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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ftunivgeneve:oai:unige.ch:aou:unige:121775 2023-10-01T03:58:53+02:00 Contrasting responses of Central Asian rock glaciers to global warming Sorg, Annina Kääb, Andreas Roesch, Andrea Bigler, Christof Stoffel, Markus 2015 https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:121775 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/srep08228 https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:121775 unige:121775 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess ISSN: 2045-2322 Scientific Reports, vol. 5, no. 8228 (2015) info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/333.7-333.9 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Text Article scientifique info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2015 ftunivgeneve https://doi.org/10.1038/srep08228 2023-09-07T07:51:46Z 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Low Rock Université de Genève: Archive ouverte UNIGE Low Rock ENVELOPE(-37.011,-37.011,-54.496,-54.496) Scientific Reports 5 1 |
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Université de Genève: Archive ouverte UNIGE |
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ftunivgeneve |
language |
English |
topic |
info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/333.7-333.9 |
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info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/333.7-333.9 Sorg, Annina Kääb, Andreas Roesch, Andrea Bigler, Christof Stoffel, Markus Contrasting responses of Central Asian rock glaciers to global warming |
topic_facet |
info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/333.7-333.9 |
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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sorg, Annina Kääb, Andreas Roesch, Andrea Bigler, Christof Stoffel, Markus |
author_facet |
Sorg, Annina Kääb, Andreas Roesch, Andrea Bigler, Christof 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 |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:121775 |
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 |
ISSN: 2045-2322 Scientific Reports, vol. 5, no. 8228 (2015) |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/srep08228 https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:121775 unige:121775 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/srep08228 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
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5 |
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1 |
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1778532121858539520 |