面向对象-改进冰雪指数法消除冰湖干扰提取冰川边界的优越性分析——以各拉丹冬冰川为例

冰川作为气候变化的重要指标器,其范围监测对区域生态环境以及人类社会生活具有重要意义。目前基于遥感技术的冰川范围监测应用广泛,然而传统遥感监测方法中冰雪指数阈值法的提取结果存在无法区分冰川与冰湖的现象,面向对象分类法受地物光谱纹理信息限制无法避免同谱异物现象的出现。为弥补上述不足,提出一种可区分冰湖与冰川的改进冰雪指数,并将其融入面向对象分类法中,构建了一种面向对象-改进冰雪指数法。将各拉丹冬冰川作为试验区（该地区冰川表面洁净）,运用面向对象-改进冰雪指数法识别冰川边界,使用青藏高原冰川数据产品及常规遥感监测方法的提取结果作为参考数据,以验证此方法的有效性和稳健性。结果表明：面向对象-改进冰雪指数法综合了改进冰雪指数阈值法以及面向对象分类法的优点,冰川范围提取精度高达97.26%,与冰雪指数阈值提取结果相比精度提高了0.12%,与面向对象分类法提取结果相比精度提高了0.38%。此方法不仅有效地解决了地物错分的问题,还实现了冰川边界的精确识别。     

1980-2011年全球不同地区冰川物质平衡变化分析

在气候变暖背景下,全球大多数冰川加速退缩,冰川物质亏损严重,呈负平衡增长趋势。利用世界冰川监测服务处（WGMS）最新刊布的物质平衡资料,对全球重点监测冰川的物质平衡现状及结果进行扼要的总结和比较,分析了1980-2011年全球不同地区冰川物质平衡的区域特征、变化过程及总体变化趋势,评估了冰川物质平衡对海平面变化的贡献。结果表明：1980-2011年,全球冰川物质亏损严重,加速退缩,平均减薄了14 m,其中阿尔卑斯山脉及太平洋海岸山脉的退缩尤为明显,平均减薄了30 m左右;各地区冰川的平均物质平衡变化趋势与全球平均趋势基本保持一致,具有典型的纬度地带性分布特征;物质平衡变化过程分为正平衡波动型、负平衡波动型及负平衡持续增长型三类,但总体上处于负平衡持续增长趋势;在全球继续增温的未来,冰川将会继续退缩,物质亏损强度不断增大,负平衡趋势不断增强。冰川物质平衡对海平面上升的贡献呈增大趋势,且与全球气温上升基本上是同步的。     

Svalbard glaciers re‐advanced during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition

Despite warming regional conditions and our general understanding of the deglaciation, a variety of data suggest glaciers re‐advanced on Svalbard during the Lateglacial–early Holocene (LGEH). We present the first well‐dated end moraine formed during the LGEH in De Geerbukta, NE Spitsbergen. This landform was deposited by an outlet glacier re‐advancing into a fjord extending 4.4 km beyond the late Holocene (LH) maximum. Comparing the timing of the De Geerbukta glacier re‐advance to a synthesis of existing data including four palaeoclimate records and 15 other proposed glacier advances from Svalbard does not suggest any clear synchronicity in glacial and climatic events. Furthermore, we introduce six additional locations where glacier moraines have been wave‐washed or cut by postglacial raised marine shorelines, suggesting the landforms were deposited before or during high relative sea‐level stands, thus exhibiting a similar LGEH age. Contrary to current understanding, our new evidence suggests that the LGEH glaciers were more dynamic, exhibited re‐advances and extended well beyond the extensively studied LH glacial expansion. Given the widespread occurrence of the LGEH glacier deposits on Svalbard, we suggest that the culmination of the Neoglacial advances during the Little Ice Age does not mark the maximum extent of most Svalbard glaciers since deglaciation; it is just the most studied and most visible in the geological record.     

