A long-term mass-balance reconstruction (1974–2021) and a decadal in situ mass-balance record (2011–2021) of Rikha Samba Glacier, central Himalaya
Despite their importance for regional water resource planning and as indicators of climate change, records of in situ glacier mass balance remain short and spatially sparse in the Himalaya. Here, we present an updated series of in situ mass-balance measurements from Rikha Samba Glacier, Nepal, betwe...
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Cambridge University Press
2022
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/529504/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/529504/1/a-long-term-mass-balance-reconstruction-19742021-and-a-decadal-in-situ-mass-balance-record-20112021-of-rikha-samba-glacier-central-himalaya.pdf https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-glaciology/article/longterm-massbalance-reconstruction-19742021-and-a-decadal-in-situ-massbalance-record-20112021-of-rikha-samba-glacier-central-himalaya/69F781E5DE0AF60C0FAECC172A8409AD |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:529504 2023-05-15T16:57:39+02:00 A long-term mass-balance reconstruction (1974–2021) and a decadal in situ mass-balance record (2011–2021) of Rikha Samba Glacier, central Himalaya Gurung, T.R. Kayastha, R.B. Fujita, K. Joshi, S.P. Sinisalo, A. Kirkham, J.D. 2022-11 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/529504/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/529504/1/a-long-term-mass-balance-reconstruction-19742021-and-a-decadal-in-situ-mass-balance-record-20112021-of-rikha-samba-glacier-central-himalaya.pdf https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-glaciology/article/longterm-massbalance-reconstruction-19742021-and-a-decadal-in-situ-massbalance-record-20112021-of-rikha-samba-glacier-central-himalaya/69F781E5DE0AF60C0FAECC172A8409AD en eng Cambridge University Press https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/529504/1/a-long-term-mass-balance-reconstruction-19742021-and-a-decadal-in-situ-mass-balance-record-20112021-of-rikha-samba-glacier-central-himalaya.pdf Gurung, T.R.; Kayastha, R.B.; Fujita, K.; Joshi, S.P.; Sinisalo, A.; Kirkham, J.D. orcid:0000-0002-0506-1625 . 2022 A long-term mass-balance reconstruction (1974–2021) and a decadal in situ mass-balance record (2011–2021) of Rikha Samba Glacier, central Himalaya. Journal of Glaciology, PII S0022143022000934. 14, pp. https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.93 <https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.93> cc_by_4 CC-BY Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.93 2023-02-04T19:51:42Z Despite their importance for regional water resource planning and as indicators of climate change, records of in situ glacier mass balance remain short and spatially sparse in the Himalaya. Here, we present an updated series of in situ mass-balance measurements from Rikha Samba Glacier, Nepal, between 2011 and 2021. The updated in situ mass balance is -0.39 +/- 0.32 m w.e. for this period. We use an energy-mass balance model to extend the annual mass-balance series back to 1974. The model is forced using daily meteorological variables from ERA5-Land reanalysis data that is linearly bias-corrected using observations from an automatic weather station situated near the glacier terminus. The modeled mass balance is consistent with the in situ mass-balance series measured 2011-2021 and with previous glaciological and geodetic estimates. The model results indicate a mass balance of -0.56 +/- 0.27 m w.e. a(-1) over the reconstruction period of 1974-2021, which is comparable to the mass losses experienced by other Himalayan glaciers during this time. An assessment of the sensitivity of the glacier mass balance to meteorological forcing suggests that a change in temperature of +/- 1 K has a stronger effect on the calculated mass balance compared to a +/- 20% change in either precipitation, or relative humidity, or solar radiation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Journal of Glaciology 1 14 |
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Open Polar |
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Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
Despite their importance for regional water resource planning and as indicators of climate change, records of in situ glacier mass balance remain short and spatially sparse in the Himalaya. Here, we present an updated series of in situ mass-balance measurements from Rikha Samba Glacier, Nepal, between 2011 and 2021. The updated in situ mass balance is -0.39 +/- 0.32 m w.e. for this period. We use an energy-mass balance model to extend the annual mass-balance series back to 1974. The model is forced using daily meteorological variables from ERA5-Land reanalysis data that is linearly bias-corrected using observations from an automatic weather station situated near the glacier terminus. The modeled mass balance is consistent with the in situ mass-balance series measured 2011-2021 and with previous glaciological and geodetic estimates. The model results indicate a mass balance of -0.56 +/- 0.27 m w.e. a(-1) over the reconstruction period of 1974-2021, which is comparable to the mass losses experienced by other Himalayan glaciers during this time. An assessment of the sensitivity of the glacier mass balance to meteorological forcing suggests that a change in temperature of +/- 1 K has a stronger effect on the calculated mass balance compared to a +/- 20% change in either precipitation, or relative humidity, or solar radiation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gurung, T.R. Kayastha, R.B. Fujita, K. Joshi, S.P. Sinisalo, A. Kirkham, J.D. |
spellingShingle |
Gurung, T.R. Kayastha, R.B. Fujita, K. Joshi, S.P. Sinisalo, A. Kirkham, J.D. A long-term mass-balance reconstruction (1974–2021) and a decadal in situ mass-balance record (2011–2021) of Rikha Samba Glacier, central Himalaya |
author_facet |
Gurung, T.R. Kayastha, R.B. Fujita, K. Joshi, S.P. Sinisalo, A. Kirkham, J.D. |
author_sort |
Gurung, T.R. |
title |
A long-term mass-balance reconstruction (1974–2021) and a decadal in situ mass-balance record (2011–2021) of Rikha Samba Glacier, central Himalaya |
title_short |
A long-term mass-balance reconstruction (1974–2021) and a decadal in situ mass-balance record (2011–2021) of Rikha Samba Glacier, central Himalaya |
title_full |
A long-term mass-balance reconstruction (1974–2021) and a decadal in situ mass-balance record (2011–2021) of Rikha Samba Glacier, central Himalaya |
title_fullStr |
A long-term mass-balance reconstruction (1974–2021) and a decadal in situ mass-balance record (2011–2021) of Rikha Samba Glacier, central Himalaya |
title_full_unstemmed |
A long-term mass-balance reconstruction (1974–2021) and a decadal in situ mass-balance record (2011–2021) of Rikha Samba Glacier, central Himalaya |
title_sort |
long-term mass-balance reconstruction (1974–2021) and a decadal in situ mass-balance record (2011–2021) of rikha samba glacier, central himalaya |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/529504/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/529504/1/a-long-term-mass-balance-reconstruction-19742021-and-a-decadal-in-situ-mass-balance-record-20112021-of-rikha-samba-glacier-central-himalaya.pdf https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-glaciology/article/longterm-massbalance-reconstruction-19742021-and-a-decadal-in-situ-massbalance-record-20112021-of-rikha-samba-glacier-central-himalaya/69F781E5DE0AF60C0FAECC172A8409AD |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/529504/1/a-long-term-mass-balance-reconstruction-19742021-and-a-decadal-in-situ-mass-balance-record-20112021-of-rikha-samba-glacier-central-himalaya.pdf Gurung, T.R.; Kayastha, R.B.; Fujita, K.; Joshi, S.P.; Sinisalo, A.; Kirkham, J.D. orcid:0000-0002-0506-1625 . 2022 A long-term mass-balance reconstruction (1974–2021) and a decadal in situ mass-balance record (2011–2021) of Rikha Samba Glacier, central Himalaya. Journal of Glaciology, PII S0022143022000934. 14, pp. https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.93 <https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.93> |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.93 |
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Journal of Glaciology |
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1766049225536176128 |