Changes in ice volume of the Ningchan No.1 Glacier, China, from 1972 to 2014, as derived from in situ measurements

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: BO CAO, BAOTIAN PAN, WEIJIN GUAN, JIE WANG, ZHENLING WEN
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press 2017
• Subjects: glacier mass balance; glacier volume; ice thickness measurements; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.70; https://doaj.org/article/ce595a2fbbf94519824ec9e38f7f83d0

Global climate change is causing widespread glacier retreat, with many small glaciers disappearing from the world's mountain ranges. We obtained the annual mass balance of a small glacier (the Ningchan No.1 Glacier) located on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, from the years 2010 to 2015 using glaciological and geodetic methods. We also measured the glacier's thickness in 2014 using ground-penetrating radar. Employing topographical maps and ZY-3 images, we obtained Digital Elevation Models for 1972 and 2014. Our results showed that the mean annual mass balance from 2010 to 2015 was ~−0.9 ± 0.5 m w.e. The mean equilibrium line altitude was ~4680 m in the period 2010–15, which exceeds the maximum elevation of the glacier. The glacier has lost area and mass across its elevation range. The mean ice thickness was 24.0 ± 2.5 m in 2014. From 1972 to 2014, the glacier's area shrank from 0.77 ± 0.05 to 0.39 ± 0.04 km2, and the ice volume decreased by (14.96 ± 0.97) × 106 m3, equivalent to (12.72 ± 0.82) × 106 t w.e. over the same period.