The Urumqi River source Glacier No. 1, Tianshan, China: Changes over the past 45 years

Ye, Baisheng; Yang, Daqing; Jiao, Keqin; Han, Tao; Jin, Zhefan; Yang, Heng; Li, Zhongqin

doi:10.1029/2005gl024178

Cited by 104 publications

(114 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…A detailed procedure for this statistical test can be found elsewhere [33]. [14,21]. The mass balance of Glacier No.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1 (43.05˝N, 86.49˝E) is located at the headwaters of the Urumqi River as seen in Figure 1, Eastern Tianshan Mountain, China. It is a small northeast-facing valley glacier with an elevation between 3740 m and 4486 m [14,21]. The glacier is surrounded by barren rock with sparse vegetation and has east and west branches with an area of 1.646 km 2 and length of 2.41 km [13,21].…”

Section: Study Area and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The glacier is surrounded by barren rock with sparse vegetation and has east and west branches with an area of 1.646 km 2 and length of 2.41 km [13,21]. These two branches were separated into two small independent glaciers in 1994 due to continued glacier shrinkage [14]. Urumqi Glacier No.…”

Section: Study Area and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The annual mean precipitation and annual mean air temperature were 456 mm and −5 °C during 1959-2010 at the Daxigou Meteorological station, respectively [21]. [1967][1968][1969][1970][1971][1972][1973][1974][1975][1976][1977][1978][1979], and the missing data were extrapolated from glaciological observations and records of the Daxigou Meteorological Station during other years [14,21]. The mass balance of Glacier No.…”

Section: Study Area and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Li et al [13] analyzed the long-term changes in climate and streamflow at the headwaters of the Urumqi River and paid particular attention to the change in the glacier's runoff. Ye et al [14] analyzed long-term climate and glacier records to examine climate change and glacier response over the past 45 years. Han et al [15] examined characteristics of the winter mass balance of Glacier No.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Mass Balance of Glacier No. 1 at the Headwaters of the Urumqi River in Relation to Northern Hemisphere Teleconnection Patterns

Yuan

Hao

Berndtsson

et al. 2016

Water

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Most small glaciers in the world have significantly decreased their volume during the last century, which has caused water shortage problems. Glacier No. 1, at the headwaters of the Urumqi River, Tianshan, China, has been monitored since 1959 and similarly has experienced significant mass and volume losses over the last few decades. Thus, we examined the trend and potential abrupt changes of the mass balance of Glacier No. 1. Principal component analysis and singular value decomposition were used to find significant relations between the mass balance of Glacier No. 1 and Northern Hemisphere teleconnection patterns using climate indices. It was found that the mass balance of Glacier No. 1 had a significantly decreasing trend corresponding to´14.5 mm/year from 1959 to 2010. A change point was detected in 1997 with 99% confidence level. Two time periods with different mass balances were identified as 1959-1996 and 1997-2010. The mass balance for the first period was´136.4 mm/year and up to´663.9 mm/year for the second period. The mass balance of Glacier No. 1 is positively related to the Scandinavian Pattern (SCA), and negatively related to the East Atlantic Pattern (EA). These relationships are useful in better understanding the interaction between glacier mass balance and climate variability.

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“…A detailed procedure for this statistical test can be found elsewhere [33]. [14,21]. The mass balance of Glacier No.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Area and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Area and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Area and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The Mass Balance of Glacier No. 1 at the Headwaters of the Urumqi River in Relation to Northern Hemisphere Teleconnection Patterns

Yuan

Hao

Berndtsson

et al. 2016

Water

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Recent changes in freezing level heights in High Asia and their impact on glacier changes

Wang

Zhang

Pepin

et al. 2014

J. Geophys. Res. Atmos.

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The heights of the atmospheric freezing level have increased over most glacierized areas of High Asia during 1971-2010, especially in the Altai Mountains, the eastern Tianshan Mountains, and the northeastern margins of the Tibetan Plateau. The systematic increase of freezing level heights (FLHs) is evidenced from both radiosonde and National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis data. Eleven glaciers with long-term observations are selected in typical high-elevation mountain ranges to examine the relationship between changes in FLHs and cryospheric response. Long-term trends in glacier mass balance and equilibrium line altitude (ELA) show significant correlations with changes in FLHs. A rise of 10 m in summer FLH causes mass balance of reference glaciers in High Asia to decrease by between 7 and 38 mm (water equivalent) and ELA to increase by between 3.1 and 9.8 m, respectively, depending on location. Both relationships are statistically significant (p < 0.01) for most reference glaciers. Thus, rapid deglaciation in these high mountain ranges during recent decades is related to the increase in FLH. Similar relationships may exist in other high-elevation glaciers of High Asia with changes in FLHs having significant ecological and social consequences, especially in arid and semiarid regions.

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Effects of Cryospheric Change on Alpine Hydrology: Combining a Model With Observations in the Upper Reaches of the Hei River, China

et al. 2018

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Cryospheric changes have great effects on alpine hydrology, but these effects are still unclear owing to rare observations and suitable models in the western cold regions of China. Based on long‐term field observations in the western cold regions of China, a cryospheric basin hydrological model was proposed to evaluate the cryospheric effects on streamflow in the upper Hei River basin (UHR), and the relationship between the cryosphere and streamflow was further discussed with measured data. The Norwegian Earth System Model outputs were chosen to project future streamflow under scenarios Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP)2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5. The cryospheric basin hydrological model results were well validated by the measured precipitation, streamflow, evapotranspiration, soil temperature, glacier and snow cover area, and the water balance of land cover in the UHR. The moraine‐talus region contributed most of the runoff (60%), even though it made up only about 20% of the area. On average, glacier and snow cover, respectively, contributed 3.5% and 25.4% of the fresh water to the streamflow in the UHR between 1960 and 2013. Because of the increased air temperature (2.9°C/54a) and precipitation (69.2 mm/54a) over the past 54 years, glacial and snowmelt runoff increased by 9.8% and 12.1%, respectively. The increase in air temperature brought forward the snowmelt flood peak and increased the winter flow due to permafrost degradation. Glaciers may disappear in the near future because of their small size, but snowmelt would increase due to increases in snowfall in the higher mountainous areas, and the basin runoff would increase slightly in the future.

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The Urumqi River source Glacier No. 1, Tianshan, China: Changes over the past 45 years

Cited by 104 publications

References 7 publications

The Mass Balance of Glacier No. 1 at the Headwaters of the Urumqi River in Relation to Northern Hemisphere Teleconnection Patterns

The Mass Balance of Glacier No. 1 at the Headwaters of the Urumqi River in Relation to Northern Hemisphere Teleconnection Patterns

Recent changes in freezing level heights in High Asia and their impact on glacier changes

Effects of Cryospheric Change on Alpine Hydrology: Combining a Model With Observations in the Upper Reaches of the Hei River, China

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