Applying artificial snowfall to reduce the melting of the Muz Taw Glacier, Sawir Mountains
The glaciers in the Sawir Mountains, Altai area, have been experiencing a continuing and accelerating ice loss since 1959, although the snowfall is abundant and evenly distributed over the year. As an attempt to reduce their melting, we carried out two artificial snowfall experiments on the Muz Taw...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:6004691a280e4ef7b6fc4889df93c1c1 2023-05-15T18:32:29+02:00 Applying artificial snowfall to reduce the melting of the Muz Taw Glacier, Sawir Mountains F. Wang X. Yue L. Wang H. Li Z. Du J. Ming Z. Li 2020-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2597-2020 https://doaj.org/article/6004691a280e4ef7b6fc4889df93c1c1 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/2597/2020/tc-14-2597-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-14-2597-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/6004691a280e4ef7b6fc4889df93c1c1 The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 2597-2606 (2020) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2597-2020 2022-12-31T08:30:49Z The glaciers in the Sawir Mountains, Altai area, have been experiencing a continuing and accelerating ice loss since 1959, although the snowfall is abundant and evenly distributed over the year. As an attempt to reduce their melting, we carried out two artificial snowfall experiments on the Muz Taw Glacier during 19–22 August 2018. We measured the albedo and mass balance at different sites along the glacier before and after the experiments. Two automatic weather stations (AWSs) were set up at the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of the glacier as the target area and the forefield as the control area to record the precipitation, respectively. A comparison of the two precipitation records from the two AWSs suggests that natural precipitation could account for up to 21 % of the snowfall received by the glacier during the experiments. Because of the snowfalls, the glacier's surface albedo significantly increased in the middle to upper part; the average mass loss during 18–24 August (after the experiments) decreased by between 32 and 41 mm w.e (14 %–17 %) compared to during 12–18 August (before the experiments); and the mass resulting from the snowfall accounted for between 42 % and 54 % of the total melt during 18–24 August. We also propose a mechanism involving artificial snowfall, albedo, and mass balance, and the feedbacks describing the role of snowfall in reducing the melting of the glacier. The current status of the work is primitive as it is a preliminary trial, and the conclusions need more controlling experiments to validate it against larger spatio-temporal scales in future. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Ela ENVELOPE(9.642,9.642,63.170,63.170) The Cryosphere 14 8 2597 2606 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 F. Wang X. Yue L. Wang H. Li Z. Du J. Ming Z. Li Applying artificial snowfall to reduce the melting of the Muz Taw Glacier, Sawir Mountains |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
The glaciers in the Sawir Mountains, Altai area, have been experiencing a continuing and accelerating ice loss since 1959, although the snowfall is abundant and evenly distributed over the year. As an attempt to reduce their melting, we carried out two artificial snowfall experiments on the Muz Taw Glacier during 19–22 August 2018. We measured the albedo and mass balance at different sites along the glacier before and after the experiments. Two automatic weather stations (AWSs) were set up at the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of the glacier as the target area and the forefield as the control area to record the precipitation, respectively. A comparison of the two precipitation records from the two AWSs suggests that natural precipitation could account for up to 21 % of the snowfall received by the glacier during the experiments. Because of the snowfalls, the glacier's surface albedo significantly increased in the middle to upper part; the average mass loss during 18–24 August (after the experiments) decreased by between 32 and 41 mm w.e (14 %–17 %) compared to during 12–18 August (before the experiments); and the mass resulting from the snowfall accounted for between 42 % and 54 % of the total melt during 18–24 August. We also propose a mechanism involving artificial snowfall, albedo, and mass balance, and the feedbacks describing the role of snowfall in reducing the melting of the glacier. The current status of the work is primitive as it is a preliminary trial, and the conclusions need more controlling experiments to validate it against larger spatio-temporal scales in future. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
F. Wang X. Yue L. Wang H. Li Z. Du J. Ming Z. Li |
author_facet |
F. Wang X. Yue L. Wang H. Li Z. Du J. Ming Z. Li |
author_sort |
F. Wang |
title |
Applying artificial snowfall to reduce the melting of the Muz Taw Glacier, Sawir Mountains |
title_short |
Applying artificial snowfall to reduce the melting of the Muz Taw Glacier, Sawir Mountains |
title_full |
Applying artificial snowfall to reduce the melting of the Muz Taw Glacier, Sawir Mountains |
title_fullStr |
Applying artificial snowfall to reduce the melting of the Muz Taw Glacier, Sawir Mountains |
title_full_unstemmed |
Applying artificial snowfall to reduce the melting of the Muz Taw Glacier, Sawir Mountains |
title_sort |
applying artificial snowfall to reduce the melting of the muz taw glacier, sawir mountains |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2597-2020 https://doaj.org/article/6004691a280e4ef7b6fc4889df93c1c1 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(9.642,9.642,63.170,63.170) |
geographic |
Ela |
geographic_facet |
Ela |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 2597-2606 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/2597/2020/tc-14-2597-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-14-2597-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/6004691a280e4ef7b6fc4889df93c1c1 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2597-2020 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
2597 |
op_container_end_page |
2606 |
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1766216603595177984 |