Mass-balance reconstruction for Glacier No. 354, Tien Shan, from 2003 to 2014

This study presents a reconstruction of the seasonal mass balance of Glacier No. 354, located in the Akshiirak range, Kyrgyzstan, from 2003 to 2014. We use a distributed accumulation and temperature-index melt model driven by daily air temperature and precipitation from a nearby meteorological stati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of Glaciology
Main Authors: Marlene Kronenberg, Martina Barandun, Martin Hoelzle, Matthias Huss, Daniel Farinotti, Erlan Azisov, Ryskul Usubaliev, Abror Gafurov, Dmitry Petrakov, Andreas Kääb
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2016
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3189/2016AoG71A032
https://doaj.org/article/d3d766ebb3b44dd9ab4195d4c5559fda
Description
Summary:This study presents a reconstruction of the seasonal mass balance of Glacier No. 354, located in the Akshiirak range, Kyrgyzstan, from 2003 to 2014. We use a distributed accumulation and temperature-index melt model driven by daily air temperature and precipitation from a nearby meteorological station. The model is calibrated with in situ measurements of the annual mass balance collected from 2011 to 2014. The snow-cover depletion pattern observed using satellite imagery provides additional information on the dynamics of mass change throughout the melting season. Two digital elevation models derived from high-resolution satellite stereo images acquired in 2003 and 2012 are used to calculate glacier volume change for the corresponding period. The geodetic mass change thus derived is used to validate the modelled cumulative glacier-wide balance. For the period 2003–12 we find a cumulative mass balance of –0.40±10mw.e.a-1. This result agrees well with the geodetic balance of –0.48±0.07mw.e.a-1over the same period.