The response of glaciers and glacial lakes to climate change in the Southeastern Tibetan Plateau over the past three decades

Abstract

AbstractWith global warming, changes in glaciers and glacial lakes on the Tibetan Plateau call for a serious inspection. The Southeastern Tibetan Plateau (SETP) is a typical monsoonal marine glacier area that is extremely vulnerable to climate change. It is affected by both humid and warm Indian Ocean currents. Outlines of glaciers and glacial lakes in SETP have been extracted from Landsat satellite images with an automatic extraction method based on image compositing with Google Earth Engine and Random Forest algorithm. Alongside the outlines, meteorological data have been collected from 1990 to 2021. The results show that since 1990 the glacier area of SETP has retreated by about 2165.33 km2 (~25.28%), the glacial lake area has increased by about 36.41 km2 (~21.45%), and their number has increased by 477 (~27.32%). The reliability and scientific validity of this study is proven by comparison with existing glacier inventories. By analyzing the meteorological data, the inverse correlation between the glacier area and temperature has been found. Despite decreases in cumulative precipitation, the glacial lake level rise and consequent area expansion have been observed. A fitting equation for the response pattern of glacier changes to temperature and precipitation change is presented and will provide a basis for future studies.