Abstract

AbstractSnow 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-1 on average or mass budgets of -0.01 ±0.02Gt a-1 (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.

Highlights

  • The Karakoram is known for a large number of surge-type glaciers (Hewitt, 1998; Copland and others, 2011; Rankl and others, 2014)

  • We have shown glacier elevation differences between 2000 and 2012 for parts of the central Karakoram range using the geodetic method based on TanDEM-X and X-Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) digital elevation models (DEMs)

  • We have demonstrated the suitability of the bistatic TanDEM-X Mission to study glacier volume changes of larger regions and consider individual glacier catchments

Read more

Summary

Introduction

The Karakoram is known for a large number of surge-type glaciers (Hewitt, 1998; Copland and others, 2011; Rankl and others, 2014). The mean error in the elevation differences was estimated over non-glaciated ground assuming that these areas did not change in height between 2000 and 2012 and that elevations should be equal in both the X-SRTM and TanDEM-X DEMs (Fig. S3 (http://igsoc.org/hyperlink/ 71a024_supp.pdf)).

Results
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call