Morphometric Controls on Glacier Mass Balance of the Puruogangri Ice Field, Central Tibetan Plateau

Li, Lin; Jiang, Liming; Sun, Youwen; Wang, Hansheng; Yi, Chaolu; Hsu, Houtse

doi:10.3390/w8110496

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 53 publications

(114 reference statements)

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“…This may be attributed to the different topographic features over the two regions. At a nearly identical ELA level in the PIC and GLDD (Table 1), the PIC covers a glaciered area of more than 400 km 2 and forms a rather flat plateau above about 5800 m [32]. Thus, the AAR in the PIC is about 70%, which is much bigger than 64% in the GLDD.…”

Section: Influence Of the Local Factors On Glacier Statusmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…The PIC, located in the western part of the Tanggula Mountains, is Tibet's largest modern ice field with a glaciered area of over 420 km 2 [31]. It is composed of more than 50 glaciers of variable lengths radiating from the center to the piedmont terminus [32]. The altitude of the PIC ranges from 5350 to 6370 m a.s.l.…”

Section: Geological and Glaciological Settings Of The Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Annual Glacier-Wide Mass Balance (2000–2016) of the Interior Tibetan Plateau Reconstructed from MODIS Albedo Products

Zhang

Jiang

et al. 2018

Remote Sensing

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Glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) play a crucial role in regulating agriculture irrigation, river discharge and the regional/global climate system. However, mass balance records of TP glaciers have remained scarce due to challenging mountainous terrain and harsh weather conditions, which limits our understanding of the influence of melting glaciers on local water resources and responses to climate change. Here, we present and assess an albedo-based method to derive annual mass balance for three glaciers in the interior TP from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedo data during 2000-2016. A strong linear correlation (R 2 = 0.941, P < 0.001) is found between annual minimum-averaged glacier-wide albedo (AMGA) values and annual mass balance measurements on the Xiao Dongkemadi glacier. Furthermore, the 17-year-long annual mass balance series of the Xiao Dongkemadi glacier and the Geladandong mountain region glaciers, and the Purogangri ice cap are reconstructed for the first time, with a mass loss rate of 535 ± 63 mm w.e.a −1 , 243 ± 66 mm w.e.a −1 and 113 ± 68 mm w.e.a −1 , respectively. The results are verified by geodetic estimates, with relative error ranging from 4.55% to 11.80%, confirming that the albedo-based method can be used to estimate specific mass budgets for interior TP glaciers. A strong correlation between the mass balance series and air temperature infers that increasing summer air temperature may be one of main reasons for glacier shrinkage of the three studied glaciers.

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Section: Influence Of the Local Factors On Glacier Statusmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Geological and Glaciological Settings Of The Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual Glacier-Wide Mass Balance (2000–2016) of the Interior Tibetan Plateau Reconstructed from MODIS Albedo Products

Zhang

Jiang

et al. 2018

Remote Sensing

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“…year −1 according to differential X‐band synthetic aperture radar interferometry (Neckel et al, ). The mass balances of individual glaciers on the PIC displayed clear spatial variability and were dominated primarily by the mean glacier altitude (L. Liu et al, ). L. Liu et al () estimated an annual rate of −0.317 ± 0.027 m year − for glacier surface elevation changes from 2012 to 2016 based on bitemporal TanDEM‐X InSAR data and inferred an accelerating trend of glacier surface thinning over the PIC since the beginning of the 2010s.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glacier Energy and Mass Balance in the Inland Tibetan Plateau: Seasonal and Interannual Variability in Relation to Atmospheric Changes

Yao

Yang

et al. 2018

JGR Atmospheres

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The Tibetan glaciers are greatly affected by the circulations of the westerlies and the Indian summer monsoon (ISM), but the mechanisms remain to be elucidated. In this project, we investigated the surface energy and mass balance of the Qiangtang No.1 Glacier in the inland Tibetan Plateau. Combining 4-year mass balance and meteorological records near the equilibrium line altitude with an energy-based mass balance model, we found that the meteorological conditions, which determined the glacier surface ablation and mass accumulation, are critically linked to changes in the intensity of the westerlies and the ISM. The 4-year mass balance comparisons demonstrated that the enhancement of the ISM in June and July, especially June, greatly increases the mass accumulation but inhibits the glacial ablation in the melt season, shifting the mass balance in a positive direction. Moreover, the occurrence of the westerlies enhancement interrupts the dominance of the ISM in the melt season. The intensified westerlies in the early melt season (June) could not only reduce the mass accumulation but also enhance the mass loss in the following months. In addition, the enhancement of the westerlies in the main melt season (July) could also greatly influence the local meteorological conditions, with lower temperatures and humidity but higher wind speeds. Such meteorological changes significantly reduce glacial ablation because more energy is consumed by sublimation and/or evaporation, rather than surface melting. These findings will enhance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying glacier changes and their relationships with the westerlies and the ISM in the inland Tibetan Plateau.

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“…Seasonal and annual estimates of glacier velocities can be useful in assessing glacier ice thicknesses and bed topography 20 , mass changes 21 , glacier retreats and advances 22 , glacial erosion 23 , and glacier flow regimes 24 . Moreover, investigating the patterns and estimates of glacier flows with respect to their surface topography can further increase our understanding of the topographic controls on glacier motion 25 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterogeneity in topographic control on velocities of Western Himalayan glaciers

Sam

Bhardwaj

Kumar

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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Studies of the seasonal and annual patterns of glacier velocities improve our understanding of the ice volume, topography, responses to climate change, and surge events of glaciers. Such studies are especially relevant and equally rare for the Himalayan glaciers, which supply many rivers that sustain some of the most heavily populated mountainous regions in the world. In particular, the control of the hypsometric distribution of geomorphometric parameters, such as slope, aspect, and curvature, on the dynamics of Himalayan glaciers have never been studied so far, at the river basin scale. Here, we present the degree to which topographic and hypsometric parameters affect the seasonal and annual average flow velocities of 112 glaciers in the Baspa River basin in the Western Indian Himalaya by analysing Global Land Ice Velocity Extraction from Landsat 8 (GoLIVE) datasets for the years 2013–2017. We observe, (i) significant heterogeneity in topographic controls on the velocities of these glaciers, (ii) elevation and the seasons play important roles in regulating the degree to which morphometric parameters (slope, aspect, and curvature) affect these velocities, (iii) a possible polythermal regime promoting both sliding and deformational forms of motion in a majority of these glaciers, and (iv) a detailed analysis of complex topographic controls within various elevation zones using a novel hypso-morphometric approach. These findings can help us to better model the dynamics of Himalayan glaciers and their responses to the future climatic scenarios. The inferences also suggest the need to incorporate dynamic topography in glacio-hydrological models in the wake of constant glacial evolutions.

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Morphometric Controls on Glacier Mass Balance of the Puruogangri Ice Field, Central Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 15 publications

References 53 publications

Annual Glacier-Wide Mass Balance (2000–2016) of the Interior Tibetan Plateau Reconstructed from MODIS Albedo Products

Annual Glacier-Wide Mass Balance (2000–2016) of the Interior Tibetan Plateau Reconstructed from MODIS Albedo Products

Glacier Energy and Mass Balance in the Inland Tibetan Plateau: Seasonal and Interannual Variability in Relation to Atmospheric Changes

Heterogeneity in topographic control on velocities of Western Himalayan glaciers

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