Common climatic signal from glaciers in the European Alps over the last 50years

Conventional glacier-wide mass balances are commonly used to study the effect of climate forcing on glacier melt. Unfortunately, the glacier-wide mass balances are also influenced by the glacier's dynamic response. Investigations on the effects of climate forcing on glaciers can be largely improved by analyzing point mass balances. Using a statistical model, we have found that 52% of the year-to-year deviations in the point mass balances of six glaciers distributed across the entire European Alps can be attributed to a common variability. Point mass balance changes reveal remarkable regional consistencies reaching 80% for glaciers less than 10 km apart. Compared to the steady state conditions of the 1962-1982 period, the surface mass balance changes are -0.85 m water equivalent (w.e.) a(-1) for 1983-2002 and similar to 1.63m w.e.a(-1) for 2003-2013. This indicates a clear and regionally consistent acceleration of mass loss over recent decades over the entire European Alps.