ALBERT

Note: Contents Preface 1 The evidence for cryospheric change 1.1 Introduction 1.2 The geomorphic and hydrologic effects of cryospheric change 1.3 Sub-arctic and alpine hydrology 1.4 Glacier loss and mountain permafrost 1.5 Permafrost 1.6 The carbon balance of the cryosphere 1.7 River and lake ice break-up and freeze-up 1.8 Ocean circulation 1.9 The mass balance of the polar ice sheets 1.10 Sea level 1.11 Importance of sea ice. 1.12 Ecological impacts 1.13 Socio-economic effects 1.14 Conclusions (Text word count-including figure captions and tables but excluding references- 9,015) 2 The monitoring of cryospheric change 2.1 Introduction 2.2 In situ measurements 2.2.1 Land surface air temperature 2.2.2 Terrestrial snow and snow on sea ice 2.2.3 Sea ice 2.2.4 Ice sheets and alpine glaciers 2.2.5 Permafrost and seasonally frozen ground 2.2.6 River runoff 2.2.7 River and lake ice freeze-up and break-up 2.3 Conclusions 3 Processes of cryospheric change 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Snow and ice as energy regulators 3.2.1 The energetics of the snow surface 3.2.2 The energetics of the snowpack 3.2.3 The energetics of glaciers 3.2.4 The energetics of sea ice and various terrain types 3.2.5 Permafrost 3.3 Snow and ice reservoir functions 3.3.1 Mass budget for snow 3.3.2 Mass balance for glacier ice 3.3.3 The mass balance of an ice sheet 3.3.4 Mass balance of sea ice 3.4 Snowfall 3.4.1 Interception by vegetation 3.4.2 Snow accumulation 3.4.3 Snow cover structure 3.5 Snow avalanches 3.6 Snow melt, runoff and streamflow generation 3.7 Snow chemistry 3.8 Snow ecology 3.9 Glacier melt 3.10 Formation of an ice cover 3.11 River and lake ice 3.12 Sediment budgets 4 Patterns of the contemporary cryosphere at local to global scales 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Remote sensing observations 4.3 Land and sea surface temperature 4.3.1 Terrestrial snow and snow on sea ice 4.3.2 Sea ice 4.3.3 Ice sheets & glaciers: estimation of volume 4.3.4 Ice sheets & glaciers: mass balance components 4.3.5 Permafrost 4.3.6 River runoff 4.3.7 River and lake ice freeze-up/break-up 4.4 Numerical Models 4.5 Conclusions: validation, coordinated projects and climate data records 5 The evidence for past cryospheric changes 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The uniqueness of the Quaternary Period 5.3. Initiation of glacial ages 5.4 Reconstructing extent of glacial environments 5.5 Extreme events 5.6 Ice sheet modelling 5.6.1 The Antarctic Ice Sheet 5.6.2 Greenland 5.6.3 North America: Innuitian, Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets 5.6.4 British Isles, Scandinavian and Barents ice sheets 5.6.5 The Patagonian and New Zealand ice caps 5.7 Non-glacial Quaternary environments 5.7.1 Late Quaternary permafrost in North America and Europe 5.7.2 Treeline variations 5.7.3 Climatic snowline 5.7.4 Glacier fluctuations 5.7.5 Paraglaciation 6 The transience of the cryosphere and transitional landscapes 6.1 Introduction 6.1.1 The landscape as palimpsest 6.2 Glacial landscapes: macro scale 6.2.1 Cirque landscapes 6.2.2 Fjord and strandflat landscapes 6.3 Periglacial landscapes: macro-scale 6.4 Paraglacial landscapes: macro-scale 6.5 Glacial landscapes: medium-scale 6.5.1 The transition from glacial to fluvial dominance 6.6 Proglacial landscapes: medium-scale 6.6.1 Glacifluvial landforms 6.6.2 The Channeled Scablands 6.6.3 Sub-glacial channels 6.6.4 Sub-glacial, ice-marginal and supraglacial sediment-landform associations 6.7 Periglacial landscapes: medium scale 6.7.1 The transition from periglacial to fluvial dominance 6.8 Paraglacial landscapes: medium-scale 6.9 Glacial landscapes: local-scale 6.9.1 Primary glacigenic deposits 6.9.2 Small scale erosional forms 6.10 Proglacial landscapes: local-scale 6.11 Periglacial landscapes: local scale 6.13 Paraglacial landscapes: local-scale 6.13 Landscape resistance, collapse and recovery 6.14 Transitional landscapes at Quaternary, Holocene and Anthropocene timescales 7 Cryospheric change and vulnerability at Quaternary, Holocene and Anthropocene time scales 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Panarchy 7.2.1 Panarchy, sustainability and transformability 7.2.2 Collapse and the vulnerability of socio-economic systems 7.3 Changing ice cover and biomes since the Last Glacial Maximum 7.3.1 The Last Glacial Maximum 7.3.2 The Holocene Optimum 7.4 The first explorers in North America 7.5 Implications of cryospheric change/collapse 7.5.1 Snow quantity 7.5.2 Snow quality 7.5.3 River and lake ice 7.5.4 Permafrost 7.5.5 Glaciers 7.5.6 River basins 7.5.7 Sea ice 7.5.8 Ice sheets 7.5.9 Sea level change 7.5.10 Carbon sequestration 7.5.11 Vegetation 7.5.12 Polar bears 7.5.13 Human health 7.5.14 Persistent organic pollutants 7.5.15 Socio-cultural conditions and health status 7.5.16 Livelihoods and socio-economic conditions 7.5.17 Governance 7.6 Concluding thoughts References Index