Sensitivity to long-term climate change of subpermafrost groundwater systems in Svalbard

Deep subpermafrost aquifers are highly climate-dependent, with the permafrost as an aquitard preventing groundwater recharge and discharge. A study from the high-arctic island of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, shows that during a glacial to interglacial phase, both the permafrost and the glacier regime will respond to climatic changes, and a glacier-fed groundwater flow system will vary accordingly. A full glaciation results in the melting of permafrost, and groundwater can flow through pores and fracture systems in the rocks and sediments below the temperate zones of glaciers. These groundwater flow systems will mainly be localized to fjords and valleys and form low-lying terrestrial springs when the relative sea level drops during deglaciation due to glacio-isostatic rise. During an interglaciation, permafrost develops and thickens and the groundwater recharge and discharge areas will thereby be gradually reduced to a minimum reached at the warmest part of an interglaciation. An already frozen spring system cannot reopen before the permafrost melts. Only groundwater springs related to permanently warm-based glacial ice will persist into the next glaciation. During a new glaciation, flow systems that terminated during the previous interglaciation may become revitalized if overridden by warm-based ice causing permafrost thawing.     

Interactions between rock avalanches and glaciers in the Mont Blanc massif during the late Holocene

Rock avalanches are common in the Mont Blanc massif, which is bordered by valleys with large resident and tourist populations and important highways. This paper combines historical data with detailed geomorphological mapping, stratigraphic observation, and absolute and relative dating, to interpret several deposits resulting from rock avalanching onto glaciers.Nineteen rock falls and rock avalanches are described, ranging in volume from 10,000 m³ to 10 × 10⁶ m³. They occurred between 2500 BP and AD 2007 at six sites. The events at three sites (Miage and Drus Glaciers, and Tour des Grandes Jorasses) are characterised by short travel distances; those at Brenva, Triolet, and Frébouge Glaciers exhibit excessive travel distances.Interactions between rock avalanches and glaciers are of four types: (i) rock-avalanche triggering, where glacial and paraglacial controls include debuttressing of rockwalls due to glacier thinning and retreat, oversteepening of rock slopes by glacial erosion, and effects of glaciers on permafrost; (ii) rock-avalanche mobility, in which mobility and travel distance are modified by channelling of rock-avalanche debris by moraines and valleys, incorporation of ice and snow (often >50% for large events), and irregularities on the glacier surface; (iii) deposit sedimentology, where melting of incorporated ice transforms the final deposit by reducing its thickness typically to <5 m, and debris of variable thicknesses is juxtaposed in a hummocky deposit with chaotic piles of angular rock debris; and (iv) glacier dynamics where insulating debris deposited upon a glacier produces a debris-covered glacier of different dynamics, and high elevated scars can favour the formation of small glaciers.     

现代冰川体积变化研究方法综述

冰川作为气候变化的指示器,在气候变暖的趋势下呈加速退缩的趋势。冰川消融加速对海平面上升、区域水循环和水资源可获取性均有重要影响。冰川体积作为冰川研究的一项重要内容,越来越被研究者关注。围绕极地冰盖、山地冰川体积研究概况,较系统地总结分析研究冰川体积变化的方法,主要包括传统测量方法、统计公式法、冰川地形测量法和遥感监测法,现代冰川体积变化的研究也由传统的实地测量、统计公式法等向遥感监测研究发展,并分析各方法在主要冰川类型中的应用情况。借助遥感手段监测冰川动态变化可有效解决高寒山区资料受限的问题,成为冰川学发展的重要趋势。     

川藏交通廊道林波段冰川泥石流发育动态演化分析及监测预警方案

川藏交通廊道沿线山高谷深,地层岩性多变,新构造运动活跃,气候恶劣复杂,导致滑坡、崩塌、泥石流、冰湖溃决洪水等灾害极其发育,对铁路施工及运营带来严重影响.林芝-波密段就是典型地质灾害高发区域,常年受到冰川泥石流的影响,是川藏交通廊道重大灾害防治的难点区段.虽然目前在单沟尺度上对冰川泥石流的形成条件、影响因素、物源性质取得了一定的认识,但对于川藏交通廊道沿线不同类型的冰川泥石流诱发因素、区域发展演化规律及灾变指标的研究还较为初步,尚未构建完善的监测预警体系.借助多源长时序遥感影像、气象监测数据,结合野外实地验证和历史数据分析发现:川藏交通廊道周边区域冰川泥石流沟谷共99条,主要分布于恰青冰川-易贡乡、加拉贝垒-南迦巴瓦峰和古乡沟-嘎隆寺冰川一带;过去40年冰川经历了复杂的流动速度变化,表现为较小高海拔悬冰川活动性增强,大型沟谷冰川活动性减弱;自1973年以来,研究区冰川泥石流呈现频率增高、规模增大的特征.此外,从冰川泥石流发育沟道比降来看,发生高陡地形的滑坡、冰-岩崩诱发的泥石流频率增加.未来,冰川持续退缩,促使冰川源区冰瀑消失,发育更大规模的悬冰川,会增加这类冰川泥石流的风险;冰川泥石流形成及演化过程具有明显的灾变指标,如悬冰川裂隙密度增加、冰川速度增强、冰湖面积快速增加等.因此,基于以上认识,建议针对不同类型的冰川泥石流地建立完善的监测预警指标,并提出了融合卫星、航空遥感平台,气象、水文地面监测平台,地震动监测平台的冰川泥石流“空-天-地”立体监测框架,针对不同类型冰川泥石流进行灾变信息监测与预警判识,为川藏交通廊道安全施工运营提供技术参考.      

