Monte Curcio (MCU) instruments: Picarro G2401 methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and water analyser. The Model G2401 is based on cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS), capable of measuring the concentrations e compounds. This technique enables measurement of absolute optical extinction by samples that scatter and absorb light. A laser is used to illuminate a high-finesse optical cavity, which consists of two highly reflective mirrors. When the laser is in resonance with a cavity mode, intensity builds up in the cavity due to constructive interference. The laser is then turned off in order to allow the measurement of the exponentially decaying light intensity leaking from the cavity. During this decay, light is reflected back and forth thousands of times between the mirrors giving an effective path length for the extinction on the order of a few kilometres.

Baltoro glacier in the Karakoram, Pakistan, is one of the world’s largest valley glaciers. It drains an area of about 1500km2 and is >60km long. In 2004 an Italian/German expedition carried out a glaciological field program on the ablation zone of the glacier, focusing on the ablation conditions and the dynamic state of the glacier. As Baltoro glacier is a debris-covered glacier, ice ablation also depends on the debris properties. Stake measurements of ice ablation and debris cover in combination with meteorological data from automatic weather stations close by have been used to determine the local melt conditions. Results from these calculations have been combined with an analysis of different classes of surface cover and information about precipitation, using remote-sensing techniques, in order to calculate mass fluxes for the upper part of Baltoro glacier. The dynamic state of the glacier has been investigated by GPS-based surface velocity measurements along the stake network. A comparison of these short-term measurements during the melt season with surface velocities computed from feature tracking of satellite images shows a high seasonal variability of the ice motion. We have shown that this variability is up to 100% of the annual mean velocity. On the basis of these investigations, the mass fluxes at the Concordia cross-section have been quantified. This approach can now be used together with the ablation calculations to reconstruct the variability of glacier extent and volume in the past using available climate data from the central Karakoram. From the comparison of historical measurements and photographs it is shown that the snout of Baltoro glacier is oscillating back and forth a couple of hundred metres. Otherwise it seems not to react with the same magnitude as other glaciers to the climatic change. Elevation changes at Concordia are a few tens of metres at the most

Monte Curcio (MCU) instruments: API Teledyne 360E carbon monoxide analyser. The Model 360E uses a method based on the Beer-Lambert law, an empirical relationship that relates the absorption of light to the properties of the material through which the light is travelling over a defined distance. In this case the light is infrared radiation (IR) travelling through a sample chamber filled with gas bearing a varying concentration of CO2.

Monte Curcio (MCU) instruments: API Teledyne 701 zero air generator. The Model 701 is a source of clean, dry air for dilution calibrators. It also may be used as a source of purge air for permeation tube ovens or burner air for FID analysers. The regenerative, heatless dryer removes water and produces gas with a dewpoint of less than -20°C (up to 15 SLPM flow rate) independent of the inlet dewpoint and assists in the removal of other gases, greatly increasing the life of the chemical scrubbers. The basic M701 includes an oil and diaphragm free pump plus scrubbers to remove SO2, NO, NO2, O3 and H2S. Optional high performance scrubbers are available to remove CO and Hydrocarbons. Inlet air is pulled into the pump and routed through a pre-cooler and water trap to remove moisture.

Monte Curcio (MCU) instruments: Fai SWAM Dual Particulate Matter Sampler. The SWAM is a dual channel sampler for particulate matter, and a mass measurement technique. The system combines field-proven beta attenuation analysis with dual-channel sequential sampling yielding simultaneously PM10, PM2.5 and total mass concentration.

Monte Curcio (MCU) instruments: TSI Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS). The Model SMPS is designed for long-term measurement of aerosol particles and over there in highly burden regions. It is a mobility particle size spectrometer, which can measure continuously the particle number size distribution in a size range from 10 to 800 Nanometres. The temporal resolution to measure a complete particle number size distribution is approximately 5 minutes. Equipment is based on TSI CPC 3775.

Baltoro glacier in the Karakoram, Pakistan, is one of the world’s largest valley glaciers. It drains an area of about 1500km2 and is >60km long. In 2004 an Italian/German expedition carried out a glaciological field program on the ablation zone of the glacier, focusing on the ablation conditions and the dynamic state of the glacier. As Baltoro glacier is a debris-covered glacier, ice ablation also depends on the debris properties. Stake measurements of ice ablation and debris cover in combination with meteorological data from automatic weather stations close by have been used to determine the local melt conditions. Results from these calculations have been combined with an analysis of different classes of surface cover and information about precipitation, using remote-sensing techniques, in order to calculate mass fluxes for the upper part of Baltoro glacier. The dynamic state of the glacier has been investigated by GPS-based surface velocity measurements along the stake network. A comparison of these short-term measurements during the melt season with surface velocities computed from feature tracking of satellite images shows a high seasonal variability of the ice motion. We have shown that this variability is up to 100% of the annual mean velocity. On the basis of these investigations, the mass fluxes at the Concordia cross-section have been quantified. This approach can now be used together with the ablation calculations to reconstruct the variability of glacier extent and volume in the past using available climate data from the central Karakoram. From the comparison of historical measurements and photographs it is shown that the snout of Baltoro glacier is oscillating back and forth a couple of hundred metres. Otherwise it seems not to react with the same magnitude as other glaciers to the climatic change. Elevation changes at Concordia are a few tens of metres at the most.