Response of Very Small Glaciers to Climate Variations and Change: Examples from the Pirin Mountains, Bulgaria

Abstract

Very small glaciers (glacierets) react strongly to climatic variations. This is well expressed in their interannual size changes, which are most evident in autumn, at the end of the glacial mass balance year. This study presents results from the detailed research of two very small glaciers in the highest northern part of the Pirin Mountains of Bulgaria: Snezhnika and Banski suhodol. Systematic size measurements of these firn-ice bodies, which started in the 1990s and have been made simultaneously for a period of 13 years, show large inter-annual amplitudes against the background of a decreasing trend in response to climate warming. However, the relations are not straightforward, which is demonstrated when comparing size changes to climate data, including logger data obtained from glacier vicinity. This fact makes predictions for the changes in the local climate of high mountain cirques still relatively uncertain.

The final countdown? Monitoring the rapid shrinkage of the Maladeta glacier (2010–2020), Southern Pyrenees

“…The retreat of the entire glacier may point to the importance of topoclimatic factors, as previously proposed for temperate mountains (Colucci & Guglielmin, 2015;Fischer, 2018;Gachev, 2022) and in the Pyrenees (Rico et al, 2017;Vidaller et al, 2021). This fact corroborates that small glaciers housed in shaded sites, without avalanche input and at moderate elevation (< 3000 m a.s.l.…”

“…The high degree of variability of the tongue retreat implies a changeable trend. The variability present in the behavior of the Maladeta glacier is also observed in other small glaciers located in mountains at temperate latitudes, where topoclimatic and climatic factors are involved and the ELA is located above the elevation of the glacier flow (Fischer, 2018;Gachev, 2022;Sommer et al, 2020). The existence of processes such as glacial lake outburst floods Both processes combined involve great variability in the behavior of the glacier and the high instability of the system.…”

“…Mountain glaciers are considered one of the best indicators of climate and environmental changes, and small glaciers (surface area less than <0.5 km 2 ) are particularly appropriate for understanding short‐term climatic variations and their effects (Fischer, 2018). Nevertheless, the involved processes and the relationships among glacier size, climatic, and topoclimatic factors are not always straightforward in smaller glaciers, as the local topography is highly influential (Colucci, 2016; Fischer, 2018; Gachev, 2022; López‐Moreno et al, 2019; Sommer et al, 2020).…”

Monitorización de glaciares y glaciares rocosos pirenaicos: más de una década aplicando técnicas geomáticas en La Paúl y Maladeta

“…The retreat of the entire glacier may point to the importance of topoclimatic factors, as previously proposed for temperate mountains (Colucci & Guglielmin, 2015;Fischer, 2018;Gachev, 2022) and in the Pyrenees . This fact corroborates that small glaciers housed in shaded sites, without avalanche input and at moderate elevation (< 3000 m a.s.l.…”

“…Mountain glaciers are considered one of the best indicators of climate and environmental changes, and small glaciers (surface area less than < 0.5 km 2 ) are particularly appropriate for understanding short-term climatic variations and their effects (Fischer, 2018). Nevertheless, the involved processes and the relationships among glacier size, climatic and topoclimatic factors are not always straightforward in smaller glaciers, as the local topography is highly influential (Colucci, 2016;Fischer, 2018;Gachev, 2022;Sommer et al, 2020).…”