Abstract
The inner Tibetan Plateau is a glacierized region where glaciers show heterogeneous change. The Xinqingfeng and Malan ice caps are located in this region, and a transition zone exists with shifting influences between the westerlies and Indian summer monsoon. However, there is a lack of detailed information regarding glacier area and mass changes in this region before 2000. In the present study, we describe an integrated view of the glacier area and its mass changes for Mt. Xinqingfeng and Mt. Malan as derived from topographic maps, Landsat, ASTER, SRTM DEM, and TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X from 1970 to 2012 and from 1970 to 2018, respectively. Our results show that the glaciers experienced a slight shrinkage in area by 0.09 ± 0.03% a−1 from 1970 to 2018 with a median mass loss rate of 0.22 ± 0.17 m w.e. a−1 and 0.29 ± 0.17 m w.e. a−1 between 1999 and 2012 at Mt. Xinqingfeng and Mt. Malan, respectively. The glaciers of Mt. Malan had a total mass loss of 0.19 ± 0.14 m w.e. a−1 during the period 1970–1999. A minimum of seven glaciers at Mt. Xinqingfeng and Mt. Malan showed heterogeneous variations with either surging or advancing during the observation period. Among them, the West Monuomaha Glacier, Monuomaha Glacier, and Zu Glacier were identified as surging glaciers, and the others may also be surging glaciers, although more evidence is required. These glaciers showed a long active period and low velocities. Therefore, we suggested that thermal controls are important for surge initiation and recession.
Highlights
Glaciers in the High Mountains Asia (HMA) region are the headwater sources for many rivers and lakes
Several studies have reported that glaciers at Kangzhag Ri and Purogangri experienced near stable mass (−0.04 ± 0.02 m w.e. a−1) and mass gain (+0.16 ± 0.02 m w.e. a−1) during 1999–2012, respectively [15,16]
Our results showed that the glaciers experienced a small shrinkage from 641.2 ± 7.7 km2 in 1970/71 to 613.9 ± 4.4 km2 in 2018, corresponding to an area shrinkage of 4.3 ± 1.4% (0.09 ± 0.03% a−1) from 1970 to 2018
Summary
Glaciers in the High Mountains Asia (HMA) region are the headwater sources for many rivers and lakes. According to glacier elevation changes and mass balance in the HMA (2000–2016) reported by Brun et al [2], glaciers located on the north side of 32◦N at the ITP showed a clear east-west direction difference, glaciers on the west side of 90◦E showed near stable or slight mass gain, and glaciers on the east side showed significant retreating and mass loss. Several studies have reported that glaciers at Kangzhag Ri and Purogangri experienced near stable mass (−0.04 ± 0.02 m w.e. a−1) and mass gain (+0.16 ± 0.02 m w.e. a−1) during 1999–2012, respectively [15,16]. We used topographic maps, Landsat, ASTER, SRTM DEM, and TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X images to assess the glacier area and mass changes since 1970 for Mt. Xinqingfeng and Mt. Malan in the ITP. The study aimed to fill the knowledge gap of detailed studies in this region and to provide information on the glacier change anomalies, such as advancing and surging
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