Mountain influences on glacier atmosphere

Glacial changes are driven by interactions with the atmosphere. Therefore, understanding both the weather and climate of the atmosphere around glaciers and the physics of glacier-atmosphere interactions is critical for understanding the future prospects of the world’s glaciers, as well as interpreting the proxy record of past climate imprinted in ice cores. The atmosphere around glaciers is influenced not only by the regional circulation patterns, but also the topography surrounding the glacier which alters the atmospheric flow, particularly in mountain regions. These interactions also cause mountain regions to experience some of the most dramatic climate changes under global warming. The interactions of the topography with the regional circulation occurs on scales much smaller than the resolution of most atmospheric models, and high-quality observations of the atmosphere are not always available. These effects play a major role in controlling key energy and mass inputs to glaciers, introducing large uncertainties in studies using glacier models, and mean that the atmospheric processes influencing are often poorly understood.