Examining geodetic glacier mass balance in the eastern Pamir transition zone
Glaciers in the eastern Pamir have reportedly been gaining mass during recent decades, even though glaciers in most other regions in High Mountain Asia have been in recession. Questions still remain about whether the trend is strengthening or weakening, and how far the positive balances extend into...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Glaciology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143020000544/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1827994450333270016 |
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| author | Mingyang Lv Duncan J. Quincey Huadong Guo Owen King Guang Liu Shiyong Yan Xiancai Lu Zhixing Ruan |
| author_facet | Mingyang Lv Duncan J. Quincey Huadong Guo Owen King Guang Liu Shiyong Yan Xiancai Lu Zhixing Ruan |
| author_sort | Mingyang Lv |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Glaciers in the eastern Pamir have reportedly been gaining mass during recent decades, even though glaciers in most other regions in High Mountain Asia have been in recession. Questions still remain about whether the trend is strengthening or weakening, and how far the positive balances extend into the eastern Pamir. To address these gaps, we use three different digital elevation models to reconstruct glacier surface elevation changes over two periods (2000–09 and 2000–15/16). We characterize the eastern Pamir as a zone of transition from positive to negative mass balance with the boundary lying at the northern end of Kongur Tagh, and find that glaciers situated at higher elevations are those with the most positive balances. Most (67% of 55) glaciers displayed a net mass gain since the 21st century. This led to an increasing regional geodetic glacier mass balance from −0.06 ± 0.16 m w.e. a−1 in 2000–09 to 0.06 ± 0.04 m w.e. a−1 in 2000–15/16. Surge-type glaciers, which are prevalent in the eastern Pamir, showed fluctuations in mass balance on an individual scale during and after surges, but no statistical difference compared to non-surge-type glaciers when aggregated across the region. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:40:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bfe646d4b58e4be1a51f9a152997ba79 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:40:00Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Glaciology |
| spelling | doaj.art-bfe646d4b58e4be1a51f9a152997ba792023-03-09T12:41:00ZengCambridge University PressJournal of Glaciology0022-14301727-56522020-12-016692793710.1017/jog.2020.54Examining geodetic glacier mass balance in the eastern Pamir transition zoneMingyang Lv0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4084-9784Duncan J. Quincey1Huadong Guo2Owen King3Guang Liu4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8596-8528Shiyong Yan5Xiancai Lu6Zhixing Ruan7School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UKSchool of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UKSchool of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaSchool of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, ScotlandKey Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaSchool of Environment Science and Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, ChinaSchool of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, ChinaKey Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaGlaciers in the eastern Pamir have reportedly been gaining mass during recent decades, even though glaciers in most other regions in High Mountain Asia have been in recession. Questions still remain about whether the trend is strengthening or weakening, and how far the positive balances extend into the eastern Pamir. To address these gaps, we use three different digital elevation models to reconstruct glacier surface elevation changes over two periods (2000–09 and 2000–15/16). We characterize the eastern Pamir as a zone of transition from positive to negative mass balance with the boundary lying at the northern end of Kongur Tagh, and find that glaciers situated at higher elevations are those with the most positive balances. Most (67% of 55) glaciers displayed a net mass gain since the 21st century. This led to an increasing regional geodetic glacier mass balance from −0.06 ± 0.16 m w.e. a−1 in 2000–09 to 0.06 ± 0.04 m w.e. a−1 in 2000–15/16. Surge-type glaciers, which are prevalent in the eastern Pamir, showed fluctuations in mass balance on an individual scale during and after surges, but no statistical difference compared to non-surge-type glaciers when aggregated across the region.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143020000544/type/journal_articleDigital elevation modeleastern Pamirglacier mass balancesurge-type glaciers |
| spellingShingle | Mingyang Lv Duncan J. Quincey Huadong Guo Owen King Guang Liu Shiyong Yan Xiancai Lu Zhixing Ruan Examining geodetic glacier mass balance in the eastern Pamir transition zone Journal of Glaciology Digital elevation model eastern Pamir glacier mass balance surge-type glaciers |
| title | Examining geodetic glacier mass balance in the eastern Pamir transition zone |
| title_full | Examining geodetic glacier mass balance in the eastern Pamir transition zone |
| title_fullStr | Examining geodetic glacier mass balance in the eastern Pamir transition zone |
| title_full_unstemmed | Examining geodetic glacier mass balance in the eastern Pamir transition zone |
| title_short | Examining geodetic glacier mass balance in the eastern Pamir transition zone |
| title_sort | examining geodetic glacier mass balance in the eastern pamir transition zone |
| topic | Digital elevation model eastern Pamir glacier mass balance surge-type glaciers |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143020000544/type/journal_article |
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