Contrasting responses of Central Asian rock glaciers to global warming
While the responses of Tien Shan glaciers – and glaciers elsewhere – to climatic changes are becoming increasingly well understood, this is less the case for permafrost in general and for rock glaciers in particular. We use a novel approach to describe the climate sensitivity of rock glaciers and to...
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ftethz:oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/98797 2023-08-20T04:09:13+02:00 Contrasting responses of Central Asian rock glaciers to global warming Sorg, Annina Kääb, Andreas Roesch, Andrea Bigler, Christof id_orcid:0 000-0003-3757-6356 Stoffel, Markus 2015-02-06 application/application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/98797 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000098797 en eng Nature info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/srep08228 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000348903400001 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/98797 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000098797 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Scientific Reports, 5 Geomorphology Environmental health Cryospheric science info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2015 ftethz https://doi.org/20.500.11850/9879710.3929/ethz-b-00009879710.1038/srep08228 2023-07-30T23:49:03Z While the responses of Tien Shan glaciers – and glaciers elsewhere – to climatic changes are becoming increasingly well understood, this is less the case for permafrost in general and for rock glaciers in particular. We use a novel approach to describe the climate sensitivity of rock glaciers and to reconstruct periods of high and low rock glacier activity in the Tien Shan since 1895. Using more than 1500 growth anomalies from 280 trees growing on rock glacier bodies, repeat aerial photography from Soviet archives and high-resolution satellite imagery, we present here the world's longest record of rock glacier movements. We also demonstrate that the rock glaciers exhibit synchronous periods of activity at decadal timescales. Despite the complex energy-balance processes on rock glaciers, periods of enhanced activity coincide with warm summers, and the annual mass balance of Tuyuksu glacier fluctuates asynchronously with rock glacier activity. At multi-decadal timescales, however, the investigated rock glaciers exhibit site-specific trends reflecting different stages of inactivation, seemingly in response to the strong increase in air temperature since the 1970s. ISSN:2045-2322 Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Low Rock ETH Zürich Research Collection Low Rock ENVELOPE(-37.011,-37.011,-54.496,-54.496) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
ETH Zürich Research Collection |
op_collection_id |
ftethz |
language |
English |
topic |
Geomorphology Environmental health Cryospheric science |
spellingShingle |
Geomorphology Environmental health Cryospheric science Sorg, Annina Kääb, Andreas Roesch, Andrea Bigler, Christof id_orcid:0 000-0003-3757-6356 Stoffel, Markus Contrasting responses of Central Asian rock glaciers to global warming |
topic_facet |
Geomorphology Environmental health Cryospheric science |
description |
While the responses of Tien Shan glaciers – and glaciers elsewhere – to climatic changes are becoming increasingly well understood, this is less the case for permafrost in general and for rock glaciers in particular. We use a novel approach to describe the climate sensitivity of rock glaciers and to reconstruct periods of high and low rock glacier activity in the Tien Shan since 1895. Using more than 1500 growth anomalies from 280 trees growing on rock glacier bodies, repeat aerial photography from Soviet archives and high-resolution satellite imagery, we present here the world's longest record of rock glacier movements. We also demonstrate that the rock glaciers exhibit synchronous periods of activity at decadal timescales. Despite the complex energy-balance processes on rock glaciers, periods of enhanced activity coincide with warm summers, and the annual mass balance of Tuyuksu glacier fluctuates asynchronously with rock glacier activity. At multi-decadal timescales, however, the investigated rock glaciers exhibit site-specific trends reflecting different stages of inactivation, seemingly in response to the strong increase in air temperature since the 1970s. ISSN:2045-2322 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sorg, Annina Kääb, Andreas Roesch, Andrea Bigler, Christof id_orcid:0 000-0003-3757-6356 Stoffel, Markus |
author_facet |
Sorg, Annina Kääb, Andreas Roesch, Andrea Bigler, Christof id_orcid:0 000-0003-3757-6356 Stoffel, Markus |
author_sort |
Sorg, Annina |
title |
Contrasting responses of Central Asian rock glaciers to global warming |
title_short |
Contrasting responses of Central Asian rock glaciers to global warming |
title_full |
Contrasting responses of Central Asian rock glaciers to global warming |
title_fullStr |
Contrasting responses of Central Asian rock glaciers to global warming |
title_full_unstemmed |
Contrasting responses of Central Asian rock glaciers to global warming |
title_sort |
contrasting responses of central asian rock glaciers to global warming |
publisher |
Nature |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/98797 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000098797 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-37.011,-37.011,-54.496,-54.496) |
geographic |
Low Rock |
geographic_facet |
Low Rock |
genre |
permafrost Low Rock |
genre_facet |
permafrost Low Rock |
op_source |
Scientific Reports, 5 |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/srep08228 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000348903400001 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/98797 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000098797 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11850/9879710.3929/ethz-b-00009879710.1038/srep08228 |
_version_ |
1774722030244986880 |