2 EGU Sessions: (Global) Glacier Inventories: Status, Applications, Challenges, Solutions

[Tobias Bolch]

Dear colleagues,

The still incomplete global inventory of glaciers and icecaps is a major
bottleneck for several regional to global modeling applications (e.g.
run-off, sea-level rise). For regions without data (either in the GLIMS
glacier database or the World Glacier Inventory) such studies have to rely
on statistical extrapolations which introduce large errors in the
related calculations. Though automated glacier mapping techniques from
multispectral satellite data are well established and are
applied to fill these gaps, a high workload of manual corrections remains
(e.g. for debris-covered glacier parts). In this context, we introduce  
two new sessions
in the cryosphere program of the EGU General
Assembly 3-8 April 2011.

With the first session (CR1.50) we want to invite contributions that are
related to the completion of the global glacier inventory as well as
approaches that handle the shortcomings in data completeness by
extrapolation and/or scaling to apply models on a global scale.

The second session (CR3.20) is intended to present and discuss the
challenges related to the creation of a glacier inventory in the digital
age and the related change assessment (length, area). The focus will be on
the technical and methodological challenges (e.g. debris cover, seasonal
snow, orographic clouds and their shadow).

For more information please refer to the session descriptions which
you can find here:

CR1.50: `Towards a globally complete glacier inventory: Status and
applications' (Convener: T. Bolch, F. Paul, B. Raup , J. G. Cogley )
Description: http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2011/session/7053

CR3.20: `Creating glacier inventories from remote sensing data: Challenges
and solutions' (Convener: F. Paul, B. Raup, T. Khromova)
Description: http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2011/session/7054

Please consider submitting an abstract to either one or both of these
sessions to get an up-to-date overview on current data processing and a
broad perspective on the challenges encountered. For both sessions we
particularly encourage poster presentations to allow a
more extended discussion on these issues during the poster session. The
deadline for abstract submissions is 10 January 2011. We look forward to
your contributions! Please accept our apologies for cross-postings.

With thanks for your contribution and kind regards,

Frank and Tobias