Glacier Mass Balance and Regime: Data of Measurements and ...

IntroductionThis work presents data of glacier mass-balance from records that have been collected over thehistory of mass-balance measurement activity. Until now these data have been spread through manypublications and this may explain why glaciological data have not been used as fully as they could be, inmany fields of geosciences. Mass balance data have not been appropriately organized, i.e. digitized,quality checked, made accessible electronically, and compiled as continuous series of variables. It hastaken many years to gather, organize, and present mass balance and related data in this publication. It ishoped that this publication will speed up the process of incorporating glaciological data in programs forwhich such information is useful. The goal of this publication is less ambitious than that of the WGMS(World Glacier Monitoring Service), which aims to create and make accessible in the complete databaseof all characteristics of glaciers, including glacier inventory, mass balance and fluctuations (Hoelzle andTrindler, 1998), but goes beyond the WGMS mass-balance publications.This paper is oriented to several categories of users, including professional glaciologists,climatologists, hydrologists and other specialists interested in high-mountain and polar environments.Other potential users are those interested in the state of modern glaciers, their change in a global scale orin any particular region during times of climate warming. By placing all data on mass balance andrelated components in one handy source, our colleagues in glaciology, in particular those involved indata collection, will have an opportunity to check previously published data, and improve data for thenext publications.Glacier mass-balance data have gained an increased attention in detecting global climate changeand explaining rising sea level (Meier, 1984; Oerlemans and Fortuin, 1992; Kuhn, 1993; Dyurgerov andMeier, 1997a; Gregory and Oerlemans, 1998). Glacier mass balance change is important to regionalwater supplies and power generation (Bezinge, 1979; Fountain and Tangborn, 1985; Bakalov et al.,1990). The importance of monitoring glaciers and their relation to climate is recognized by the GlobalChange Program (Our Changing Planet, 1996), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC,1996, 2001), and by the international program of glacier monitoring [IAHS (ICSI)-UNEP-UNESCO,1977].Small glaciers (all glaciers other than the two major ice sheets, Greenland and Antarctica), havea total area of at least 680×10 3 km 2 (Meier and Bahr, 1996). Although they make up only 4% of the totalland ice area, they may have contributed to as much as 30% of sea-level change in the 20th century due10