Abstract
Change in glacier area in the Kuksu and Kunes river basins, which are tributaries to the internationally important Ile River, were assessed at two different time steps between 1962/63, 1990/93, and 2010/12. Overall, glaciers lost 191.3 ± 16.8 km2 or 36.9 ± 6.5% of the initial area. Glacier wastage intensified in the latter period: While in 1962/63–1990/93 glaciers were losing 0.5% a−1, in 1990/93–2010/12, they were losing 1.2% a−1. Streamflow of the Ile River and its tributaries do not exhibit statistically significant change during the vegetative period between May and September. Positive trends were observed in the Ile flow in autumn, winter, and early spring. By contrast, the calculation of the total runoff from the glacier surface (including snow and ice melt) using temperature-index method and runoff forming due to melting of multiyear ice estimated from changes in glacier volume at different time steps between the 1960s and 2010s, showed that their absolute values and their contribution to total river runoff declined since the 1980s. This change is attributed to a strong reduction in glacier area.
Highlights
Water security is one of the major problems in Central Asia
In other regions of the Chinese sector of the Ile River Basin (C-IRB), annual precipitation decreases to 200 mm, and the same annual totals are observed in the Ile Depression near the Kazakhstan border (Figure 2)
The FCGI and Second Chinese Glacier Inventory (SCGI) data were derived from the GLIMS database [48]
Summary
Water security is one of the major problems in Central Asia. Most rivers start in the glacierized Tien. Streamflow draws water from liquid precipitation and from melting of seasonal snow, glacier, and ground ice. Changes in the contribution of the melting glacier ice can be masked by variability in precipitation [2]. Two glacier inventories were conducted in the Chinese sector of the Ile basin, our knowledge of glacier change in this region is less detailed than in other regions of Central. There was no evaluation of changes in the rates of glacier area and volume reduction at different time steps since the 1960s, or contribution of glacial melt water into the streamflow. The term ‘glacier ice runoff’ refers to runoff generated by melting glacier ice
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