Abstract
Abstract. Knowledge about the occurrence and characteristics of surge-type glaciers is crucial due to the impact of surging on glacier melt and glacier-related hazards. One of the super-clusters of surge-type glaciers is High Mountain Asia (HMA). However, no consistent region-wide inventory of surge-type glaciers in HMA exists. We present a regionally resolved inventory of surge-type glaciers based on their behaviour across High Mountain Asia between 2000 and 2018. We identify surge-type behaviour from surface velocity, elevation and feature change patterns using a multi-factor remote sensing approach that combines yearly ITS_LIVE velocity data, DEM differences and very-high-resolution imagery (Bing Maps, Google Earth). Out of the ≈95 000 glaciers in HMA, we identified 666 that show diagnostic surge-type glacier behaviour between 2000 and 2018, which are mainly found in the Karakoram (223) and the Pamir regions (223). The total area covered by the 666 surge-type glaciers represents 19.5 % of the glacierized area in Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) V6.0 polygons in HMA. Only 68 glaciers were already identified as “surge type” in the RGI V6.0. We further validate 107 glaciers previously labelled as “probably surge type” and newly identify 491 glaciers, not previously reported in other inventories covering HMA. We finally discuss the possibility of self-organized criticality in glacier surges. Across all regions of HMA, the surge-affected area within glacier complexes displays a significant power law dependency with glacier length.
Highlights
Glacier surges are internally triggered, quasi-periodic oscillations of a glacier’s dynamical behaviour, alternating between slow and fast flow (Meier and Post, 1969; Raymond, 1987; Sharp, 1988; Truffer et al, 2021)
Smaller clusters are located in the Tien Shan and the Kunlun Shan, whilst isolated and less numerous examples are found across the Tibetan Plateau and its peripheral mountain ranges (Table 1)
We presented a new inventory of surge-type glaciers for High Mountain Asia
Summary
Glacier surges are internally triggered, quasi-periodic oscillations of a glacier’s dynamical behaviour, alternating between slow and fast flow (Meier and Post, 1969; Raymond, 1987; Sharp, 1988; Truffer et al, 2021). Glacier surges can occur on both polythermal and temperate glaciers In the former case, the bed can oscillate between cold and warm states over the course of a surge cycle, whereas in the latter the bed remains warm throughout. These two cases have been used as the basis for a two-fold classification of surge-type glaciers (Svalbard type vs Alaskan type) with distinct instability mechanisms (thermal switch and hydrological switch, respectively) (Murray et al, 2003; Jiskoot et al, 2001). This binary view, reflects neither the wide diversity of surging behaviour (see Quincey et al, 2015, for example) nor the consistent associations between surging and climate, glacier geometry and substrate characteristics. Benn et al (2019) have argued that the full
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