Glaciers in a changing climate

Glaciers can play an important role in the regional water balance, they store a not insignificant amount of water on the mainland and they are important indicators of changes in the climate. Man-made climate change is in full swing and is also affecting glaciers. Their extent and their function as seasonal water reservoirs are changing, they contribute significantly to sea level rise and they are important indicators that climate change (i) is a global phenomenon and (ii) manifests itself not only in temperature changes. Particularly worrying processes are now taking place on the two large "glaciers", the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. The lecture will take a "journey" in climate change from an Alpine glacier via tropical glaciers onto and under the ice sheets and back.