Abstract
Abstract. The Upper Indus River Basin (UIB) has developed the largest midlatitude mountain glaciers worldwide. Ice thickness and volume distribution are important prerequisites for glaciological and hydrological investigations. In this paper, we presented detailed estimates of ice thickness in UIB region. Using ground penetrating radar, we measured glacier ice thickness on six typical glaciers; we obtained the parameters of the GlabTOP2 from these measurements and analyzed its uncertainty. Using the verified GlabTOP2 model, we simulated glacier ice thickness and volume in UIB subcatchments. The simulated results indicated that the UIB glacier thickness distribution was not uniform, ranging from 0 to 488 m, with an average thickness of 78 m. Total volume was defined as 1269.70 km3 in 2000, which corresponded to 1142.73 km3 water volume. According to the calculated discharge data from the Besham hydrological station, the total glacier volume of UIB generally can supply water resources for the downstream area for at least 15 years. And the glacier surface elevations generally decreased from 2000 to 2016 in UIB subbasins, although there was significant spatial heterogeneity in the seven subcatchments. The annual glacier surface elevation change rate of the Hindu Kush area was the smallest, followed by that of the Karakoram. The greatest glacier elevation change rate was observed in the Western Himalaya, indicating rapid glacial melting.
Highlights
1.1 General InstructionsThe high mountains of Asia are home to the largest concentration of glaciers outside the polar regions
We found that when the value of τ was smaller and f was larger, GlabTOP2 underestimated the actual measured ice thickness
By comparing the ice bed morphology with these three selected schemes, we found that when τ equaled 120 kPa and f equaled 0.8, the measured GPR glacier bed orographic was much closer to the GlabTOP2 estimated results
Summary
1.1 General InstructionsThe high mountains of Asia are home to the largest concentration of glaciers outside the polar regions. Concurrent with global warming, comprehensive knowledge of glacier volume and its change is becoming a fundamental prerequisite for assessing the cryospheric contribution to sea-level rise (Radić et al, 2011), future glacier response to climate change (Cogley, 2012; Vaughan et al, 2013), and glacier resource management. This knowledge can assist in the development of protective measures against extreme water shortages on seasonal and longer timescales. The main objectives of this paper are to (1) present new measured data for glacier thickness obtained in 2016–2018 using the GPR technique; (2) compare the measured and simulated ice thickness and select optimal parameterization scheme; and (3) discuss the glacier surface elevation change in separated subcatchments and possible explanations
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