Climate regime of Asian glaciers revealed by GAMDAM glacier inventory
Among meteorological elements, precipitation has a large spatial variability and less observation, particularly in high-mountain Asia, although precipitation in mountains is an important parameter for hydrological circulation. We estimated precipitation contributing to glacier mass at the median ele...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2015-05-01
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| Series: | The Cryosphere |
| Online Access: | http://www.the-cryosphere.net/9/865/2015/tc-9-865-2015.pdf |
| _version_ | 1819084499887063040 |
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| author | A. Sakai T. Nuimura K. Fujita S. Takenaka H. Nagai D. Lamsal |
| author_facet | A. Sakai T. Nuimura K. Fujita S. Takenaka H. Nagai D. Lamsal |
| author_sort | A. Sakai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Among meteorological elements, precipitation has a large spatial variability
and less observation, particularly in high-mountain Asia, although
precipitation in mountains is an important parameter for hydrological
circulation. We estimated precipitation contributing to glacier mass at
the median elevation of glaciers, which is presumed to be at equilibrium-line
altitude (ELA) such that mass balance is zero at that elevation, by tuning
adjustment parameters of precipitation. We also made comparisons between
the median elevation of glaciers, including the effect of drifting snow and
avalanche, and eliminated those local effects. Then, we could obtain the median
elevation of glaciers depending only on climate to estimate glacier surface precipitation.
<br><br>
The calculated precipitation contributing to glacier mass can elucidate that
glaciers in arid high-mountain Asia receive less precipitation, while
much precipitation makes a greater contribution to glacier mass in the Hindu
Kush, the Himalayas, and the Hengduan Shan due to not only direct
precipitation amount but also avalanche nourishment. We classified glaciers
in high-mountain Asia into summer-accumulation type and winter-accumulation
type using the summer-accumulation ratio and confirmed that
summer-accumulation-type glaciers have a higher sensitivity than
winter-accumulation-type glaciers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T20:49:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fc4d925e1f134be99ec1f073f23d2435 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1994-0416 1994-0424 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T20:49:26Z |
| publishDate | 2015-05-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Cryosphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-fc4d925e1f134be99ec1f073f23d24352022-12-21T18:50:45ZengCopernicus PublicationsThe Cryosphere1994-04161994-04242015-05-019386588010.5194/tc-9-865-2015Climate regime of Asian glaciers revealed by GAMDAM glacier inventoryA. Sakai0T. Nuimura1K. Fujita2S. Takenaka3H. Nagai4D. Lamsal5Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, JapanGraduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, JapanGraduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, JapanGraduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, JapanGraduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, JapanGraduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, JapanAmong meteorological elements, precipitation has a large spatial variability and less observation, particularly in high-mountain Asia, although precipitation in mountains is an important parameter for hydrological circulation. We estimated precipitation contributing to glacier mass at the median elevation of glaciers, which is presumed to be at equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) such that mass balance is zero at that elevation, by tuning adjustment parameters of precipitation. We also made comparisons between the median elevation of glaciers, including the effect of drifting snow and avalanche, and eliminated those local effects. Then, we could obtain the median elevation of glaciers depending only on climate to estimate glacier surface precipitation. <br><br> The calculated precipitation contributing to glacier mass can elucidate that glaciers in arid high-mountain Asia receive less precipitation, while much precipitation makes a greater contribution to glacier mass in the Hindu Kush, the Himalayas, and the Hengduan Shan due to not only direct precipitation amount but also avalanche nourishment. We classified glaciers in high-mountain Asia into summer-accumulation type and winter-accumulation type using the summer-accumulation ratio and confirmed that summer-accumulation-type glaciers have a higher sensitivity than winter-accumulation-type glaciers.http://www.the-cryosphere.net/9/865/2015/tc-9-865-2015.pdf |
| spellingShingle | A. Sakai T. Nuimura K. Fujita S. Takenaka H. Nagai D. Lamsal Climate regime of Asian glaciers revealed by GAMDAM glacier inventory The Cryosphere |
| title | Climate regime of Asian glaciers revealed by GAMDAM glacier inventory |
| title_full | Climate regime of Asian glaciers revealed by GAMDAM glacier inventory |
| title_fullStr | Climate regime of Asian glaciers revealed by GAMDAM glacier inventory |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate regime of Asian glaciers revealed by GAMDAM glacier inventory |
| title_short | Climate regime of Asian glaciers revealed by GAMDAM glacier inventory |
| title_sort | climate regime of asian glaciers revealed by gamdam glacier inventory |
| url | http://www.the-cryosphere.net/9/865/2015/tc-9-865-2015.pdf |
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