Spatial and temporal variations in mass balance of Qiyi Glacier in Qilian Mountains

Yao, Tandong; Pu, Jianchen

doi:10.31497/zrzyxb.20200212

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…This was due to extensive glaciers in these river basins, for which glacial meltwater was the primary cause for increased annual runoff to SL and DH (i.e., by approximately 50%) (H. Li et al., 2019; Xu et al., 2019). The dramatic glacial retreat that occurred after the 1990s also resulted in the strengthening of glacial runoff regulation to preserve SL integrity by ensuring its stability of both intra‐annual and inter‐annual runoff (N. Wang et al., 2010; S. Wang et al., 2020). This regulation increased glacial meltwater's contribution from 33.6% in the 1950s to 44.7% in the 2000s (Xu et al., 2019).…”

Section: Driving Factors Of Runoff Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics and Attribution of Spatiotemporal Changes in Qilian Mountains' Runoff Over the Past Six Decades

Liu,

Wang,

Cuo

et al. 2023

JGR Atmospheres

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Tibet's Qilian Mountains (QM) include critical water conservation areas and important ecological barriers, which help maintain downstream inland river oasis stability. For decades, contemporaneous climatic and cryospheric variation has severely impacted QM's hydrological processes, challenging local water resource management and sustainable development. However, due to prevalent data and methodological limitations, QM research has primarily focused on runoff change at a basin scale. Spatial distributions and temporal changes in runoff subsequently remain unclear. Based on multi‐source data and the literature, we estimated that QM's mountain outlets generate approximately 15.671 km3 in total annual runoff, exhibiting a spatially decreasing pattern from northeast to southwest. Moreover, runoff distribution and trend variation at seasonal and annual scales depend upon the river replenishment source type. Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, eastern rain‐fed rivers experienced a downward trend while those dominated by meltwater or simultaneously fed by multiple sources in its central and western regions experienced an upward trend. As an integrated product of mixed multi‐factor effects, runoff is regulated by temperature, precipitation, and cryospheric meltwater. Moreover, the main controlling runoff factors varied seasonally under different water source concentrations. Annually, precipitation was the main driver for runoff change in the eastern region while, correspondingly, temperature was in the western region where glaciers and the snow line boundary predominant. Besides, this study highlighted that the existing literature has significant limitations in understanding interactions among different cryospheric components and hydrologic process mechanisms when exploring the reasons for runoff variations, which needs further exploration in the future.

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