The Glacial History of Landscape in the Batura Muztagh, NW Karakoram

The most recent glacial history of the Bar Valley on the Batura south side of the great Karakorum main ridge shows a marked retreat of the Kukuar and Baltar glaciers since 1915 by 8 km. This tendency is continuing. A great lateral moraine (GLM), which shows the latest, historical maximum postglacial stage, is accompanied by a higher level, which reflects a neoglacial glacier level whose ice margins no longer exist. An earth-pyramid moraine rising high above the glacier, as also occurs on the northern declivities of the Batura, does not mark a specific level, but bears witness to a valley-filling glacier, for which further indicators can be found along the valley flank. In the gorge-like narrow trough valley, the flanks of which are covered by steep debris cones originating from the postglacial, numerous former glacial characteristics contrast with the current glaciation of the far retreated Kukuar and Baltar glaciers. Moraine material found at the valley outlet at Chalt and also on the Talmutz pass demonstrates complete ice filling of the Bar valley, also supported by the Daintar glacier. From a glacial geomorphological perspective, this confirms a late to high glacial connection of the Bar glacier to a Hunza glacier, as postulated by Kuhle (2005).     

The glacial history of landscape in the Batura Muztagh, NW Karakoram

The most recent glacial history of the Bar Valley on the Batura south side of the great Karakorum main ridge shows a marked retreat of the Kukuar and Baltar glaciers since 1915 by 8 km. This tendency is continuing. A great lateral moraine (GLM), which shows the latest, historical maximum postglacial stage, is accompanied by a higher level, which reflects a neoglacial glacier level whose ice margins no longer exist. An earth-pyramid moraine rising high above the glacier, as also occurs on the northern declivities of the Batura, does not mark a specific level, but bears witness to a valley-filling glacier, for which further indicators can be found along the valley flank. In the gorge-like narrow trough valley, the flanks of which are covered by steep debris cones originating from the postglacial, numerous former glacial characteristics contrast with the current glaciation of the far retreated Kukuar and Baltar glaciers. Moraine material found at the valley outlet at Chalt and also on the Talmutz pass demonstrates complete ice filling of the Bar valley, also supported by the Daintar glacier. From a glacial geomorphological perspectives, this confirms a late to high glacial connection of the Bar glacier to a Hunza glacier, as postulated by Kuhle (2005).     

1960-2010年黑河流域冰川变化的遥感监测

利用1960年地形图、 1990年、 2000年和2010年TM影像, 采用基于冰雪指数(NDSII)和原始波段的面向对象解译方法, 提取黑河流域4个时期的冰川分布, 结合30 m分辨率的DEM数据, 利用遥感、 地理信息系统技术对冰川的时空分布变化及原因和不确定性进行分析. 结果表明: 从1960-2010年50 a间黑河流域上游冰川持续退缩, 面积共减少138.90 km², 减少率为35.6%, 平均每年减少2.78 km², 祁连山中段冰川属于强烈退缩型. 祁连山中段黑河流域冰川主要分布在海拔4 200~5 300 m之间, 冰川分布下限为海拔4 000 m; 冰川退缩主要发生在低海拔地区, 冰川的退缩上限为海拔4 600 m.气温的显著上升是研究区冰川退缩的关键因素, 气候持续变暖将会导致冰川退缩加剧.     

