Skip to main content

Tropical Glaciers

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Glaciers and Ice Sheets in the Climate System

Abstract

Tropical glaciers reside in low-latitude regions on high mountains. Their mass and surface energy balance regimes differ from those of extratropical glaciers in terms of the dominant processes involved and seasonality; and their study allows insights into mid-tropospheric climate variations in the tropics. This chapter reviews the characteristics of tropical glaciers and physical modelling of their mass/energy balance components, using the glaciers on Kilimanjaro as a case study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Kaser G (1999) A review of the modern fluctuations of tropical glaciers. Glob Planet Change 22:93–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Hastenrath S (1991) Climate dynamics of the Tropics. Kluwer, Dordrecht

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. Asnani GC (1993) Tropical meteorology. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune

    Google Scholar 

  4. Kaser G, Osmaston H (2002) Tropical glaciers. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  5. Hardy DR, Vuille M, Braun C, Keimig F, Bradley RS (1998) Annual and daily meteorological cycles at high altitude on a tropical mountain. Bull Amer Met Soc 79:1899–1913

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Rabatel A and 27 others (2013) Current state of glaciers in the tropical Andes: a multi-century perspective on glacier evolution and climate change. The Cryosphere 7:81–102

    Google Scholar 

  7. Cullen NJ, Sirguey P, Mölg T, Kaser G, Winkler M, Fitzsimons SJ (2013) A century of ice retreat on Kilimanjaro: the mapping reloaded. The Cryosphere 7:419–431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Mölg T, Cullen NJ, Hardy DR, Winkler M, Kaser G (2009) Quantifying climate change in the tropical mid-troposphere over East Africa from glacier shrinkage on Kilimanjaro. J Clim 22:4162–4181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Mölg T, Maussion F, Yang W, Scherer D (2012) The footprint of Asian monsoon dynamics in the mass and energy balance of a Tibetan glacier. The Cryosphere 6:1445–1461

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Mölg T, Cullen NJ, Kaser G (2009) Solar radiation, cloudiness and longwave radiation over low-latitude glaciers: implications for mass balance modelling. J Glaciol 55:292–303

    Google Scholar 

  11. Mölg T, Cullen NJ, Hardy DR, Kaser G, Klok L (2008) Mass balance of a slope glacier on Kilimanjaro and its sensitivity to climate. Int J Climatol 28:881–892

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Klok EJ, Oerlemans J (2002) Model study of the spatial distribution of the energy and mass balance of Morteratschgletscher, Switzerland. J Glaciol 48(163):505–518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Kaser G (2001) Glacier-climate interaction at low latitudes. J Glaciol 47:195–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Francou B, Vuille M, Wagnon P, Mendoza J, Sicart JE (2003) Tropical climate change recorded by a glacier in the central Andes during the last decades of the 20th century: Chacaltaya, Bolivia, 16°S. J Geophys Res 108:D54154

    Google Scholar 

  15. Francou B, Vuille M, Favier V, Cáceres B (2004) New evidence for an ENSO impact on low-latitude glaciers: Antizana 15, Andes of Ecuador, 0° 28′ S. J Geophys Res 109:D18106

    Google Scholar 

  16. Mölg T, Kaser G (2011) A new approach to resolving climate-cryosphere relations: downscaling climate dynamics to glacier-scale mass and energy balance without statistical scale linking. J Geophys Res 116:D16101

    Google Scholar 

  17. Douglass DH, Christy JR, Pearson BD, Singer SF (2008) A comparison of tropical temperature trends with model predictions. Int J Climatol 28:1693–1701

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Indeje M, Semazzi FHM, Ogallo LJ (2000) ENSO signals in East African rainfall. Int J Climatol 20:19–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Webster PJ, Moore AM, Loschnigg JP, Leben RR (1999) Coupled ocean-atmosphere dynamics in the Indian Ocean during 1997–98. Nature 401:356–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Mölg T, Chiang JHC, Gohm A, Cullen NJ (2009) Temporal precipitation variability versus altitude on a tropical high mountain: observations and mesoscale atmospheric modelling. Quart J R Met Soc 135:1439–1455

    Google Scholar 

  21. IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. In: Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis M, Averyt KB, Tignor M, Miller HL (eds.) Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  22. Vuille M, Juen I, Kaser G (2008) Glacier mass balance variability in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru and its relationship with climate and the large-scale circulation. Glob Planet Change 62:14–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Mölg T, Renold M, Vuille M, Cullen NJ, Stocker TF, Kaser G (2006) Indian Ocean zonal mode activity in a multicentury integration of a coupled AOGCM consistent with climate proxy data. Geophys Res Lett 33:L18710

    Google Scholar 

  24. Mölg T (2009) Climate change in the tropics derived from glacier-atmosphere interactions. A multi-scale study combining direct field measurements, observations, climate proxies, and numerical modeling. Habilitation thesis, University of Innsbruck

    Google Scholar 

  25. Mölg T, Hardy DR (2004) Ablation and associated energy balance of a horizontal glacier surface on Kilimanjaro. J Geophys Res 109:D16104

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Mölg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Mölg, T., Kaser, G. (2021). Tropical Glaciers. In: Fowler, A., Ng, F. (eds) Glaciers and Ice Sheets in the Climate System. Springer Textbooks in Earth Sciences, Geography and Environment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42584-5_19

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics