Abstract:A surge-type glacier is a special and dangerous type of glacier, which can advance quickly in a short-time with cycles. Glaciers in the Yangtze River headwater are generally acknowledged to be in a stable state. However, not all of those glaciers are stable. In this paper, five glaciers from the Yangtze River headwater glacier were selected as the experimental subjects, and multi-source remote sensing images were used to study and analyze the surge behavior over the past 30 years. Based on the Landsat series d… Show more
“…The surging lasted for ~3 years, resulting in the terminus advancing by 500 ± 11.2 m, pushing the medial moraine southeastwards 302 ± 11.3 m. The maximum velocity occurred between 28 August and 2 December 2014, and was 1100 m a −1 (3 m d −1 ). It has comparable maximum velocity and similar surging duration with its two adjacent surge-type glaciers (G091091E33424N and G091071E33463N) (Yan and others, 2019), which have a similar area as Gangjiaquba (27.03 ± 0.83 and 34.92 ± 1.08 km 2 ) (Xu and others, 2018). The maximum velocity observed in our study is about seven times as that observed by King and others (2021).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Geladandong Peak in the Central Tibetan Plateau is the highest mountain in the source region of the Yangtze River (Figs 1a, b). There were 19 surge-type glaciers identified based on elevation and velocity changes analysis (Yan and others, 2019; Gao and others, 2021; King and others, 2021). Fig.…”
Few surges on the Central Tibetan Plateau have been reported. Here, we report observations of a recent surging event of the Gangjiaquba Glacier in the Geladandong Peak region using surface velocity and morphology changes that were extracted from Landsat MSS/TM/ETM+/OLI images obtained from 1973 to 2019. The results reveal that the active surge of this glacier initiated at the end of summer in 2014 and terminated in 2016. The surge resulted in a total advance of 500 ± 11.2 m and many fresh crevasses in the surging zone. The maximum velocity was 1100 m a−1 during the active surge phase, which is much smaller than those observed in Karakoram but similar to observations in West Kunlun.
“…The surging lasted for ~3 years, resulting in the terminus advancing by 500 ± 11.2 m, pushing the medial moraine southeastwards 302 ± 11.3 m. The maximum velocity occurred between 28 August and 2 December 2014, and was 1100 m a −1 (3 m d −1 ). It has comparable maximum velocity and similar surging duration with its two adjacent surge-type glaciers (G091091E33424N and G091071E33463N) (Yan and others, 2019), which have a similar area as Gangjiaquba (27.03 ± 0.83 and 34.92 ± 1.08 km 2 ) (Xu and others, 2018). The maximum velocity observed in our study is about seven times as that observed by King and others (2021).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Geladandong Peak in the Central Tibetan Plateau is the highest mountain in the source region of the Yangtze River (Figs 1a, b). There were 19 surge-type glaciers identified based on elevation and velocity changes analysis (Yan and others, 2019; Gao and others, 2021; King and others, 2021). Fig.…”
Few surges on the Central Tibetan Plateau have been reported. Here, we report observations of a recent surging event of the Gangjiaquba Glacier in the Geladandong Peak region using surface velocity and morphology changes that were extracted from Landsat MSS/TM/ETM+/OLI images obtained from 1973 to 2019. The results reveal that the active surge of this glacier initiated at the end of summer in 2014 and terminated in 2016. The surge resulted in a total advance of 500 ± 11.2 m and many fresh crevasses in the surging zone. The maximum velocity was 1100 m a−1 during the active surge phase, which is much smaller than those observed in Karakoram but similar to observations in West Kunlun.
“…Combining with the first and second Chinese Glacier Inventory datasets, we explored the length change of these nine glaciers between 1970-2018. Some of the nine glaciers were classified as surge-glaciers in some studies (Yan et al, 2019;Guo et al, 2020;King et al, 2021), and their criteria include: (1) rapid advance of glacier terminus; (2) ve There are two well-known theories on the trigger mechanism of glacier surge: thermal control (Kamb, 1987) and hydrological control (Murray, 2003). However, these two mechanisms are summarized from field investigation in Alaska (Kamb et al, 1985) and Svalbard (Murray, 2003), the mechanism for surge-glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau are ambiguous (Paul, 2020).…”
The glaciers in the Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve of China (SNRC) are a significant water resource for the Yangtze, Yellow, and Mekong rivers. Based on Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM)/ Operational Land Imager (OLI) images acquired in 2000, 2010, and 2018, the outlines of glaciers in the SNRC were obtained by combining band ratio method with manual interpretation.
“…Table 6. Averaged geometric information (area, slope, maximum length, and maximum/minimum/ medium elevation) of glaciers in nine surging regions and the summary of the surge duration, period, maximum velocity (m a −1 ), and terminus advance (km) for STGs in different regions of HMA [3,[8][9][10][11]15,25,[32][33][34]. We use the symbol-when no values are specified.…”
Section: Surge Characteristicsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Lovell and others [11] found that while at Sabche Glacier in the central Himalayas, surges are likely to be facilitated by subglacial processes, the subglacial topography of the glacier appears to modulate both the timing and duration of each surge [11]. STGs have also been well-documented in the Geladandong Mountain [31,32], Xinqingfeng, Malan Ice Caps [33], and Zangser Kangri Ice Field areas [34]. Recently, terminus advance has been reported for some glaciers in the TJP region, the QLMs; however, a newer list of confirmed surges for the entire area has not been undertaken [35].…”
Glacier surges (GSs) are a manifestation of glacier instability and one of the most striking phenomena in the mountain cryosphere. Here, we utilize optical images acquired between 1973 and 2021 to map changes in glacier surface velocity and morphology and characterize differences in surface elevation using multi-source DEMs in the Tuanjie Peak (TJP), located in the Qilian Mountains (QLMs). These data provide valuable insights into the recent dynamic evolution of glaciers and hint at how they might evolve in the next few years. We identified a confirmed surge-type glacier (STG), three likely STGs, and three possible STGs. Our observations show that TJP GSs are generally long-term, although they are shorter in some cases. During the active phase, all glaciers exhibit thickened reservoir areas and thinned receiving areas, or vice-versa. The ice volume transfer was between 0.11 ± 0.13 × 107 m3 to 5.71 ± 0.69 × 107 m3. Although it was impossible to obtain integrated velocity profiles throughout the glacier surge process due to the limitations of available satellite imagery, our recent observations show that winter velocities were much higher than summer velocities, suggesting an obvious correlation between surge dynamics and glacial hydrology. However, the initiation and termination phase of GSs in this region was slow, which is similar to Svalbard-type STGs. We hypothesize that both thermal and hydrological controls are crucial. Moreover, we suggest that the regional warming trend may potentially increase glacier instability and the possibility of surge occurrence in this region.
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