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The specialist society promotes the dialogue between science, practice and society. It supports the exchange of knowledge and cooperation among its members, maintains relations with national and international organisations and promotes young academics.

Image: NASA Earth Observatory, Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon

Fluctuations of Glaciers

The World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) collects standardised observations on changes in mass, volume, area and length of glaciers with time, as well as statistical information on the distribution of perennial surface ice in space. Such glacier fluctuation and inventory data are high priority key variables in climate system monitoring.

Teaser: Fluctuations of Glaciers

The series ‘Fluctuations of Glaciers’ (FoG), prepared by the WGMS, continously publishes internationally collected, standardised data on changes in glaciers throughout the world at 5-yearly intervals. The objective of the publication is to reproduce a global set of data which

  • affords a general view of the changes,
  • encourages more extensive measurements,
  • invites further processing of the results,
  • facilitates consultation of the further sources, and
  • serves as a basis for research.
In fact, this standarised data set should be regarded as a working tool for the scientific community, especially concerning the fields of glaciology, climatology, hydrology, and quarternary geology.

Source: world glacier monitoring service

Categories

  • Climatic effects
  • Cryosphere
  • Effect
  • Glacier
  • Impacts of climate change
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