Current projects

  • EMERGE - Extreme droughts in mountain regions
  • Measuring sublimation in a high-altitude glacierised catchment of the dry Andes

Research interests

  • Glaciology
  • Mountain hydrology
  • Climate change

Selected publications

McCarthy, M., Meier, F., Fatichi, S., Stocker, B. D., Shaw, T. E., Miles, E., ... & Pellicciotti, F. (2022). Glacier contributions to river discharge during the current Chilean megadrought. Earth's Future, 10(10), e2022EF002852.

McCarthy, M., Miles, E., Kneib, M., Buri, P., Fugger, S., & Pellicciotti, F. (2022). Supraglacial debris thickness and supply rate in High-Mountain Asia. Communications Earth & Environment, 3(1), 269.

Miles, E., McCarthy, M., Dehecq, A., Kneib, M., Fugger, S., & Pellicciotti, F. (2021). Health and sustainability of glaciers in High Mountain Asia. Nature Communications, 12(1), 2868.

Jouberton, A., Shaw, T. E., Miles, E., McCarthy, M., Fugger, S., Ren, S., ... & Pellicciotti, F. (2022). Warming-induced monsoon precipitation phase change intensifies glacier mass loss in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(37), e2109796119.

Compagno, L., Huss, M., Miles, E. S., McCarthy, M., Zekollari, H., Dehecq, A., ... & Farinotti, D. (2022). Modelling supraglacial debris-cover evolution from the single-glacier to the regional scale: an application to High Mountain Asia. The Cryosphere, 16(5), 1697-1718.

Projekte

Supraglacial debris considerably alters the response of glaciers to changes in climate, yet debris-covered glaciers are notoriously difficult to delineate due to their fuzzy boundaries and spectral similarities to marginal moraines. Their surfaces are often characterized by supraglacial ponds and ex

This project will systematically collect the measurements of physical properties needed to constrain the a new generation of debris thickness inversion methods, enabling high-accuracy global estimates of supraglacial debris thickness and its rate of change.

As the climate continues to change, Switzerland edges closer to a future in which extreme drought in the Alps is increasingly likely – and could push water and ecological systems to their limits. The EMERGE project studies past extreme droughts in mountain regions to help us better understand, and prepare for, potential impacts in the future.

Publikationen

Chen L., Brun P., Buri P., Fatichi S., Gessler A., McCarthy M.J., … Karger D.N. (2025) Global increase in the occurrence and impact of multiyear droughts. Science. 387(6731), 278-284. doi:10.1126/science.ado4245 Institutional Repository DORA

Buri P., Fatichi S., Shaw T.E., Fyffe C.L., Miles E.S., McCarthy M.J., … Pellicciotti F. (2024) Land surface modeling informed by earth observation data: toward understanding blue–green–white water fluxes in High Mountain Asia. Geo-spatial Inf. Sci. 27(3), 703-727. doi:10.1080/10095020.2024.2330546 Institutional Repository DORA

Fugger S., Shaw T.E., Jouberton A., Miles E.S., Buri P., McCarthy M., … Pellicciotti F. (2024) Hydrological regimes and evaporative flux partitioning at the climatic ends of high mountain Asia. Environ. Res. Lett. 19(4), 044057 (12 pp.). doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ad25a0 Institutional Repository DORA

Ren S., Jia L., Miles E.S., Menenti M., Kneib M., Shaw T.E., … Yao T. (2024) Observed and projected declines in glacier albedo across the Third Pole in the 21st century. One Earth. 7(9), 1587-1599. doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2024.08.010 Institutional Repository DORA

Shaw T.E., Buri P., McCarthy M., Miles E.S., Pellicciotti F. (2024) Local controls on near-surface glacier cooling under warm atmospheric conditions. J. Geophys. Res.: Atmos. 129(2), e2023JD040214 (20 pp.). doi:10.1029/2023JD040214 Institutional Repository DORA

Buri P., Fatichi S., Shaw T.E., Miles E.S., McCarthy M.J., Fyffe C.L., … Pellicciotti F. (2023) Land surface modeling in the Himalayas: on the importance of evaporative fluxes for the water balance of a high-elevation catchment. Water Resour. Res. 59(10), e2022WR033841 (30 pp.). doi:10.1029/2022WR033841 Institutional Repository DORA

Jouberton A., Miles E.S., Shaw T.E., McCarthy M., Fugger S., Pellicciotti F. (2023) Reply to Yang et al.: global warming and black carbon simultaneously lead to glacier mass decline over the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 120(12), e2301467120 (2 pp.). doi:10.1073/pnas.2301467120 Institutional Repository DORA