Loch Lomond Stadial glaciers in the Aran and Arenig Mountains,North Wales,Great Britain

Geomorphological evidence for four former local glaciers has been mapped in the Aran and Arenig Mountains, North Wales. Former glacial extent was deduced from the distribution and assemblage of end and lateral moraines, hummocky moraine, boulder limits, drift limits and periglacial trimlines. Comparison of infilled lake sediment stratigraphies inside and outside of the former glacier limits suggests a Loch Lomond Stadial (Late Devensian) age of the former glaciers (c. 12.9–11.5 cal. ka BP ). This finding is also supported by periglacial–landform contrasts between the land inside and outside of the glacier limits. Reconstruction of the four glaciers illustrates a mean equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of c. 504 m. From the reconstructed ELAs and the combination of precipitation and snowblow input for total accumulation, by analogy with Norwegian glaciers, a mean sea‐level July temperature is calculated at 8.4°C. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The last glaciation and relative sea level history of Northwest Ellesmere Island,Canadian high arctic

Philips Inlet and Wootton Peninsula are located at 82°N and 85°W on the northwest coast of Ellesmere Island and are composed of three bedrock controlled zones: (1) 900 m undulating plateau dissected by fiords; (2) a deeply fretted cirque terrain >1200m; (3) a 300m plateau bounded by coastal cliffs. Each zone contains different glacier morphologies and these control glacigenic sediment and landform assemblages. The extent of the last glaciation is mapped using the distribution of moraines, kames, meltwater channels and glacimarine sediments. Glaciers advanced on average <10 km from their present margins and many piedmont lobes coalesced and floated in the sea. Morainal banks were deposited at the grounding lines of floating glaciers, and where debris-charged basal ice occurred, subaqueous fans were deposited upon deglaciation. Marine shells dating 20.2 ka BP (<2km from present ice margin) and 14.9ka BP (from a morainal bank) document full glacial marine fauna. Thirty-three radiocarbon dates document glacier retreat patterns and are used to reconstruct the postglacial sea level history (glacioisostatic rebound pattern). An equidistant shoreline diagram is constructed using the 8.5ka BP shoreline as a guide. Tilts from 0.73-0.85m/km are calculated for this shoreline. Using two firm control points and tilts from elsewhere on northern Ellesmere Island, the 10.1 ka BP (full glacial) marine limit descends from 117m as at the fiord heads to 63 m asl at the north coast. Deglaciation started with a pronounced calving phase throughout the field area between 10.1 and 7.8ka BP. This chronology is similar to that from northeast Ellesmere Island and attests to an early Holocene warming trend recorded in high arctic ice cores. A maximum lag of 2.1 ka exists between the field area and locations to the south of the Grant Land Mountains suggesting differences in glacioclimatic regimes on either side of the mountain range. Persistent reconstructions of all-pervasive ice sheets for the last glaciation of the area are obsolete and should be abandoned.     

贡嘎山第四纪冰川遗迹及冰期划分

在对贡嘎山现代冰川和古冰川考察研究的基础上，结合定位观测分析，对该区第四纪冰川遗迹进行了深入讨论，划分出三次冰期，即中更新世早期的倒数第三次冰期，中更新世晚期的倒数第二次冰期和晚更新世的末次冰期，以及全新世的新冰期和小冰期。提出在早更新世时，由于山体未达到当时冰川发育的雪线高度，所以未发育冰川；中更新世早期的冰期冰川为半覆盖式冰川类型，规模不大；中更新世晚期的冰期冰川是本区最大冰川作用时期，形成网状山麓冰川，东坡冰川曾达磨西台地；晚更新世冰期冰川以山谷冰川为主，以后规模逐次缩小。     

Calendar year age estimates of Allerød–Younger Dryas sea‐level oscillations at Os,western Norway

A detailed shoreline displacement curve documents the Younger Dryas transgression in western Norway. The relative sea‐level rise was more than 9 m in an area which subsequently experienced an emergence of almost 60 m. The sea‐level curve is based on the stratigraphy of six isolation basins with bedrock thresholds. Effort has been made to establish an accurate chronology using a calendar year time‐scale by ¹⁴C wiggle matching and the use of time synchronic markers (the Vedde Ash Bed and the post‐glacial rise in Betula (birch) pollen). The sea‐level curve demonstrates that the Younger Dryas transgression started close to the Allerød–Younger Dryas transition and that the high stand was reached only 200 yr before the Younger Dryas–Holocene boundary. The sea level remained at the high stand for about 300 yr and 100 yr into Holocene it started to fall rapidly. The peak of the Younger Dryas transgression occurred simultaneously with the maximum extent of the ice‐sheet readvance in the area. Our results support earlier geophysical modelling concluding a causal relationship between the Younger Dryas glacier advance and Younger Dryas transgression in western Norway. We argue that the sea‐level curve indicates that the Younger Dryas glacial advance started in the late Allerød or close to the Allerød–Younger Dryas transition. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late-glacial cirque glaciation in parts of western Norway

