Slight glacier mass loss in the Karakoram region during the 1970s to 2000 revealed by KH-9 images and SRTM DEM

An anomalously slight glacier mass gain during 2000 to the 2010s has recently been reported in the Karakoram region. However, to date, no investigations of the region-wide glacier mass balance in the Karakoram prior to 2000 have been reported, leaving a knowledge gap for assessing glacier responses...

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Main Authors: YUSHAN ZHOU, ZHIWEI LI, JIA LI
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2017-04-01
Series:Journal of Glaciology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143016001428/type/journal_article
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author YUSHAN ZHOU
ZHIWEI LI
JIA LI
author_facet YUSHAN ZHOU
ZHIWEI LI
JIA LI
author_sort YUSHAN ZHOU
collection DOAJ
description An anomalously slight glacier mass gain during 2000 to the 2010s has recently been reported in the Karakoram region. However, to date, no investigations of the region-wide glacier mass balance in the Karakoram prior to 2000 have been reported, leaving a knowledge gap for assessing glacier responses to climate change. We calculated elevation and mass change using DEMs generated from KH-9 images acquired during 1973–1980 and the 1 arc-second SRTM DEM. We find a slight mass loss of −0.09 ± 0.03 m w.e. a−1 (12 366 km2) for 1973–2000, which is less negative than the global average rate for 1971–2009 (−0.31 ± 0.19 m w.e. a−1). Within the Karakoram, the glacier change patterns are spatially and temporally heterogeneous. In particular, a nearly stable state in the central Karakoram (−0.04 ± 0.05 m w.e. a−1 during the period 1974–2000) implies that the Karakoram anomaly dates back to the 1970s. Combined with the previous studies, we conclude that the Karakoram glaciers as a whole were in a nearly balanced state during the 1970s to the 2010s.
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spelling doaj.art-81c7f8421593456d96675e220ed6e29c2023-03-09T12:40:20ZengCambridge University PressJournal of Glaciology0022-14301727-56522017-04-016333134210.1017/jog.2016.142Slight glacier mass loss in the Karakoram region during the 1970s to 2000 revealed by KH-9 images and SRTM DEMYUSHAN ZHOU0ZHIWEI LI1JIA LI2School of Geosciences and Info-Physics, Central South University, Changsha 410083, Hunan, ChinaSchool of Geosciences and Info-Physics, Central South University, Changsha 410083, Hunan, ChinaSchool of Geosciences and Info-Physics, Central South University, Changsha 410083, Hunan, ChinaAn anomalously slight glacier mass gain during 2000 to the 2010s has recently been reported in the Karakoram region. However, to date, no investigations of the region-wide glacier mass balance in the Karakoram prior to 2000 have been reported, leaving a knowledge gap for assessing glacier responses to climate change. We calculated elevation and mass change using DEMs generated from KH-9 images acquired during 1973–1980 and the 1 arc-second SRTM DEM. We find a slight mass loss of −0.09 ± 0.03 m w.e. a−1 (12 366 km2) for 1973–2000, which is less negative than the global average rate for 1971–2009 (−0.31 ± 0.19 m w.e. a−1). Within the Karakoram, the glacier change patterns are spatially and temporally heterogeneous. In particular, a nearly stable state in the central Karakoram (−0.04 ± 0.05 m w.e. a−1 during the period 1974–2000) implies that the Karakoram anomaly dates back to the 1970s. Combined with the previous studies, we conclude that the Karakoram glaciers as a whole were in a nearly balanced state during the 1970s to the 2010s.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143016001428/type/journal_articleglacier mass balanceremote sensingsurface mass budget
spellingShingle YUSHAN ZHOU
ZHIWEI LI
JIA LI
Slight glacier mass loss in the Karakoram region during the 1970s to 2000 revealed by KH-9 images and SRTM DEM
Journal of Glaciology
glacier mass balance
remote sensing
surface mass budget
title Slight glacier mass loss in the Karakoram region during the 1970s to 2000 revealed by KH-9 images and SRTM DEM
title_full Slight glacier mass loss in the Karakoram region during the 1970s to 2000 revealed by KH-9 images and SRTM DEM
title_fullStr Slight glacier mass loss in the Karakoram region during the 1970s to 2000 revealed by KH-9 images and SRTM DEM
title_full_unstemmed Slight glacier mass loss in the Karakoram region during the 1970s to 2000 revealed by KH-9 images and SRTM DEM
title_short Slight glacier mass loss in the Karakoram region during the 1970s to 2000 revealed by KH-9 images and SRTM DEM
title_sort slight glacier mass loss in the karakoram region during the 1970s to 2000 revealed by kh 9 images and srtm dem
topic glacier mass balance
remote sensing
surface mass budget
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143016001428/type/journal_article
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