Kneib M., Fyffe C.L., Miles E.S., Lindemann S., Shaw T.E., Buri P., … Pellicciotti F. (2023) Controls on ice cliff distribution and characteristics on debris-covered glaciers. Geophys. Res. Lett. 50(6), e2022GL102444 (11 pp.). doi:10.1029/2022GL102444 Institutional Repository DORA

Shaw T.E., Buri P., McCarthy M., Miles E.S., Ayala Á., Pellicciotti F. (2023) The decaying near‐surface boundary layer of a retreating Alpine glacier. Geophys. Res. Lett. 50(11), e2023GL103043 (12 pp.). doi:10.1029/2023GL103043 Institutional Repository DORA

Compagno L., Huss M., Miles E.S., McCarthy M.J., Zekollari H., Dehecq A., … Farinotti D. (2022) Modelling supraglacial debris-cover evolution from the single-glacier to the regional scale: an application to High Mountain Asia. Cryosphere. 16(5), 1697-1718. doi:10.5194/tc-16-1697-2022 Institutional Repository DORA

Fugger S., Fyffe C.L., Fatichi S., Miles E., McCarthy M., Shaw T.E., … Pellicciotti F. (2022) Understanding monsoon controls on the energy and mass balance of glaciers in the Central and Eastern Himalaya. Cryosphere. 16(5), 1631-1652. doi:10.5194/tc-16-1631-2022 Institutional Repository DORA

Jouberton A., Shaw T.E., Miles E., McCarthy M., Fugger S., Ren S., … Pellicciotti F. (2022) Warming-induced monsoon precipitation phase change intensifies glacier mass loss in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 119(37), e2109796119 (7 pp.). doi:10.1073/pnas.2109796119 Institutional Repository DORA

Kneib M., Miles E.S., Buri P., Fugger S., McCarthy M., Shaw T.E., … Pellicciotti F. (2022) Sub-seasonal variability of supraglacial ice cliff melt rates and associated processes from time-lapse photogrammetry. Cryosphere. 16(11), 4701-4725. doi:10.5194/tc-16-4701-2022 Institutional Repository DORA

McCarthy M., Meier F., Fatichi S., Stocker B.D., Shaw T.E., Miles E., … Pellicciotti F. (2022) Glacier contributions to river discharge during the current Chilean megadrought. Earth Future. 10(10), e2022EF002852 (15 pp.). doi:10.1029/2022EF002852 Institutional Repository DORA

McCarthy M., Miles E., Kneib M., Buri P., Fugger S., Pellicciotti F. (2022) Supraglacial debris thickness and supply rate in High-Mountain Asia. Commun. Earth Environ. 3(1), 269 (11 pp.). doi:10.1038/s43247-022-00588-2 Institutional Repository DORA

Kneib M., Miles E.S., Buri P., Molnar P., McCarthy M., Fugger S., Pellicciotti F. (2021) Interannual dynamics of ice cliff populations on debris-covered glaciers from remote sensing observations and stochastic modeling. J. Geophys. Res. F. 126(10), e2021JF006179 (23 pp.). doi:10.1029/2021JF006179 Institutional Repository DORA

Menenti M., Li X., Jia L., Yang K., Pellicciotti F., Mancini M., … Paolini G. (2021) Multi-source hydrological data products to monitor high asian river basins and regional water security. Remote Sens. 13(24), 5122 (29 pp.). doi:10.3390/rs13245122 Institutional Repository DORA

Miles E., McCarthy M., Dehecq A., Kneib M., Fugger S., Pellicciotti F. (2021) Health and sustainability of glaciers in High Mountain Asia. Nat. Commun. 12, 2868 (10 pp.). doi:10.1038/s41467-021-23073-4 Institutional Repository DORA

Ren S., Miles E.S., Jia L., Menenti M., Kneib M., Buri P., … Pellicciotti F. (2021) Anisotropy parameterization development and evaluation for glacier surface albedo retrieval from satellite observations. Remote Sens. 13(9), 1714 (28 pp.). doi:10.3390/rs13091714 Institutional Repository DORA

Pritchard H.D., King E.C., Goodger D.J., McCarthy M., Mayer C., Kayastha R. (2020) Towards Bedmap Himalayas: development of an airborne ice-sounding radar for glacier thickness surveys in High-Mountain Asia. Ann. Glaciol. 61(81), 35-45. doi:10.1017/aog.2020.29 Institutional Repository DORA

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