Southwest-facing slopes control the formation of debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya
To understand the formation conditions of debris-covered glaciers, we examined the dimension and shape of debris-covered areas and potential debris-supply (PDS) slopes of 213 glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya. This was undertaken using satellite images with 2.5 m spatial resolution for manual delineat...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:6073943365f84b40864b40a566cec8a8 2023-05-15T17:57:54+02:00 Southwest-facing slopes control the formation of debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya H. Nagai K. Fujita T. Nuimura A. Sakai 2013-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1303-2013 https://doaj.org/article/6073943365f84b40864b40a566cec8a8 EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/1303/2013/tc-7-1303-2013.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-7-1303-2013 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/6073943365f84b40864b40a566cec8a8 The Cryosphere, Vol 7, Iss 4, Pp 1303-1314 (2013) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1303-2013 2022-12-31T13:34:01Z To understand the formation conditions of debris-covered glaciers, we examined the dimension and shape of debris-covered areas and potential debris-supply (PDS) slopes of 213 glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya. This was undertaken using satellite images with 2.5 m spatial resolution for manual delineation of debris-covered areas and PDS slopes. The most significant correlation exists between surface area of southwest-facing PDS slopes and debris-covered area. This result suggests that the southwest-facing PDS slopes supply the largest quantity of debris mantle. The shape of debris-covered areas is also an important variable, quantitatively defined using a geometric index. Elongate or stripe-like debris-covered areas on north-flowing glaciers are common throughout the Bhutan Himalaya. In contrast, south-flowing glaciers have large ablation zones, entirely covered by debris. Our findings suggest that this difference is caused by effective diurnal freeze–thaw cycles rather than seasonal freeze–thaw cycles, permafrost degradation, or snow avalanches. In terms of geographic setting, local topography also contributes to glacier debris supply and the proportion of debris cover on the studied glaciers is suppressed by the arid Tibetan climate, whereas the north-to-south asymmetric topography of the Bhutan Himalaya has less influence on the proportion of debris cover. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Stripe ENVELOPE(9.914,9.914,63.019,63.019) The Cryosphere 7 4 1303 1314 |
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 H. Nagai K. Fujita T. Nuimura A. Sakai Southwest-facing slopes control the formation of debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
To understand the formation conditions of debris-covered glaciers, we examined the dimension and shape of debris-covered areas and potential debris-supply (PDS) slopes of 213 glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya. This was undertaken using satellite images with 2.5 m spatial resolution for manual delineation of debris-covered areas and PDS slopes. The most significant correlation exists between surface area of southwest-facing PDS slopes and debris-covered area. This result suggests that the southwest-facing PDS slopes supply the largest quantity of debris mantle. The shape of debris-covered areas is also an important variable, quantitatively defined using a geometric index. Elongate or stripe-like debris-covered areas on north-flowing glaciers are common throughout the Bhutan Himalaya. In contrast, south-flowing glaciers have large ablation zones, entirely covered by debris. Our findings suggest that this difference is caused by effective diurnal freeze–thaw cycles rather than seasonal freeze–thaw cycles, permafrost degradation, or snow avalanches. In terms of geographic setting, local topography also contributes to glacier debris supply and the proportion of debris cover on the studied glaciers is suppressed by the arid Tibetan climate, whereas the north-to-south asymmetric topography of the Bhutan Himalaya has less influence on the proportion of debris cover. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
H. Nagai K. Fujita T. Nuimura A. Sakai |
author_facet |
H. Nagai K. Fujita T. Nuimura A. Sakai |
author_sort |
H. Nagai |
title |
Southwest-facing slopes control the formation of debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya |
title_short |
Southwest-facing slopes control the formation of debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya |
title_full |
Southwest-facing slopes control the formation of debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya |
title_fullStr |
Southwest-facing slopes control the formation of debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya |
title_full_unstemmed |
Southwest-facing slopes control the formation of debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya |
title_sort |
southwest-facing slopes control the formation of debris-covered glaciers in the bhutan himalaya |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1303-2013 https://doaj.org/article/6073943365f84b40864b40a566cec8a8 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(9.914,9.914,63.019,63.019) |
geographic |
Stripe |
geographic_facet |
Stripe |
genre |
permafrost The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
permafrost The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 7, Iss 4, Pp 1303-1314 (2013) |
op_relation |
http://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/1303/2013/tc-7-1303-2013.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-7-1303-2013 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/6073943365f84b40864b40a566cec8a8 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1303-2013 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
1303 |
op_container_end_page |
1314 |
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1766166411214848000 |