of Glaciers (Vol. X): Zemp, M., Frey, H., Gärtner-Roer, I., Nussbaumer, S.U., Hoelzle, M., Paul, F. & W. Haeberli (eds.), ICSU (WDS)/ IUGG (IACS)/ UNEP/ UNESCO/ WMO, World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich, Switzerland. Based on database version doi: /wgms-fog organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

Other WGMS products organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks  Regular updates of WGMS and GTN-G websites  Scanning all data reports back to 1895  Catalogue of >500 books and >1200 papers of WGMS library  Scanning >100 glacier maps

organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

Cogley et al. (2011)  Contributions to working groups related to glacier monitoring, e.g.  UNEP (2007): Global outlook on ice & snow.  Paul et al. (2009): Recommendations for the compilation of glacier inventory data from digital sources.  Cogley et al. (2011): Glossary of glacier mass balance and related terms.  Zemp et al. (2013): Reanalysing glacier mass balance series.  Bojinski et al. (2014): The concept of Essential Climate Variables in support of climate research, applications, and policy  Gärtner-Roer et al. (subm.): A worldwide database of glacier thickness observations compiled by literature review and from open ‐ access airborne data  … WGMS outreach activities  Regular contact with international organizations  WGMS interns and guest scientists  organization of conference sessions  organization of summer schools  lecture series and excursions dedicated to glacier monitoring  remote and on-site support  … organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

Resumption of mass balance program at Abramov, Kyrghyzstan  Mass balance programme 1968–1998  Glacier Station destroyed by armed group on August 20, 1999  initial clarifications for restart of observation programm in 2010  international support required  CATCOS: new field campaigns since 2011 Photo from NSIDC Photo by G.M. Kamnyanskiy in 1978 Photo from automatic camera, SEP 2011 organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

Evaluation by data contributors and data users

 Key accomplishments  active compilation of standardized glacier fluctuation data  dissemination in digital and printed reports  => visibility to data contributors  => readily available data for scientific community  => information for international organizations and agencies  Key challenges  In-situ observations limited to a few hundred (glaciol. mass balance) or a few thousand glaciers (front variations)  Geodetic volume changes are potentially available for ten thousands of glaciers but its compilation is more laborious and often requires additional processing (‘last mile’ issue)  How to develop the WGMS and its data products further to tap the great potential of new remote sensing data without loosing the link to the traditional in-situ products?! organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

Secure and extend the long-term funding  Secure the existing funding from Swiss GCOS  Use the existing resources more efficiently  Seek additional resources for complementary tasks (e.g., capacity building & twinning, remote sensing data, data quality management)  Actively integrate the scientific community in data compilation (e.g., IACS working groups)  Involve highly motivated students (e.g., intern and guest scientist programs) organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

 (Re-)focus on the active compilation of changes in glacier length, volume, and mass  On-time reporting for ‘reference’ glaciers  Actively extend the present (mainly in-situ) dataset with remotely sensed observations  Data harvesting from literature reviews  Products resulting from ESA and NASA projects  Data (re-)processing by WGMS team  Further improve the easy access to glacier data and information  Next version of WGMS MetaData Browser (graphs, contributors)  GlacierApp for mobile devices  Revise the data reporting  Merge FoG and GMBB series into one new reporting series organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks

WGMS contributions to «Climate Services» organisation ¦ datasets, products, services ¦ outreach ¦ conclusions ¦ future key tasks