Full-Stokes modeling of a polar continental glacier: the dynamic characteristics response of the XD Glacier to ice thickness

Wu, Zhaofei; Liu, Shiyin; Zhang, Huiwen; He, Xingyuan; Chen, Junying; Yao, Kai

doi:10.1007/s00707-018-2112-8

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Figure 7c shows the two-dimensional distribution of ice temperature, which is similar to the findings of Wu 48 and Zwinger 49 . Although ice core temperature data were not obtained in our study, the vertical distribution of the simulated ice temperature was close to the measured ice temperature of the Miaoergou Glacier in the eastern Tianshan Mountains 50 .…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 80%

“…The Full-Stokes model describes the dominant physics of the system, where the gravitational driving stress is exactly balanced by the internal and basal shear stresses 34,48,55 . In this study, the ice velocity corresponding to the simulation stress could better match the actual observed results, which indicated that the models and parameters we chose are suitable for both diagnostic and prognostic simulations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…inferred that terminal retreat can also contribute to surface flow by weakening the resistance stress 65 , mainly by improving the ice flow velocity downstream. Compared to the results of the XD Glacier study in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau using the Elmer/ice model 48 , according to the geothermal catalogue, the same geothermal value is used at the bottom, but only the difference in surface temperature leads to the maximum ice velocity of H8 being nearly five times greater than that of XD.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fluctuation analysis in the dynamic characteristics of continental glacier based on Full-Stokes model

Zhang

Liu

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Ice thickness has a great influence on glacial movement and ablation. Over the course of the change in thickness, area and external climate, the dynamic process of how glaciers change and whether a glacier’s changes in melting tend to be stable or irregular is a problem that needs to be studied in depth. In our study, the changes in the dynamic process of the No. 8 Glacier in Hei Valley (H8) under the conditions of different thicknesses in 1969 and 2009 were simulated based on the Full-Stokes code Elmer/Ice (http://www.csc.fi/elmer/). The results were as follows: (1) The thickness reduction in glaciers would lead to a decrease in ice surface tension and basal pressure and friction at the bottom, and the resulting extensional and compressional flow played an important role in the variations in glacial velocity. (2) The force at the bottom of the glacier was key to maintaining the overall stress balance, and the glaciers that often melted and collapsed in bedrock were more easily destroyed by the overall force balance and increased change rate of glacial thaw. (3) Temperature changes at different altitudes affected the ice viscous force. The closer the ice surface temperature was to the melting point, the greater the influence of temperature changes on the ice viscous force and ice surface velocity. Finally, we used the RCP 4.8 and 8.5 climate models to simulate the changes in H8 over the next 40 years. The results showed that with some decreases in ice surface compression and tension, the gravity component changes caused by local topography begin to control the ice flow movement on the surface of glacier, and melting of the glacial surface will appear as an irregular change. The simulation results further confirmed that the fluctuation in glacial dynamic characteristics could be attributed to the change in the gravity component caused by ablation.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fluctuation analysis in the dynamic characteristics of continental glacier based on Full-Stokes model

Zhang

Liu

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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“…at the end of the twenty-first century, corresponding to thinning of at least 73.89 m. However, according to field observations conducted by Z. Wu et al (2018), the maximum thickness of the XDG is only 109 m. Therefore, it can be concluded that most of the glaciers in the DIF will melt by the end of 2100.…”

Section: Mass Balance Variation In Dif From 1989 To 2050mentioning

confidence: 95%

Modeling past and future variation of glaciers in the Dongkemadi Ice Field on central Tibetan Plateau from 1989 to 2050

