title: Atmospheric drying as the main driver of dramatic glacier wastage in the southern Indian Ocean.
abstract: The ongoing retreat of glaciers at southern sub-polar latitudes is particularly rapid and widespread. Akin to northern sub-polar latitudes, this retreat is generally assumed to be linked to warming. However, no long-term and well-constrained glacier modeling has ever been performed to confirm this hypothesis. Here, we model the Cook Ice Cap mass balance on the Kerguelen Islands (Southern Indian Ocean, 49°S) since the 1850s. We show that glacier wastage during the 2000s in the Kerguelen was among the most dramatic on Earth. We attribute 77% of the increasingly negative mass balance since the 1960s to atmospheric drying associated with a poleward shift of the mid-latitude storm track. Because precipitation modeling is very challenging for the current generation of climate models over the study area, models incorrectly simulate the climate drivers behind the recent glacier wastage in the Kerguelen. This suggests that future glacier wastage projections should be considered cautiously where changes in atmospheric circulation are expected.
authors: Université Grenoble Alpes, LGGE, F-38041 Grenoble, France.|CNRS, LGGE, F-38041 Grenoble, France.
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Favier
authors: Université Grenoble Alpes, LGGE, F-38041 Grenoble, France.|CNRS, LGGE, F-38041 Grenoble, France.
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Verfaillie
authors: LEGOS, Université de Toulouse, CNES, CNRS, IRD, UPS, F-31400 Toulouse CEDEX, France.
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Berthier
authors: Université Grenoble Alpes, LGGE, F-38041 Grenoble, France.|CNRS, LGGE, F-38041 Grenoble, France.|Barcelona Super Computing Center, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Menegoz
authors: Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CNRS Laboratoire de Géographie Physique, F-92195 Meudon, France.
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Jomelli
authors: Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences University of Colorado at Boulder 216 UCB Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
authors: J E
authors: JE
authors: Kay
authors: LEGOS, Université de Toulouse, CNES, CNRS, IRD, UPS, F-31400 Toulouse CEDEX, France.
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Ducret
authors: LEGOS, Université de Toulouse, CNES, CNRS, IRD, UPS, F-31400 Toulouse CEDEX, France.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Malbéteau
authors: Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CNRS Laboratoire de Géographie Physique, F-92195 Meudon, France.
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Brunstein
authors: Université Grenoble Alpes, LGGE, F-38041 Grenoble, France.|CNRS, LGGE, F-38041 Grenoble, France.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Gallée
authors: LOCEAN/DMPA, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, F-75005 Paris, France.
authors: Y-H
authors: YH
authors: Park
authors: Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CNRS Laboratoire de Géographie Physique, F-92195 Meudon, France.|University of St Andrews, DEES, St Andrews KY16 9AL, UK.
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Rinterknecht