Glacier elevation changes in the Karakoram Range derived from TanDEM-X and SRTM/X-SAR digital elevation models, 2000-2012, link to GeoTIFF
Snow cover and glaciers in the Karakoram region are important freshwater resources for many down-river communities as they provide water for irrigation and hydropower. A better understanding of current glacier changes is hence an important informational baseline. We present glacier elevation changes...
Main Authors: | , |
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Format: | Dataset |
Language: | English |
Published: |
PANGAEA
2016
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.873279 https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.873279 |
Summary: | Snow cover and glaciers in the Karakoram region are important freshwater resources for many down-river communities as they provide water for irrigation and hydropower. A better understanding of current glacier changes is hence an important informational baseline. We present glacier elevation changes in the central Karakoram region using TanDEM-X and SRTM/X-SAR DEM differences between 2000 and 2012. We calculated elevation differences for glaciers with advancing and stable termini or surge-type glaciers separately using an inventory from a previous study. Glaciers with stable and advancing termini since the 1970s showed nearly balanced elevation changes of -0.09 ± 0.12 m/a on average or mass budgets of -0.01 ± 0.02 Gt/a (using a density of 850 kg/m**3). Our findings are in accordance with previous studies indicating stable or only slightly negative glacier mass balances during recent years in the Karakoram. The high-resolution elevation changes revealed distinct patterns of mass relocation at glacier surfaces during active surge cycles. The formation of kinematic waves at quiescent surge-type glaciers could be observed and points towards future active surge behaviour. Our study reveals the potential of the TanDEM-X mission to estimate geodetic glacier mass balances, but also points to still existing uncertainties induced by the geodetic method. |
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