Younger Dryas cirque glaciers are known to have existed beyond the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in parts of western Norway. At Kråkenes, on the outermost coast, a cirque glacier formed and subsequently wasted away during the Younger Dryas. No glacier existed there during the Allerød. Large cirque moraines, some with marine deltas and associated fans, extend into the western part of Sykkylvsfjorden. Comparison with existing late-glacial sea-level curves shows that the uppermost marine sediment in these features was deposited well above Younger Dryas sea-level, demonstrating that the cirques were occupied by glaciers before the Younger Dryas. During the Younger Dryas the cirque glaciers expanded, and some advanced across the deltas, depositing till and supplying the sediment to form lower-level fans and deltas controlled by Younger Dryas sea level. The extent of the Younger Dryas advance of some of the glaciers was, at least in part, controlled by grounding on material deposited before the Younger Dryas. The depositional history of the glacial–marine deposits in the Sykkylven area indicates that cirque glaciers existed throughout Late-glacial time and only expanded during the Younger Dryas. The sediment sequence in glacial lakes beyond cirque moraines and reconstructions of glacier equilibrium lines indicate that this was true for most cirques in western Norway. Only on the outermost coast were new glaciers formed in response to Younger Dryas climate cooling. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Active retreat of a Late Weichselian marine‐terminating glacier: an example from Melasveit,western Iceland

Large and complete glaciotectonic sequences formed by marine‐terminating glaciers are rarely observed on land, hampering our understanding of the behaviour of such glaciers and the processes operating at their margins. During the Late Weichselian in western Iceland, an actively retreating marine‐terminating glacier resulted in the large‐scale deformation of a sequence of glaciomarine sediments. Due to isostatic rebound since the deglaciation, these formations are now exposed in the coastal cliffs of Belgsholt and Melabakkar‐Ásbakkar in the Melasveit district, and provide a detailed record of past glacier dynamics and the inter‐relationships between glaciotectonic and sedimentary processes at the margin of this marine‐terminating glacier. A comprehensive study of the sedimentology and glaciotectonic architecture of the coastal cliffs reveals a series of subaquatic moraines formed by a glacier advancing from Borgarfjörður to the north of the study area. Analyses of the style of deformation within each of the moraines demonstrate that they were primarily built up by ice‐marginal/proglacial thrusting and folding of marine sediments, as well as deposition and subsequent deformation of ice‐marginal subaquatic fans. The largest of the moraines exposed in the Melabakkar‐Ásbakkar section is over 1.5 km wide and 30 m high and indicates the maximum extent of the Borgarfjörður glacier. Generally, the other moraines in the series become progressively younger towards the north, each designating an advance or stillstand position as the glacier oscillated during its overall northward retreat. During this active retreat, glaciomarine sediments rapidly accumulated in front of the glacier providing material for new moraines. As the glacier finally receded from the area, the depressions between the moraines were infilled by continued glaciomarine sedimentation. This study highlights the dynamics of marine‐terminating glaciers and may have implications for the interpretation of their sedimentological and geomorphological records.     

中国第四纪冰川研究的现状与争议——兼记首届“中国第四纪冰川与环境变化”研讨会

冰川是塑造地表形态最积极的外营力之一, 对第四纪冰期与间冰期旋回中冰川进退留下的丰富且形态独特的冰川地形的研究, 不仅能重建古冰川时空演化的规律, 在构造活跃的山区还可为山体抬升提供重要的理论参考. 2012年8月, 中国从事冰川地貌与环境变化研究的学者相聚兰州, 总结了以技术定年为主要特征的第四纪冰川研究新阶段取得的成绩与突破, 并探讨了现阶段工作的重点及未来的发展方向. 与会代表认为, 可对冰川地形进行直接定年的测年技术的发展与应用, 促进了我国第四纪冰川研究的发展, 现阶段及今后应着重加强与开展如下几个方面工作: 1)精确年代学框架的建立是现阶段我国第四纪冰川研究的重点; 2)青藏高原及周边山地最老冰碛的追溯及其年代测定是回答我国第四纪冰川开始发育的关键, 也是理解青藏高原构造抬升与冰期气候耦合的内在要求; 3)我国东部(105° E以东)第四纪冰川与环境问题需作进一步的研究与澄清, 科普工作亟待加强.     

