Spatial‐temporal variation of near‐surface temperature lapse rates over the Tianshan Mountains, central Asia

Shen, Yanjun; Goetz, Jason; Brenning, Alexander

doi:10.1002/2016jd025711

Cited by 41 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…The meteorological conditions clearly play an important role in defining the characteristics of the LRs on both sides of the northern sector of the SPI. Shen et al (2016) indicated that the role of water vapor in the air is an essential driver of the spatial pattern of LRs. Gentle LRs are associated with moister atmospheric conditions, as rising air parcels cool more slowly in a humid environment than in a dry environment.…”

Section: Lrs and Air Temperature Spatial Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, due to the complex boundary layer meteorology of mountainous areas and the general lack of detailed on-glacier measurements (Hanna et al, 2017), constant and linear LRs are commonly used for glacier ablation estimations, rather than distributed air temperature fields for glacier ablation estimations (Ayala et al, 2015). This is a major simplification, as it has been widely recognized that air temperature LRs are spatially and temporally variable in mountainous regions (Petersen & Pellicciotti, 2011), both on-glacier (Ayala et al, 2015;Hanna et al, 2017;Shaw et al, 2017) and off-glacier (Heynen et al, 2016;Shen et al, 2016). Many studies use off-glacier data that do not account for the variability of the air temperature associated with katabatic boundary layer flows and the damping and ice surface cooling effect observed over glacier surfaces (Ayala et al, 2015;Carturan et al, 2015;Petersen & Pellicciotti, 2011;Petersen et al, 2013;Shaw et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Air Temperature Characteristics, Distribution, and Impact on Modeled Ablation for the South Patagonia Icefield

et al. 2019

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The glaciers of Patagonia are the largest in South America and are shrinking rapidly, raising concerns about their contribution to sea level rise in the face of ongoing climatic change. However, modeling studies forecasting future glacier recession are limited by the scarcity of measured on‐glacier air temperatures and thus tend to use spatially and temporally constant lapse rates. This study presents 9 months of air temperature observations. The network consists of five automatic weather stations and three on‐glacier air temperature sensors installed on the South Patagonia Icefield along a transect at 48°45′S. Observed lapse rates are, overall, steeper on the east (−0.0072 °C/m) compared to the west (−0.0055 °C/m) and vary between the lower section (tongue, ablation zone) and the upper section (plateau, accumulation zone) of the glaciers. Warmer off‐glacier temperatures are found in the east compared to the west for similar elevations. However, on‐glacier observations suggest that the glacier cooling effect is higher in the east compared to the west. Through application of distributed temperature‐index and point‐scale energy balance models we show that modeled ablation rates vary by up to 60%, depending on the air temperature extrapolation method applied, and that melt is overestimated and sublimation is underestimated if the glacier cooling effect is not included in the distributed air temperature data. These results can improve current and future modeling efforts of the energy and mass balance of the whole South Patagonia Icefield.

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Section: Lrs and Air Temperature Spatial Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air Temperature Characteristics, Distribution, and Impact on Modeled Ablation for the South Patagonia Icefield

et al. 2019

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“…For instance, the temperature lapse rate is crucial for representing mountain temperature and simulating snowmelt runoff in high‐elevation basins (Deng et al, ; Immerzeel et al, ; Li & Williams, ; Lundquist & Cayan, ). According to our field research, temperature lapse rates vary spatially and seasonally in the Tianshan Mountains (Shen et al, ), which has not been addressed in previous hydrological modeling studies (Dou et al, ; Xu et al, ; Zhang et al, ). Moreover, vegetation structure, soil type, geology, and morphological features were not considered in sufficient detail in previous studies (Liu et al, ; Sun et al, ; Xu et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…Similar bias correction methods have frequently been used in the literature (Gao et al, ; Liu et al, ; Shea et al, ). The largest bias in winter temperature during the correction processes might be interpreted as a temperature inversion (Shen et al, ) which can be captured by local monitoring stations but not the ERA‐Interim temperature data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mean annual precipitation and temperature at the Bayinbuluke weather station are 272 mm and −4.25°C, respectively (1961–2011) (Table ). Precipitation generally increases with altitude in the mountainous regions, and temperature experiences distinct spatial‐temporal variation (Chen, ; Shen et al, ). Precipitation and temperature are highly variable.…”

