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Although glacial landsystems produced under warm/wet based conditions are very common on Earth, even here, observations of subglacial landforms such as eskers emerging from extant glaciers are rare. This paper describes a system of sinuous ridges emerging from the in situ but now degraded piedmont terminus of a Late Amazonian-aged (∼150 Ma) glacier-like form in the southern Phlegra Montes region of Mars. We believe this to be the first identification of martian eskers that can be directly linked to their parent glacier. Together with their contextual landform assemblage, the eskers are indicative of significant glacial meltwater production and subglacial routing. However, although the eskers are evidence of a wet-based regime, the confinement of the glacial system to a well-defined, regionally significant graben, and the absence of eskers elsewhere in the region, is interpreted as evidence of sub-glacial melting as a response to locally enhanced geothermal heat flux rather than climate-induced warming. These observations offer important new insights to the forcing of glacial dynamic and melting behaviour on Mars by factors other than climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Glacier and snow cover changes with related impacts on melt runoff can seriously affect human societies which are depending on fresh water from cryospheric sources. Observed trends and projected future evolutions of climatic and cryospheric variables clearly show the need to adapt to these changes. Accordingly, the topics addressed herein have been put on the agendas of many larger funding agencies. This article provides a brief overview on major ongoing activities on glacier, snow and related runoff research in order to then analyze data gaps and research needs from a climate change adaptation perspective. Major data needs are identified with respect to the spatial and temporal coverage of local-scale data and related needs for (data) services that distribute and maintain these data sets. Moreover, clear research needs are also recognized at the local scale where process knowledge needs to be improved (e.g., the influence of albedo on snow and ice or debris cover on glaciers) in order to derive plausible climate change impacts assessments. The paper then discusses directions on how to move forward to better serve the practical needs for climate change adaptation planning. In the future, substantial support by large funding agencies might be key for capacity building in target regions of climate change adaptation programs, for longer-term and more sustainable commitments, and for the development of approaches, which aim at assessing the transferability of data, techniques, and tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mt. Everest (Qomolangma or Sagarmatha), the highest mount on Earth and located in the central Himalayas between China and Nepal, is characterized by highly concentrated glaciers and diverse landscapes, and is considered to be one of the most sensitive area to climate change. In this paper, we comprehensively synthesized the climate and environmental changes in the Mt. Everest region, including changes in air temperature, precipitation, glaciers and glacial lakes, atmospheric environment, river and lake water quality, and vegetation phenology. Historical temperature reconstruction from ice cores and tree rings revealed the distinct features of 20th century warming in the Mt. Everest region. Meteorological observations further proved that the Mt. Everest region has been experiencing significant warming (approximately 0.33 °C/decade) but relatively stable precipitation during 1961−2018 AD. Projected results (during 2006−2099 AD) under different representative concentration pathway scenarios showed a general warming trend in the region, with larger warming occurring in winter than in summer. Meanwhile, the precipitation projections varied spatially with no significant trends over the region. Intensive glacier shrinkage was characterized by decreasing glacier areas, while glacier-fed river runoff increased. Glacial lakes expanded with increasing glacial lake areas and numbers. These findings indicated a clear regional hydrological response to climate warming. Owing to the remote location of Mt. Everest, the present atmospheric environment remained relatively clean; however, long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants from South Asia and West Asia may have substantially influenced the Mt. Everest region, resulting in increasing concentrations of pollutants since the Industrial Revolution. Anthropogenic activities have been shown to influence river and lake water quality in this remote region, especially in the downstream. The end of the vegetation growing season advanced in the northern slope and did not change in southern slope region of the Mt. Everest, and there was no significant change in start date of the growing season in the region. This review will enhance our understanding of climate and environmental changes in the Mt. Everest region under global warming. • Climate and environmental changes were synthesized in the Mt. Everest region. • Glaciers have retreated significantly, posing impacts to river runoff and glacial lakes. • Transboundary transport of atmospheric pollutants influenced the region. • TThere was no significant change in start date of the growing season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]