An application of three different field methods to monitor changes in Urumqi Glacier No. 1, Chinese Tien Shan, during 2012–18

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Hongliang Li, Puyu Wang, Zhongqin Li, Shuang Jin, Chunhai Xu, Shuangshuang Liu, Zhengyong Zhang, Liping Xu
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press 2022
• Subjects: Chinese Tien Shan; glacier change; RTK-GNSS; TLS; UAV; Urumqi Glacier No. 1; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.71; https://doaj.org/article/644df2f625f44b9e9509a252a01f347d

This study deploys RTK-GNSS in 2012, TLS in 2015 and UAV in 2018 to monitor the changes of Urumqi Glacier No. 1 (UG1), eastern Tien Shan, and analyzes the feasibility of three technologies in monitoring the mountain glaciers. DEM differencing shows that UG1 has experienced a pronounced thinning and mass loss for the period of 2012–18. The glacier surface elevation change of −0.83 ± 0.57 m w.e. a−1 has been recorded for 2012–15, whereas the changes of glacier tongue surface elevation in 2015–18 and 2012–18 were −2.03 ± 0.95 and −1.34 ± 0.88 m w.e. a−1, respectively. The glacier area shrunk by 0.07 ± 0.07 × 10−3 km2 and the terminus retreat rate was 6.28 ± 0.83 m a−1 during 2012–18. The good agreement between the glaciological and geodetic specific mass-balances is promising, showing the combination of the three technologies is suitable to monitor glacier mass change. We recommend application of the three technologies to assess each other in different locations of the glacier, e.g. RTK-GNSS base stations, ground control points, glacier tongue and terminus, in order to avoid the inherent limitations of each technology and to provide reliable data for the future studies of mountain glacier changes in western China.