Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Glaciology
Geodetic and gravimetric constraints on regional glacier mass changes in High Mountain Asia
Published: 2026-10-27
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology, Hydrology
Regional glacier assessments often require mass-change estimates over periods that differ from the intervals measured geodetically. We quantify how native cumulative-mass adjustments and within-interval variation contribute to the regional estimates obtained by adding GRACE. A linear joint inversion represents glacier, lake, non-glacier and exterior mass across High Mountain Asia. Geodetic-only, [...]
Erosion-induced momentum production and system acceleration govern landslide mobility
Published: 2026-10-26
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Geotechnical Engineering, Glaciology, Hydraulic Engineering, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Risk Analysis, Sedimentology, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Erosion can fundamentally alter landslide acceleration through the produced momentum. However, existing analytical landslide velocity models do not account for the energy dissipation associated with erosion-induced system acceleration. Here, I present a novel, complete dynamical velocity model for erosive landslides that incorporates two intrinsically coupled mechanically essential processes: [...]
Grounding-Line Retreat and Sea-Level Feedback in Pine Island Glacier: A Century-Scale Perspective
Published: 2026-10-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A vital component of the global climate system is the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS). West AIS’s major outlet is Pine Island Glacier (PIG), which has been rapidly thinned as well as accelerated recently. As per numerous studies, PIG is undergoing irreversible retreat and acceleration. Yet, there is a lack of studies on the coupled feedback mechanism between the ice sheets and Sea Level (SL) in the [...]
Transferability of ML emulators for polar RCM surface melt under different forcings: Limitations and recommendations
Published: 2026-09-30
Subjects: Climate, Glaciology
Machine learning emulators provide a computationally efficient alternative to physically based regional climate and surface mass balance models, but their applicability depends on their ability to generalize beyond training conditions. In this study, we assess the transferability of a melt emulator trained on output from the regional climate model HIRHAM5 forced by ERA-Interim, CESM2, and [...]
Fractures and Floods: Small-scale spatial and temporal processes driving change in a relic ice-shelf basal channel
Published: 2026-09-29
Subjects: Glaciology
Basal channels, which form beneath ice shelves due to localized warm or fast-moving water, may weaken ice shelves by localizing deformation that promotes crevasse formation. Here, we test this hypothesis and investigate the role of fracturing and melt generation in the evolution of an ice shelf basal channel. We use ground-based ice-penetrating radar imaging of change over 3 years for the [...]
Three thresholds and a computer-assisted phase diagram for the spectral stability of periodic hydroelastic Whitham waves
Published: 2026-09-26
Subjects: Glaciology, Non-linear Dynamics, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Partial Differential Equations
We study the spectral stability of 2π-periodic travelling waves of the hydroelastic Whitham equation, a scalar model with the full linear dispersion relation of water waves under a thin elastic sheet (e.g. a floating ice cover), as a function of the flexural rigidity T. Besides the modulational cluster at the origin, the zero-amplitude spectrum has, on an interval of T, a collision of opposite [...]
Three-Dimensional Numerical Modeling of Glacier Flow and U-Shaped Valley Evolution in Subtropical Taiwan
Published: 2026-09-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Glacial erosion plays a critical role in shaping alpine topography,yet the coupled effects of ice deformation, basal sliding, andbedrock erosion on millennial-scale valley morphodynamics remainchallenging to quantify. This study presents three-dimensionalsimulations of glacier dynamics and bed evolution in Xue MountainGlacial Cirque No.~2, Taiwan, over an effective glaciation timescaleof 9~ka. [...]
Was the Pre-Event SWIR Anomaly at Tsangbu Ri a Genuine Glacier-Collapse Precursor? A Calibrated Multi-Glacier Test of the 2026 Case
Published: 2026-09-19
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Geographic Information Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Hydrology, Planetary Geology, Planetary Glaciology, Remote Sensing, Spatial Science, Tectonics and Structure
On 26 August 2026 a compound bedrock-and-glacier failure on the northern flank of the Langtang Lirung–Tsangbu Ri (Kimshung) massif, Nepal–China border, generated a rock–ice avalanche and a catastrophic downstream flood along the Bhotekoshi–Trishuli river system. A pre-event Sentinel-2 shortwave-infrared (SWIR2–NIR–Red) composite (12 August 2026) shows a sharply bounded, strongly saturated [...]
Assessing Challenges for U.S.-Based Polar Early Career Scientists During Science Policy Changes
Published: 2026-09-13
Subjects: Environmental Engineering, Environmental Studies, Geography, Glaciology, Hydraulic Engineering, Nature and Society Relations, Other Environmental Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Early-career researchers (ECRs) play a critical role in sustaining polar and cryosphere research in the United States. Since January 2025, changes in U.S. science policy and federal research funding have created substantial uncertainty for researchers, particularly those in the early stages of their careers. To assess the impacts of these changes, we conducted a community-driven survey of [...]
Dendrochronology and the date of the Thera volcanic eruption
Published: 2026-09-07
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Volcanology
The main disciplines that contribute to our understanding of the chronology of the ancient Near East are history, archaeology, and various scientific dating techniques including dendrochronology, radiocarbon dating, and ice-core analysis. Beginning in the 1980s, a major rift began to develop between the historical-archaeological chronology and that based on dendrochronology-calibrated radiocarbon [...]
Deglacial Mass-Movement Floods as a Potential Source of Catastrophic Flood Traditions: A Testable Geomythological Hypothesis
Published: 2026-09-05
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Hydrology
Catastrophic flood traditions occur in many geographically separated cultures, but their possible geological substrates need not be uniform. Existing explanations include river floods, earthquake and volcanic tsunamis, glacial-lake outburst floods, postglacial sea-level rise, and cultural transmission. This paper proposes a complementary, explicitly testable hypothesis: during the terminal [...]
Magnitude-order improvements to the measurement precision of Antarctic grounding zone dynamics using SAR satellite constellations
Published: 2026-09-04
Subjects: Aerospace Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology
Glacier loss in Antarctica is strongly influenced by melt in the grounding zone, the transition between grounded and floating ice. Thwaites Glacier is a critical region, with 65 cm of sea-level-equivalent ice. A recent dataset tracks grounding line retreat for Thwaites and other Antarctic ice streams over 30 years. Despite this long-term record, significant uncertainty remains in predictions of [...]
Isochrone overturning in steady glacier flow
Published: 2026-09-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ancient ice recovered at Allan Hills extends into the Miocene, but steep layers, age reversals and folds complicate its interpretation. Whether steady glacier flow can overturn initially ordered layers remains uncertain. Here, we track the horizontal order of particles deposited sequentially at the surface. This order is measured by a signed Jacobian that is equivalent to the inverse [...]
The importance of ice shelf melt rate distributions in modelling of Antarctic ice loss
Published: 2026-09-03
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Glaciology, Oceanography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ocean-induced basal melting of ice shelves is a major cause of Antarctic ice loss. It is well known that the magnitude of this melt is an important factor to consider when modelling the future evolution of the ice sheet, and values of total melt volume or mean melt rates are often quoted for ice shelves. The finer detail of the distribution of this melt is usually given less attention. Here we [...]
A cascade, not a flood: testing the competing accounts of the 26 August 2026 Lhende Khola–Bhote Koshi disaster
Published: 2026-09-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
On 26 August 2026 a rock–ice mass detached above the Lhende Khola on the China–Nepal border, blocked the channel, and released a flow that travelled about 100 km down the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli, killing hundreds of people and removing about a tenth of Nepal's generating capacity in a single morning. Reporting produced mutually incompatible accounts of the cause, while the agency best placed to [...]