H5. Observation and modelling of snow and glacier processes
Unprecedented anthropogenic climate and land use change are dramatically impacting the cold region processes that shape seasonal snowcovers and glaciers worldwide. Billions of people depend on the seasonal snowcovers and glaciers to provide essential freshwater flows for local and downstream communities and ecosystems. There are therefore significant incentives to provide better estimates of these changing physical processes through improved observations, analysis, and modelling.
In this session, we invite contributions on all aspects of snow, ice, and glaciers including impacts on cold-regions meteorology, hydrology, surface-atmosphere-energy exchanges, frozen soil dynamics, glacier dynamics, and groundwater coupling. Contributors are encouraged to share their experiences, insights, and advances in utilizing existing and next-generation tools for observations, analysis, and/or modelling spanning all climate zones.