Daily mass changes of glacier Blanc (Ecrins massif) from in-situ measurements and modelling

5-6 months, starting february 2027

In today’s warming world, glacier retreat is occurring (almost) globally [Hugonnet et al., 2021]. While climate change entails sustained mass loss over periods of multiple years, glacier mass balance evolution also responds to meteorological conditions. At the sub-seasonal scale, large snow accumulation amounts may limit summer mass losses, while exceptionally warm and dry periods may exacerbate melt rates [Cremona et al., 2023]. These shorter-term impacts propagate downstream : for example, increased glacier melt can buffer hydrological droughts [van Tiel et al. 2025]. Understanding sub-seasonal glacier mass balance evolution is thus key for accurate runoff prediction. However, glacier mass balance estimates are often limited to seasonal values, mainly due to a lack of continuous in-situ data.
The goal of this internship is to explore the mass balance evolution of Glacier Blanc at the daily scale by combining existing observational datasets and numerical modelling. Glacier Blanc is part of the GLACIOCLIM observatory (https://glacioclim.osug.fr/), and mass balance measurements at stakes along an elevational gradient have been conducted twice a year since 2000. Glacier Blanc is an important site of GLACIOCLIM for two reasons : First, it is the southernmost Alpine glacier with in situ surveys and thus the only one representing this climatic setting ; second, it is located in the Ecrins National Parc (https://www.ecrins-parcnational.fr/), which supports its monitoring and disseminates the resulting insights to a wide public.
While the GLACIOCLIM surveys capture seasonal mass balance trends over the past 25 years, mass balance variability at finer spatio-temporal scale remains largely unexplored. Modelling can help fill this gap, and several approaches with varying complexity and data demands exist. First attempts using a temperature-index model at stake locations were conducted during an internship in spring 2026. The proposed internship will further this work by additionally testing energy-balance based approaches, as well as exploring methods to extrapolate mass balance calculation across the entire glacier. Moreover, the utility of in-situ meteorological and runoff measurements in the torrent downstream of the glacier, established in summer 2026, will be assessed.
Specific tasks will include :
–  Treatment of meteorological and streamflow measurement datasets from summer 2026
–  Comparison of in-situ and reanalysis meteorological data for model forcing
–  Calibration temperature-index [Huss et al. 2015] and energy-balance based [Queno et al. 2024] models at stake locations
–  Assessment of extrapolation approaches to calculate glacier-wide mass balance
–  Linking the modelled daily mass balance to streamflow data to quantify the contribution of snow and glacier melt to runoff.
This internship is part of a larger effort that ultimately aims at establishing tools for near-real time mass balance monitoring of the glaciers in the Ecrins National Park. We are looking for motivated candidates with a strong interest in cryospheric sciences, hydrology, and numerical modelling of physical systems. Candidates should be proficient in a programming language (e.g. Python) and willing to work in a team. Interested students should send a motivation and a CV to apply. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions !

References :
Cremona, A., Huss, M., Landmann, J. M., Borner, J., and Farinotti, D. : European heat waves 2022 : contribution to extreme glacier melt in Switzerland inferred from automated ablation readings, The Cryosphere, 17, 1895–1912, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1895-2023, 2023.
Hugonnet, R., McNabb, R., Berthier, E. et al. : Accelerated global glacier mass loss in the early twenty-first century. Nature 592, 726–73, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03436-z, 2021.
Huss M, Dhulst L, and Bauder A. : New long-term mass-balance series for the Swiss Alps. Journal of Glaciology ;61(227):551-562, doi:10.3189/2015JoG15J015, 2015.
Quéno, L., Mott, R., Morin, P., Cluzet, B., Mazzotti, G., and Jonas, T. : Snow redistribution in an intermediate-complexity snow hydrology modelling framework, The Cryosphere, 18, 3533–3557, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3533-2024, 2024.
van Tiel, M., Huss, M., Zappa, M., Jonas, T., and Farinotti, D. : Swiss glacier mass loss during the 2022 drought : persistent streamflow contributions amid declining melt water volumes, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-404, 2025.