Abstract ID: 3.12671 | Accepted as Poster | Talk/Oral | TBA | TBA

Glaciers in mountain regions are crucial components of the hydrological cycle, influencing water availability and playing a key role in sustaining both ecosystems and human societies. Their long-term evolution and current changes are of paramount importance due to their impact on water regulation, biodiversity, and climate change adaptation. However, challenges persist in data integration and methodological standardization, exacerbated by the remote location of many glaciers, as well as technological and computational constraints that hinder effective monitoring and simulation of glaciological processes at a regional scale.
To address these challenges, the Tropical to Polar Glacier Mass Balance Reconstructions and Their Relationship with Climate Variability (TROPIPOLAR-GLASCLIM) project was launched. This initiative tackles the complexities of glacier mass balance modeling in both mountain and polar environments by integrating regional climate models, machine learning (ML), and field observations to reconstruct glacier changes from the tropics to Antarctica. This comprehensive approach enhances our understanding of climate forcing effects at various scales and their impact on the cryosphere, ultimately providing more reliable strategies for resource management in mountain regions.
In the context of the successful Glaciology and Climatology Workshop in Huaraz, Peru (October 7 to 12, 2024), which trained 45 students and early-career researchers from across South America in techniques and models for surface mass balance (SMB) studies in the Andes, we tested the CryoCloud platform. This platform provides access to computational resources and mitigates technical barriers related to model environment configuration. By facilitating cloud-based processing, CryoCloud enables the application of resource-intensive models, such as regional energy balance simulations and ML-driven SMB reconstructions, making advanced modeling techniques more accessible to the glaciological community.
In this presentation, we highlight the first major results obtained using CryoCloud, emphasizing the need to strengthen cross-disciplinary collaborations—particularly between atmospheric scientists, hydrologists, and glaciologists—to optimize data use and advance research networks.