WP 1 - Glacier Mass Balance

Objectives

Work package 1 “Glacier mass balance” is divided into two sub-WPs: A) Surface mass balance and melt modeling as well as B) mass flux including calving and mass balance partitioning.

The objective is to compile a comprehensive database of existing and on-going field measurements for model validation and to improve current mass balance and melt water discharge estimates for WAP glaciers. The WP integrates on-going activities of surface mass balance modeling using downscaled output of mesoscale meteorological models. Remote sensing is integrated for additional model validation as well as to determine changes in mass flux and surface elevation in order to better quantify current mass loss from WAP glaciers. Final goal is a refined quantification of WAP glacier mass loss and its separation into its climatic and dynamic components. The work package will provide updated glacier mass, estimates of surface melt from snow and ice surfaces as well as partitioning of glacier mass balance components and hence provide the boundary conditions for the following work packages.

About the WP Leader – Matthias Braun

WP 1 is led by Prof. Matthias Braun of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg.

Matthias Braun is a hydrologist, glaciologist and remote sensing expert with degrees from Freiburg University (Diplom in Hydrology 1997, Doctoral Degree in Geography, 2001). He has specialized in remote sensing of snow and ice as well as in glacier energy and mass balance measurements and modelling since his doctoral studies at the University of Freiburg in 2001. He has extended his remote sensing experience as senior scientist at the Center for Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces at Bonn University and as Associate Professor of Geophysics at University of Alaska Fairbanks. He is currently teaching and leading a research group for GIS and Remote Sensing at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Braun participated and led 12 Antarctic and Arctic expeditions to the Antarctic Peninsula and northeastern Svalbard. He coordinates the work package "Glaciology and Glacier melt" of international ESF programme IMCOAST (Impact of Climate Change on Antarctic Coastal Systems: 2010-2016).