Section: Study Area and Data Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unraveling the Hydrology of the Glacierized Kaidu Basin by Integrating Multisource Data in the Tianshan Mountains, Northwestern China

Shen

Fink

Kralisch

et al. 2018

Water Resources Research

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Understanding the water balance, especially as it relates to the distribution of runoff components, is crucial for water resource management and coping with the impacts of climate change. However, hydrological processes are poorly known in mountainous regions due to data scarcity and the complex dynamics of snow and glaciers. This study aims to provide a quantitative comparison of gridded precipitation products in the Tianshan Mountains, located in Central Asia and in order to further understand the mountain hydrology and distribution of runoff components in the glacierized Kaidu Basin. We found that gridded precipitation products are affected by inconsistent biases based on a spatiotemporal comparison with the nearest weather stations and should be evaluated with caution before using them as boundary conditions in hydrological modeling. Although uncertainties remain in this data‐scarce basin, driven by field survey data and bias‐corrected gridded data sets (ERA‐Interim and APHRODITE), the water balance and distribution of runoff components can be plausibly quantified based on the distributed hydrological model (J2000). We further examined parameter sensitivity and uncertainty with respect to both simulated streamflow and different runoff components based on an ensemble of simulations. This study demonstrated the possibility of integrating gridded products in hydrological modeling. The methodology used can be important for model applications and design in other data‐scarce mountainous regions. The model‐based simulation quantified the water balance and how the water resources are partitioned throughout the year in Tianshan Mountain basins, although the uncertainties present in this study result in important limitations.

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Topoclimatic zones and characteristics of the upper Ganga basin, Uttarakhand, India

Yadav

Thayyen

Jain

2020

Intl Journal of Climatology

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The upper Ganga basin (UGB) constituting Bhagirathi and Alakananda basins has been considered as a single hydrological unit so far with comparable climate forcing. Here, we show three distinct “topoclimatic zones” of this basin having characteristically different temperature, precipitation, and orographic processes. The orographic discontinuity forced by a mountain ridge with an average elevation of 5,200 m a.s.l. is instrumental in the development of these topoclimatic zones. The northern region of the basin is identified as high elevation and high temperature zone (HE‐HT) with monsoon moisture deficit. This monsoon deficit region is characterized by higher land surface temperature lapse rate (LSTLR) during July and August (JA) derived from MODIS‐LST (11.00°C/km) as compared to much lower LSTLR of monsoon topoclimatic zone (5.78°C/km). The nival‐glacier regimes of the monsoon dominant and monsoon deficit regions constituted the third topoclimatic zone characterized by high elevation‐low temperature zone (HE‐LT). This zone has comparatively lower temperature lapse rate (5.26°C/km) than the immediately lower elevations. The coldest points identified in the basin are mostly placed in monsoon deficit regions with higher LSTLR. The 10–12°C isotherm in the monsoon deficit zone runs at 5,300 m a.s.l. as compared to 3,200 m a.s.l. in monsoon dominant zone. It is proposed that 80% of glacier area in the UGB is in the monsoon deficit zone that is regulated by the northern region orographic processes rather than southern slopes. Glacier change in the southern and northern zones show significant difference during the period of 1994–2016/2017, with significantly higher glacier area loss in the HE‐HT zone. The study highlights the importance of these topoclimatic considerations while evaluating the climate and hydrology of UGB.

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Spatial‐temporal variation of near‐surface temperature lapse rates over the Tianshan Mountains, central Asia

Cited by 41 publications

References 58 publications

Air Temperature Characteristics, Distribution, and Impact on Modeled Ablation for the South Patagonia Icefield

Air Temperature Characteristics, Distribution, and Impact on Modeled Ablation for the South Patagonia Icefield

Unraveling the Hydrology of the Glacierized Kaidu Basin by Integrating Multisource Data in the Tianshan Mountains, Northwestern China

Topoclimatic zones and characteristics of the upper Ganga basin, Uttarakhand, India

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