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Déclin des deux plus grands glaciers des Alpes françaises au cours du XXIe siècle : Argentière et Mer de Glace

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Des modélisations ont été réalisées sur les deux plus grands glaciers des Alpes françaises afin d’estimer leur évolution au cours du XXI esiècle.Pour un scénario climatique intermédiaire avec réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serreavant la fin du XXI esiècle (RCP 4.5), les simulations indiquent que le glacier d’Argentière devrait disparaître vers la fin du XXI esiècleet que la surface de la Mer de Glace pourrait diminuer de 80 %. Dans l’hypothèse la plus pessimiste d’une croissance ininterrompue des émissions de gaz à effet de serre (RCP 8.5), la Mer de Glace pourrait disparaître avant 2100 et le glacier d’Argentière une vingtaine d’années plus tôt.
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... The Mer de Glace is melting rapidly. Its thickness has decreased by 32 % since the beginning of the 20 th century (Vincent et al., 2019). Since 1860, the length has decreased by 1.5 km. ...
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Appendix 1 for "Visitors’ motivations to engage in glacier tourism in the European Alps: comparison of six sites in France, Switzerland, and Austria" -> https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2022.2044833
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The Infierno glacier is located in Aragon (Spain), Pyrenees mountain range, southern slope, the only one in this country that still preserves white glaciers. These are the southernmost glaciers in Europe and are currently in rapid regression. The work analyzes the evolution of the glacier between 2016 and 2022 (taking as "year zero" or starting point, 2015). In addition to the observations on the glacier itself, the variables (precipitation, temperatures, snow volumes and thicknesses) that allow understanding this evolution are studied. The results offer strong regression, with thickness losses in that period of 4.6 m and retreat of its front of 14.9 m. The evolution has frequent trend changes, linked to the interannual climatic irregularity characteristic of this mountain range. The main explanatory factor is the thermal increase. The thermal anomalies with respect to the average reference values have increased, in this period, +0.55° C. The year 2022 has been particularly warm and has recorded the greatest regression of the glacier (between May and August, the thermal anomalies were between +4° C and +2° C). Regarding precipitations, they have irregular tendencies and show a decreasing trend (-9% in the same period of time).
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Thesis
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