Recent slowdown and thinning of debris-covered glaciers in south-eastern Tibet
Recent large-scale remote sensing studies have shown that glacier mass loss in south-eastern Tibet, specifically in the eastern Nyainqêntanglha Range exceeds the average in High Asia. However, detailed studies at individual glaciers are scarce and the drivers behind the observed changes are poorly c...
Published in: | Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Elsevier
2017
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/44211/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50711 |
id |
ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:44211 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:44211 2024-09-15T18:39:05+00:00 Recent slowdown and thinning of debris-covered glaciers in south-eastern Tibet Neckel, Niklas Loibl, David Rankl, Melanie 2017-04-15 https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/44211/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50711 unknown Elsevier Neckel, N. orcid:0000-0003-4300-5488 , Loibl, D. and Rankl, M. (2017) Recent slowdown and thinning of debris-covered glaciers in south-eastern Tibet , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 464 , pp. 95-102 . doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2017.02.008 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.02.008> , hdl:10013/epic.50711 EPIC3Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Elsevier, 464, pp. 95-102 Article isiRev 2017 ftawi https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.02.008 2024-06-24T04:17:43Z Recent large-scale remote sensing studies have shown that glacier mass loss in south-eastern Tibet, specifically in the eastern Nyainqêntanglha Range exceeds the average in High Asia. However, detailed studies at individual glaciers are scarce and the drivers behind the observed changes are poorly constrained to date. Employing feature tracking techniques on TerraSAR-X data for the periods 2008/2009, 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 we found measurable surface velocities through to the glacier terminus positions of five debris-covered glacier tongues. This is contrary to debris-covered glaciers in other parts of High Asia, where stagnant glacier tongues are common. Our feature tracking results for the 2013/2014 period suggest an average deceleration of 51% when compared with published Landsat velocities for the period 1999/2003. Further, we estimated surface elevation changes for the five glaciers from recently released one arc second resolution elevation data obtained during the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission in 2000 and an interferometrical derived TanDEM-X elevation model for the year 2014. With an average rate of −0.83 ± 0.57 m a^-1 we confirm strong surface lowering in the region, despite the widely discussed insulation effect of debris cover. Beside the influence of thermokarst processes and delayed response times of debris-covered glaciers, we highlight that abundant monsoonal summer rainfall might contribute significantly to the pronounced negative mass balances in the study region. Article in Journal/Newspaper Thermokarst Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Earth and Planetary Science Letters 464 95 102 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
op_collection_id |
ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
Recent large-scale remote sensing studies have shown that glacier mass loss in south-eastern Tibet, specifically in the eastern Nyainqêntanglha Range exceeds the average in High Asia. However, detailed studies at individual glaciers are scarce and the drivers behind the observed changes are poorly constrained to date. Employing feature tracking techniques on TerraSAR-X data for the periods 2008/2009, 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 we found measurable surface velocities through to the glacier terminus positions of five debris-covered glacier tongues. This is contrary to debris-covered glaciers in other parts of High Asia, where stagnant glacier tongues are common. Our feature tracking results for the 2013/2014 period suggest an average deceleration of 51% when compared with published Landsat velocities for the period 1999/2003. Further, we estimated surface elevation changes for the five glaciers from recently released one arc second resolution elevation data obtained during the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission in 2000 and an interferometrical derived TanDEM-X elevation model for the year 2014. With an average rate of −0.83 ± 0.57 m a^-1 we confirm strong surface lowering in the region, despite the widely discussed insulation effect of debris cover. Beside the influence of thermokarst processes and delayed response times of debris-covered glaciers, we highlight that abundant monsoonal summer rainfall might contribute significantly to the pronounced negative mass balances in the study region. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Neckel, Niklas Loibl, David Rankl, Melanie |
spellingShingle |
Neckel, Niklas Loibl, David Rankl, Melanie Recent slowdown and thinning of debris-covered glaciers in south-eastern Tibet |
author_facet |
Neckel, Niklas Loibl, David Rankl, Melanie |
author_sort |
Neckel, Niklas |
title |
Recent slowdown and thinning of debris-covered glaciers in south-eastern Tibet |
title_short |
Recent slowdown and thinning of debris-covered glaciers in south-eastern Tibet |
title_full |
Recent slowdown and thinning of debris-covered glaciers in south-eastern Tibet |
title_fullStr |
Recent slowdown and thinning of debris-covered glaciers in south-eastern Tibet |
title_full_unstemmed |
Recent slowdown and thinning of debris-covered glaciers in south-eastern Tibet |
title_sort |
recent slowdown and thinning of debris-covered glaciers in south-eastern tibet |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/44211/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50711 |
genre |
Thermokarst |
genre_facet |
Thermokarst |
op_source |
EPIC3Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Elsevier, 464, pp. 95-102 |
op_relation |
Neckel, N. orcid:0000-0003-4300-5488 , Loibl, D. and Rankl, M. (2017) Recent slowdown and thinning of debris-covered glaciers in south-eastern Tibet , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 464 , pp. 95-102 . doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2017.02.008 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.02.008> , hdl:10013/epic.50711 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.02.008 |
container_title |
Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
container_volume |
464 |
container_start_page |
95 |
op_container_end_page |
102 |
_version_ |
1810483484870836224 |