Changes in ice volume of the Ningchan No.1 Glacier, China, from 1972 to 2014, as derived from in situ measurements

Cao, Bo; Pan, Baotian; Guan, Weijin; Wang, Jie; Wen, Zhenling

doi:10.1017/jog.2017.70

Cited by 11 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…These glaciers are mostly located at the headwaters of large Asian rivers such as the Yangtze, Mekong, Brahmaputra, and Indus Rivers, providing a valuable water supply in the form of meltwater for millions of people for drinking, agriculture, and manufacturing [2][3][4][5]. However, field glaciological observations (particularly mass balance (MB) measurements) in the TP remain scarce, due to challenging mountainous terrain and harsh weather conditions [6][7][8]. There are only 15 glaciers with intensive in situ measurements of mass balance [9], which is less than 0.05% of 36,800 glaciers over this region [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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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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: Introductionmentioning

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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“…During 2010-2015, an elevation decrease of 0.9 ± 0.5 m a −1 (water equivalent) was observed for Ningchan glacier No. 1 [32]. These results demonstrate that the mass loss of both a single glacier and multiple glaciers in one region has accelerated in the 21st century.…”

Section: Changes In Glacier Area and Ice Surface Elevationmentioning

confidence: 70%

Recent Glacier Mass Balance and Area Changes from DEMs and Landsat Images in Upper Reach of Shule River Basin, Northeastern Edge of Tibetan Plateau during 2000 to 2015

Zhang

et al. 2018

Water

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Glacier changes in the Upper Reach of the Shule River Basin (URSRB) serve as a good indicator of climate change in the western part of the Qilian Mountains, located on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. However, information on recent glacier changes in the URSRB is limited. In this study, the changes in ice surface elevation were determined using geodetic methods based on digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) (2000), and from pairs of Third Resources Satellite (ZY-3) of China (taken around 2013). In addition, glacier area changes from 2000-2015, were derived from Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI images. The results suggest that 478 glaciers with an area of 375.1 ± 2.68 km 2 remained in the URSRB in 2015. Ice cover diminished by 57.5 ± 2.68 km 2 (11.9 ± 0.60%), or 0.79 ± 0.04% a −1 and 35 small glaciers disappeared from 2000 to 2015 in the URSRB. The most pronounced glacier shrinkage occurred during 2004 to 2009. The average ice surface elevation of the URSRB from 1999 to 2013 reduced by about 4.98 ± 0.6 m, which is equal to a mass loss of 0.383 ± 0.046 m•a −1. This reduction indicates that the ice storage loss has accelerated since 1999, compared to a mass loss of 0.21 ± 0.04 m•a −1 around Tuanjiefeng from 1966 to 1999, as reported by Xu et al. (2013).

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“…The annual average temperature is approximately −6.0 °C, and the mean annual precipitation (MAP) is >800 mm based on the automatic weather station on the NC01 lateral moraine (4450 m a.s.l.) [41]. In recent years, NC01 has experienced rapid and accelerated shrinkage [40,46].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Changes in the glaciers in the Qilian Mountains indicate a sensitive response to climate variation [39][40][41][42][43]. In recent years, glaciers in the Qilian Mountains have been quickly retreating, which may have affected the water resources in the Hexi Corridor [40,44].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Resolution Monitoring of Glacier Mass Balance and Dynamics with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles on the Ningchan No. 1 Glacier in the Qilian Mountains, China

Cao

Guan

et al. 2021

Remote Sensing

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Glaciers located in the Qilian Mountains are rapidly retreating and thinning due to climate change. The current understanding of small glacier mass balance changes under a changing climate is limited by the scarcity of in situ measurements in both time and space as well as the resolution of remote sensing products. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide an unparalleled opportunity to track the spatiotemporal variations in glacier extent at a high resolution and the changing glacier morphological features related to glacial dynamics. Five measurements were performed on the Ningchan No. 1 (NC01) glacier in the Qilian Mountains between 18 August 2017 and 13 August 2020. The glacier changes displayed in the digital orthophoto maps (DOMs) and digital surface models (DSMs) show a 7.4 ± 0.1 m a−1 retreat of the terminus of NC01, a mass balance of −1.22 ± 0.1 m w.e. a−1 from 2017 to 2020, and a maximum surface velocity of 3.2 ± 0.47 m from 18 August 2017 to 26 August 2018, which clearly show consistency with stake measurements. The surface elevation change was influenced by the combined effects of air temperature, altitude, slope, and surface velocity. This research demonstrates that UAV photogrammetry can greatly improve the temporal and spatial resolution of glaciological research.

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Changes in ice volume of the Ningchan No.1 Glacier, China, from 1972 to 2014, as derived from in situ measurements

Cited by 11 publications

References 42 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

Recent Glacier Mass Balance and Area Changes from DEMs and Landsat Images in Upper Reach of Shule River Basin, Northeastern Edge of Tibetan Plateau during 2000 to 2015

High-Resolution Monitoring of Glacier Mass Balance and Dynamics with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles on the Ningchan No. 1 Glacier in the Qilian Mountains, China

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