Surface Sublimation/Evaporation and Condensation/Deposition and Their Links to Westerlies During 2020 on the August‐One Glacier, the Semi‐Arid Qilian Mountains of Northeast Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

To identify the links between glacier sublimation/evaporation, condensation/deposition and westerlies, in situ meteorological data and surface roughness lengths during 2020 were collected on a mid‐latitude and westerlies‐controlled glacier in the northeast TP. Snow or ice sublimation rate was generally believed to be higher during the weather conditions with stronger winds and drier air, while our results showed that the strong westerlies in winter brought the driest and windiest conditions, but did not cause the most sublimation loss due to extremely low surface temperature. The weakening of westerlies intensity and the increased precipitation during summer suppressed the sublimation and evaporation for the low wind speed and high air humidity, and condensation or deposition was more possible during the nighttime of summer together with the radiative cooling on surface and enhancement in atmosphere stability, while annual condensation and deposition were only 1.3 and 14 mm, respectively, which were negligibly small compared to sublimation (115 mm). The westerlies in autumn and spring strengthened sublimation with relatively stronger winds and drier air than summer and higher temperature than winter. Sublimation was more intense in autumn (41 mm/0.4 mm d−1) and spring (35 mm/0.4 mm d−1) than winter (23 mm/0.2 mm d−1) and summer (17 mm/0.2 mm d−1). Therefore, westerlies may not be the most crucial driver of glacier sublimation as its effect may be restricted by low surface temperature during a very cold weather.

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“…Regional estimates have been recently attempted, and field studies measuring sublimation on, or close to glacier surfaces agree well on sublimation rates in the order of 1 mm per day with strong seasonal variations (Guo et al, 2021(Guo et al, , 2022Mandal et al, 2022;Stigter et al, 2018). Over debris-covered ice, this process is more complex and comparable to evapotranspiration over ground (Steiner et al, 2018).…”

Spatiotemporal Changes in Water Storage and Its Driving Factors in the Three-River Headwaters Region, Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

“…precipitation types The model revision consists of two parts: (1) incorporating the effect of FG on WS by revising its Ksat with soil Tem (Equation ( 1)), as shown in the blue dashed box of Figure 2; (2) incorporating the effect of snow melt on WS based on the Tem threshold method and the degree-day method (Equations ( 2) and ( 3)), as shown in the red dashed box of Figure 2 [34]. Additionally, snow sublimation of the TRHR was estimated according to the study in northeastern Tibetan Plateau (QTP) [49]. The inputs of SWY and flowcharts of incorporating the effects of FG (blue dashed box) and SC (red dashed box) on WS are shown in Figure 2.…”

Chapter 2: Consequences of climate change for the cryosphere in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

“…However, process understanding of snowpack development remains poor. Initial work has been conducted on sublimation (Gascoin, 2021;S. Guo et al, 2022;Mandal et al, 2022;Stigter et al, 2018) and refreezing Veldhuijsen et al, 2021) but local changes in albedo and wind-driven erosion (Mott et al, 2018) have gained no further attention and should be prioritised.…”