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Measuring glacier change

Glacier change is measured, not simply observed. Researchers may combine satellite imagery, digital elevation models, field data and statistical uncertainty estimates. The resulting figure is tied to a time interval and a definition of the glacier boundary.

The 2019 Elbrus study by Kutuzov and colleagues evaluates changes from 1997 to 2017 and reports area, volume and elevation results for the specified period.[1] Holobâcă’s earlier study uses a different period and mapping workflow.[2] Apparent disagreement between numbers can therefore arise from an updated date, a different outline or a different metric rather than an error.

This page does not convert historical measurements into a statement about today’s ice. See Glaciers for the system in context and Data and uncertainty for reading source differences.

Sources

  1. Kutuzov et al. (2019)
  2. Holobâcă (2016)