Chronology of cirque glaciation,Colorado front range

Moraines and rock glaciers in Front Range cirques record at least four, and possibly five, intervals of Holocene glacier expansion. The earliest and most extensive was the Satanta Peak advance, which deposited multiple terminal moraines near present timberline shortly before 9915 ± 165 BP. By 9200 ± 135 BP, timberline had risen to at least its modern elevation; by 8460 ± 140 BP, patterned ground on Satanta Peak moraines had become inactive. Although a minor ice advance may have occurred just prior to 7900 ± 130 BP, there is no evidence that glaciers or perennial snowbanks survived in the Front Range during the “Altithermal” maximum (ca. 6000–7500 BP), or during a subsequent interval of alpine soil formation (ca. 5000–6000 BP).Glaciers were larger during the Triple Lakes advance (3000–5000 BP) than at any other time during Neoglaciation. Minimum ages of 4485 ± 100 BP, 3865 ± 100 BP, and ca. 3150 BP apply to a threefold sequence of Triple Lakes deposits in Arapaho Cirque. After an important interval of soil formation and cavernous weathering, glaciers and rock glaciers of the Audubon advance (950–1850 BP) reoccupied many cirques, and perennial snowbanks blanketed much of the area above present timberline; although the general Audubon snow cover had begun to melt from valley floors by 1505 ± 95 BP, expanded snowbanks lingered on tundra ridge crests until 1050–1150 BP, and glaciers persisted is sheltered cirques until at least 955 ± 95 BP. Following a minor interval of ice retreat, glaciers of the Arapaho Peak advance (100–300 BP) deposited multiple moraines in favorably oriented cirques.Interpretation of Holocene glacial deposits in the Southern and Central Rocky Mountains has been hampered by (1) a heavy reliance upon relative-dating criteria, many of which are influenced by factors other than age; (2) the assumption that glacial advances in high-altitude cirques can be correlated directly with alluvial deposition in far-distant lowlands; and (3) the assumption that glacial advances have necessarily been synchronous throughout the Rocky Mountain region and the world. Although Holocene glacier fluctuations in the Front Range are believed to reflect changes in regional climate, the Front Range chronology does not have particularly close analogs in other parts of North America. Better-dated local sequences are needed before the hypothesis of global synchroneity can be adequately evaluated; until synchroneity has been proven, long-distance correlations and worldwide cycles of recurring glaciation will remain unconvincing.     

相对海平面上升的危害与防治对策

相对海平面上升已成为中国沿海地区海洋地质环境灾害之一。本文在有关学者以往研究工作的基础上,对中国相对海平面上升所造成的危害作了进一步探讨,并提出一系列防治对策。相对海平面上升能够在沿海地区造成海岸侵蚀、风暴潮灾害加剧、海水入侵、水资源和水环境遭到破坏、沿海低地被淹、防汛工程功能降低等诸多灾害。为了减缓这些灾害,采取一定的防治对策是十分迫切和必要的,其中加强海平面变化监测和科学研究是基础,提高海堤标准、加强海堤管理与保护、施行海滩人工喂养是关键,此外还要辅以公众意识的提高。     

Mountain glaciers under a changing climate

Mountain glaciers are found around the world in ranges such as the Himalaya, the Andes and the European Alps. The majority of mountain glaciers world‐wide are shrinking. However, the rugged alpine topography through which these glaciers flow governs their dynamics and impacts on the regional climate systems that modify glacier mass balance. As a result, the response of mountain glaciers to climate change is difficult to predict, and highly spatially variable even across one mountain range, particularly where orography controls precipitation distributions. To understand how mountain glaciers behave and change, geologists combine many different techniques based on direct observations and dating of glacial geology, measurements of present‐day glaciers, and predictive numerical (computer) models. Recent advances in these techniques and their applications to glacial environments have demonstrated that the glacial geological record is a rich archive of information about how climate has changed in the past, and gives greater confidence in predictions of glacier change in the future, which is required if populations living in glacerised catchments are able to adapt to the rapid response of glaciers to a changing climate.