Climate change impacts on glaciers and runoff in Tien Shan (Central Asia)
Climate-driven changes in glacier-fed streamflow regimes have direct implications on freshwater supply, irrigation and hydropower potential. Reliable information about current and future glaciation and runoff is crucial for water allocation, a complex task in Central Asia, where the collapse of the...
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ftunivzuerich:oai:www.zora.uzh.ch:72076 2024-06-23T07:56:08+00:00 Climate change impacts on glaciers and runoff in Tien Shan (Central Asia) Sorg, Annina Bolch, Tobias Stoffel, Markus Solomina, Olga Beniston, Martin 2012 application/pdf https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/72076/ https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/72076/1/2012_BolchT_SorgAl12_ncc_ClimChaGlacRunoffTienShan_Kopie_.pdf https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-72076 https://doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE1592 eng eng Nature Publishing Group https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/72076/1/2012_BolchT_SorgAl12_ncc_ClimChaGlacRunoffTienShan_Kopie_.pdf doi:10.5167/uzh-72076 doi:10.1038/NCLIMATE1592 urn:issn:1758-678X info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Sorg, Annina; Bolch, Tobias; Stoffel, Markus; Solomina, Olga; Beniston, Martin (2012). Climate change impacts on glaciers and runoff in Tien Shan (Central Asia). Nature Climate Change, 2012(2):725-731. Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Journal Article PeerReviewed info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2012 ftunivzuerich https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-7207610.1038/NCLIMATE1592 2024-06-12T00:26:09Z Climate-driven changes in glacier-fed streamflow regimes have direct implications on freshwater supply, irrigation and hydropower potential. Reliable information about current and future glaciation and runoff is crucial for water allocation, a complex task in Central Asia, where the collapse of the Soviet Union has transformed previously interdependent republics into autonomous upstream and downstream countries. Although the impacts of climate change on glaciation and runoff have been addressed in previous work undertaken in the Tien Shan (known as the ‘water tower of Central Asia’), a coherent, regional perspective of these findings has not been presented until now. Here we show that glacier shrinkage is most pronounced in peripheral, lower-elevation ranges near the densely populated forelands, where summers are dry and where snow and glacial meltwater is essential for water availability. Shifts of seasonal runoff maxima have already been observed in some rivers, and it is suggested that summer runoff will further decrease in these rivers if precipitation and discharge from thawing permafrost bodies do not compensate sufficiently for water shortfalls. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost University of Zurich (UZH): ZORA (Zurich Open Repository and Archive |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Zurich (UZH): ZORA (Zurich Open Repository and Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivzuerich |
language |
English |
topic |
Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel |
spellingShingle |
Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Sorg, Annina Bolch, Tobias Stoffel, Markus Solomina, Olga Beniston, Martin Climate change impacts on glaciers and runoff in Tien Shan (Central Asia) |
topic_facet |
Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel |
description |
Climate-driven changes in glacier-fed streamflow regimes have direct implications on freshwater supply, irrigation and hydropower potential. Reliable information about current and future glaciation and runoff is crucial for water allocation, a complex task in Central Asia, where the collapse of the Soviet Union has transformed previously interdependent republics into autonomous upstream and downstream countries. Although the impacts of climate change on glaciation and runoff have been addressed in previous work undertaken in the Tien Shan (known as the ‘water tower of Central Asia’), a coherent, regional perspective of these findings has not been presented until now. Here we show that glacier shrinkage is most pronounced in peripheral, lower-elevation ranges near the densely populated forelands, where summers are dry and where snow and glacial meltwater is essential for water availability. Shifts of seasonal runoff maxima have already been observed in some rivers, and it is suggested that summer runoff will further decrease in these rivers if precipitation and discharge from thawing permafrost bodies do not compensate sufficiently for water shortfalls. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sorg, Annina Bolch, Tobias Stoffel, Markus Solomina, Olga Beniston, Martin |
author_facet |
Sorg, Annina Bolch, Tobias Stoffel, Markus Solomina, Olga Beniston, Martin |
author_sort |
Sorg, Annina |
title |
Climate change impacts on glaciers and runoff in Tien Shan (Central Asia) |
title_short |
Climate change impacts on glaciers and runoff in Tien Shan (Central Asia) |
title_full |
Climate change impacts on glaciers and runoff in Tien Shan (Central Asia) |
title_fullStr |
Climate change impacts on glaciers and runoff in Tien Shan (Central Asia) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate change impacts on glaciers and runoff in Tien Shan (Central Asia) |
title_sort |
climate change impacts on glaciers and runoff in tien shan (central asia) |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/72076/ https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/72076/1/2012_BolchT_SorgAl12_ncc_ClimChaGlacRunoffTienShan_Kopie_.pdf https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-72076 https://doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE1592 |
genre |
permafrost |
genre_facet |
permafrost |
op_source |
Sorg, Annina; Bolch, Tobias; Stoffel, Markus; Solomina, Olga; Beniston, Martin (2012). Climate change impacts on glaciers and runoff in Tien Shan (Central Asia). Nature Climate Change, 2012(2):725-731. |
op_relation |
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/72076/1/2012_BolchT_SorgAl12_ncc_ClimChaGlacRunoffTienShan_Kopie_.pdf doi:10.5167/uzh-72076 doi:10.1038/NCLIMATE1592 urn:issn:1758-678X |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-7207610.1038/NCLIMATE1592 |
_version_ |
1802649022614208512 |