Glacier velocities across the central Karakoram

Copland, Luke; Pope, Sierra; Bishop, Michael P.; Shroder, John F.; Clendon, Penelope; Bush, Andrew B. G.; Kamp, Ulrich; Seong, Yeong Bae; Owen, Lewis A.

doi:10.3189/172756409789624229

Cited by 111 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…We also calculated the downslope movement/surface lowering (M d /dH) ratio to determine which dynamic is dominant: the downslope movement value is higher than the surface lowering one when M d /dH > 0, equal when M d /dH = 0 and smaller when M d /dH < 0. Finally, following Copland et al (2009) and using the mean horizontal velocities between 2011 and 2014, three Velocity Cross-Profiles (VCP) for each study site were used to highlight the dominant motion mechanism. Cubic-shaped velocity cross-profiles suggest an en masse movement related to the basal sliding.…”

Section: Differential Gps (Dgps)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Internal Structure and Current Evolution of Very Small Debris-Covered Glacier Systems Located in Alpine Permafrost Environments

Bosson

Lambiel

2016

Front. Earth Sci.

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This contribution explores the internal structure of very small debris-covered glacier systems located in permafrost environments and their current dynamical responses to short-term climatic variations. Three systems were investigated with electrical resistivity tomography and dGPS monitoring over a 3-year period. Five distinct sectors are highlighted in each system: firn and bare-ice glacier, debris-covered glacier, heavily debris-covered glacier of low activity, rock glacier and ice-free debris. Decimetric to metric movements, related to ice ablation, internal deformation and basal sliding affect the glacial zones, which are mainly active in summer. Conversely, surface lowering is close to zero (−0.04 m yr −1 ) in the rock glaciers. Here, a constant and slow internal deformation was observed (c. 0.2 m yr −1 ). Thus, these systems are affected by both direct and high magnitude responses and delayed and attenuated responses to climatic variations. This differential evolution appears mainly controlled by (1) the proportion of ice, debris and the presence of water in the ground, and (2) the thickness of the superficial debris layer.

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Section: Differential Gps (Dgps)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Internal Structure and Current Evolution of Very Small Debris-Covered Glacier Systems Located in Alpine Permafrost Environments

Bosson

Lambiel

2016

Front. Earth Sci.

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“…These complex geodynamics also govern surge-type glaciers in the Karakoram [107,146]. Surging glaciers exhibit quasi-periodic advances or increases in flow that are thought to be unrelated to external factors [161].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Collectively, such complex topographic variation regulates precipitation rates, orographic precipitation gradients, shortwave and longwave irradiance fluxes, glacier debris-load depth, and highly variable glacier states and dynamics [27,33,66,106]. Consequently, precipitation forcing is responsible for positive glacier mass-balance conditions and advancing glaciers [30,59], although the issue of mass loading as a contributing factor to the surging mechanism is not known with certainty [107].…”

Section: Climate and Topographymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Essential to our understanding of these glaciers are the highly variable ice dynamics even along portions of even the same glacier [33,107,146,147]. Glacier profile estimates of ice velocities provide insight into glacier dynamics and can be used to identify surging glaciers in their active phase of surging.…”

Section: Variable Glacier Dynamics and Surging Glaciersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate–Glacier Dynamics and Topographic Forcing in the Karakoram Himalaya: Concepts, Issues and Research Directions

Dobreva

Bishop

Bush

2017

Water

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Abstract:Understanding climate-glacier dynamics in High Mountain Asia is of critical importance to address issues including water resources, sea-level rise, mountain geodynamics, natural hazards and ecosystem sustainability. The Karakoram Himalaya is arguably the least understood region, given its extreme topography, climate-system coupling, and advancing and surge-type glaciers that exhibit complex flow patterns. Glacier fluctuations in the Karakoram Himalaya are highly variable in space and time because of numerous controlling factors, including the westerlies, the Indian summer monsoon, various teleconnections, topographic effects, glacier debris-cover characteristics, glacier dynamics, and geological conditions. The influence of the integrative coupling of forcing factors, however, has not been adequately assessed for characterizing the glaciers in the Karakoram Himalaya. Given the scarcity of in-situ data and the difficulty of conducting fieldwork on these glaciers, recent research has focused on utilizing remote sensing, geospatial technologies, and scientific modeling to obtain baseline information about the state of glaciers in the region. This review summarizes our current knowledge of glaciers, climate-glacier interaction, and topographic forcing in the Karakoram Himalaya, and demonstrates the complexities in mountain geodynamics that influence climate-glacier dynamics. Innovative analysis is also presented in support of our review and discussion.

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“…There are many surge-type glaciers in the Central Karakoram [1,15,16,23,[40][41][42][43] including Braldu Glacier, Skamri Glacier, North Gasherbrum Glacier, Sarpo Laggo Glacier, Singkhu Glacier, Urbak Glacier, and Kyagar Glacier. Most of these surge-type glaciers experienced relatively small motion rates, which implies that these glaciers might be in their quiescent phases during our observation period.…”

Section: Surge-type Glacier Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Glacier Velocity in the Central Karakoram Revealed with 1999–2003 Landsat-7 ETM+ Pan Images

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The situation of stable and slightly advancing glaciers in the Karakoram is called the "Karakoram anomaly". Glacier surface velocity is one of the key parameters of glacier dynamics and mass balance, however, the response of glacier motion to this regional anomaly is not fully understood. Here, we characterize the spatial-temporal variations in glacier velocity over the Central Karakoram from 1999-2003. The inter-annual glacier velocity fields were retrieved using a cross-correlation-based algorithm applied to four Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) panchromatic image pairs. We find that most of the glaciers on the southern slope flowed faster than those on the northern slope, which might be attributed to the differences in glacier sizes. Furthermore, ice motion observations over four years reveal that most of the glaciers were quasi-stable or experienced small fluctuations of flow velocity during our study period. We identify a new surging event for the South Skamri Glacier in the study period by investigating the glacier frontal changes and the longer-term time series of surface velocities between 1996 and 2006. From the transverse velocity profiles of seven typical glaciers, we infer that basal sliding is the predominant motion mechanism of the middle and upper glaciers, whereas internal deformation dominates closest to the glacier terminus.

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Glacier velocities across the central Karakoram

Cited by 111 publications

References 22 publications

Internal Structure and Current Evolution of Very Small Debris-Covered Glacier Systems Located in Alpine Permafrost Environments

Internal Structure and Current Evolution of Very Small Debris-Covered Glacier Systems Located in Alpine Permafrost Environments

Climate–Glacier Dynamics and Topographic Forcing in the Karakoram Himalaya: Concepts, Issues and Research Directions

Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Glacier Velocity in the Central Karakoram Revealed with 1999–2003 Landsat-7 ETM+ Pan Images

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