Sub-regional variability in the influence of ice-contact lakes on Himalayan glaciers
Ice-contact lakes modify glacier geometry and dynamics by shifting the majority of mass loss from the ice surface to the terminus. Lake-terminating glaciers are known to experience greater thinning rates and higher velocities than land-terminating glaciers, but the controls on variability in surface...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
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| Series: | Journal of Glaciology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143024000091/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1797258535798571008 |
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| author | Alex C. Scoffield Ann V. Rowan Duncan J. Quincey Jonathan L. Carrivick Andrew J. Sole Simon J. Cook |
| author_facet | Alex C. Scoffield Ann V. Rowan Duncan J. Quincey Jonathan L. Carrivick Andrew J. Sole Simon J. Cook |
| author_sort | Alex C. Scoffield |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ice-contact lakes modify glacier geometry and dynamics by shifting the majority of mass loss from the ice surface to the terminus. Lake-terminating glaciers are known to experience greater thinning rates and higher velocities than land-terminating glaciers, but the controls on variability in surface elevation change and ice flow between lake-terminating glaciers in different regions remain poorly explored. We combined existing datasets of glacier velocity, surface elevation change and glacial lake area to characterise the evolution of 352 lake-terminating and land-terminating glaciers within three Himalayan sub-regions between 2000 and 2019. These analyses show that the influence of ice-contact lakes propagates up-glacier across only the lowermost 30% of the hypsometric distribution, even where lakes are well established. We find that ice-contact lakes only affect glacier behaviour when the lakes reach an advanced evolutionary stage; most clearly manifested in the Eastern Himalaya by statistically robust differences in glacier-wide surface elevation change between lake-terminating (–0.68 ± 0.05 m a–1) and land-terminating (–0.54 ± 0.04 m a–1) glaciers. These differences are driven by the presence of a greater number of well-developed ice-contact lakes in the Eastern Himalaya compared to in the Western and Central Himalaya, resulting from greater mass loss rates to date. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T08:08:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9673e39ddf5a49bb8d775b730d2f3273 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T22:55:05Z |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Glaciology |
| spelling | doaj.art-9673e39ddf5a49bb8d775b730d2f32732024-03-18T08:11:18ZengCambridge University PressJournal of Glaciology0022-14301727-565211110.1017/jog.2024.9Sub-regional variability in the influence of ice-contact lakes on Himalayan glaciersAlex C. Scoffield0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1941-0870Ann V. Rowan1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3715-5554Duncan J. Quincey2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7602-7926Jonathan L. Carrivick3Andrew J. Sole4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5290-8967Simon J. Cook5School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UKDepartment of Earth Science, University of Bergen and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, NorwaySchool of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UKSchool of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UKDepartment of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UKDivision of Energy, Environment and Society, University of Dundee, UK UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, University of Dundee, UKIce-contact lakes modify glacier geometry and dynamics by shifting the majority of mass loss from the ice surface to the terminus. Lake-terminating glaciers are known to experience greater thinning rates and higher velocities than land-terminating glaciers, but the controls on variability in surface elevation change and ice flow between lake-terminating glaciers in different regions remain poorly explored. We combined existing datasets of glacier velocity, surface elevation change and glacial lake area to characterise the evolution of 352 lake-terminating and land-terminating glaciers within three Himalayan sub-regions between 2000 and 2019. These analyses show that the influence of ice-contact lakes propagates up-glacier across only the lowermost 30% of the hypsometric distribution, even where lakes are well established. We find that ice-contact lakes only affect glacier behaviour when the lakes reach an advanced evolutionary stage; most clearly manifested in the Eastern Himalaya by statistically robust differences in glacier-wide surface elevation change between lake-terminating (–0.68 ± 0.05 m a–1) and land-terminating (–0.54 ± 0.04 m a–1) glaciers. These differences are driven by the presence of a greater number of well-developed ice-contact lakes in the Eastern Himalaya compared to in the Western and Central Himalaya, resulting from greater mass loss rates to date.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143024000091/type/journal_articleglacier ablation phenomenaglacier calvingglacier flow |
| spellingShingle | Alex C. Scoffield Ann V. Rowan Duncan J. Quincey Jonathan L. Carrivick Andrew J. Sole Simon J. Cook Sub-regional variability in the influence of ice-contact lakes on Himalayan glaciers Journal of Glaciology glacier ablation phenomena glacier calving glacier flow |
| title | Sub-regional variability in the influence of ice-contact lakes on Himalayan glaciers |
| title_full | Sub-regional variability in the influence of ice-contact lakes on Himalayan glaciers |
| title_fullStr | Sub-regional variability in the influence of ice-contact lakes on Himalayan glaciers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sub-regional variability in the influence of ice-contact lakes on Himalayan glaciers |
| title_short | Sub-regional variability in the influence of ice-contact lakes on Himalayan glaciers |
| title_sort | sub regional variability in the influence of ice contact lakes on himalayan glaciers |
| topic | glacier ablation phenomena glacier calving glacier flow |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143024000091/type/journal_article |
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