Shi

Duan

Nicholson

et al. 2020

Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research

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Glacier mass balance change is among the best indicators of glacier response to climate change. Due to its inaccessibility and limited observation, little is known about the change to the Dongkemadi Ice Field (DIF) in the Tanggula Mountains located in the source region of the Yangtze River in central Tibetan Plateau. Here, an enhanced temperature index-based glacier model considering glacier area change was applied to study the temporal-spatial variation in mass balance on the DIF from 1989 to 2012 and to assess its response to climate change. The model was forced by reconstructed temperature and precipitation from adjacent national meteorological stations and validated by comparing with field observations from the Xiao Dongkemadi Glacier (XDG). Results show that the simulated mass balance is in good agreement with the observations (R 2 = 0.75, p < .001), and the model can reasonably reproduce well the glacier mass change. Then the model was applied to twenty individual glaciers in DIF and forced by the highresolution regional climate model (RegCM3) from 2013 to 2050 to project their further variation. In the future, the mass balance of glaciers in DIF shows a continuously negative trend with a linear rate of −0.16 m water equivalent (w.e.) a −1 in representative concentration pathway (RCP) 4.5 and −0.35 m w.e. a −1 in RCP 8.5. Most of the glaciers' equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) will reach or exceed their maximum elevation after the 2030s. By coupling a modified volume-area scaling method with the mass balance model, results showed that areas of the individual glaciers in DIF will lose about 12.10 to 30.66 percent under RCP4.5 and 14.06 to 38.76 percent under RCP8.5, and the volume of the DIF will lose about 1.18 km 3 in RCP4.5 and 1.44 km 3 in RCP8.5 by the end of 2050. In addition, the terminuses of glaciers experienced the largest percentage losses and most of the glaciers' front position will reach~5,520 m a.s.l. in RCP 4.5 and 5,570 m a.s.l. in RCP 8.5, the latter of which is nearly close to the DIF average ELA in 1989. The clearly increasing summer air temperature may be the main reason for glacier shrinkage in the DIF. If the warming trend continues, glaciers in DIF may further retreat with continued glacial melt or even mostly disappear by the end of the century.

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“…With the improvement of computing efficiency of computers in recent years, many scholars have begun to use complex models such as Reynolds-Average Navier-Stokes (RA-NS) equation to simulate the changes of wind flow field [29][30][31][32][33] . Many equations are applied to viscous fluid 1,29,34,35 and many simulation equations about pure wind field are applied to sand migration and erosion [36][37][38] .…”

Section: Numerical Simulation Of Wind Field and Sand Flux In Crescentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical simulation of wind field and sand flux in crescentic sand dunes

Zhang

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Sand flux is the key factor to determine the migration of sand dunes and the erosion to the surrounding environment. There are crescent-shaped sand dunes of various scales in the desert, and there are significant differences in spatial wind field and sand flux among them. However, due to the difficulty of monitoring, it is difficult to continuously observe the spatial wind field and sand flux around the larger crescentic dunes. On the basis of the Reynolds-Average Navier–Stokes (RA-NS) equation and the stress and sand flux model, the distribution of wind field and sand flux of a circular dune with a height of 4.2 m and a length of about 100 m during the four evolutionary periods of the evolution into a crescentic dune was simulated in this study. By comparing with the measured results, we verified that the closer to the leeward side, the more the simulated values of the velocity in wind field and sand flux were in line with the measured results. In order to further analyze the influence of the height of dune and other relevant parameters on sand flux, we simulated the influence on wind field and sand flux by changing the air viscosity and wind velocity of upper boundary. We found that the air viscosity mainly affected the amount of deposited sand on the leeward side of sand dune, while the increase of wind velocity would undoubtedly increase the sand flux of the whole sand dune. In addition, the simulation results also showed that the influence of changes in height of dune on the turbulent intensity of leeward side was very significant, and the turbulent intensity increased with the height of dune. The height changes of tall dunes gradually affected the transport of sand caused by wind flow behind the leeward side because that the rotation of the wind flow would form new vortexes at the large pores behind the leeward side, which would increase the turbulent energy in space and thus would increase the distance of migration of the lifting sand. While the low sand dunes could not form extra small vortexes at the bottom of the leeward side, so the wind velocity was small and the eddy currents behind the leeward side were more stable. The simulation results indicated that wind velocity was not the only reason for increasing the amount of sand flux, and the fluctuation of wind flow caused by turbulence could also stimulate the movement of sand particles on the ground.

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Full-Stokes modeling of a polar continental glacier: the dynamic characteristics response of the XD Glacier to ice thickness

Cited by 9 publications

References 74 publications

Fluctuation analysis in the dynamic characteristics of continental glacier based on Full-Stokes model

Fluctuation analysis in the dynamic characteristics of continental glacier based on Full-Stokes model

Modeling past and future variation of glaciers in the Dongkemadi Ice Field on central Tibetan Plateau from 1989 to 2050

Numerical simulation of wind field and sand flux in crescentic sand dunes

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