High Mountain Asia Research Articles

High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability

High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability

Deciphering the Role of Aerosol‐Induced Snow Albedo Feedback on Dust Emission Over the Tibetan Plateau

AbstractThe aerosol‐induced snow albedo effect (SAE) and its feedback on the dust emission over the Tibetan Plateau are investigated using the regional climate model (RegCM4.6) coupled with the SNow, ICe, and Aerosol Radiative model. The deposition of absorbing aerosols (black carbon and dust) decreases the albedo of snow over the Himalayan‐Tibetan region, which results in significant surface warming of 1–4 K. This aerosol‐induced surface warming and accelerated snow melting decreased fractional snow cover by 8% and number of snow cover days by 20 days over the region. Compared to the control simulation, this early and more exposure of nonvegetated land resulted in the increase of the dust emission flux by 60% over central Tibet and therefore the columnar dust loading by 10%–40%. This effect alone results in a surface cooling of −4 Wm−2 and also increases the occurrence of dust events by 10%–20%. Therefore, the snow darkening effect due to the deposition of black carbon and dust increases the local emission of dust aerosols, which further increases the aerosol‐induced snow melting and thus perturbs the air quality and radiation balance over the high mountains of Asia.

Reconstructed Centennial Mass Balance Change for Golubin Glacier, Northern Tien Shan

Mass balance measurements for Golubin glacier in Northern Tien Shan, Kyrgyzstan, have been discontinuous over the last century, with significant data gaps. We provide a unique over 100-year-long mass balance series on daily resolution. We applied a temperature index model calibrated with glaciological measurements and validated with secular mass balances derived from independent length change observations. A comparison with other recent geodetic studies reveals good agreement. Golubin lost −0.16 ± 0.45 m w.e. a−1 from 1900/1901 to 2020/2021. From the long-term mass balance time series, we identify a shift to a more negative/less positive regime with time, with a steepening of the ablation and accumulation gradients, especially for the past two decades. We observe a parallel shift of the mass balance gradient accompanied by a rotation of the ablation gradient due to increased ablation at the glacier tongue and accumulation above the equilibrium line altitude. This tendency is believed to intensify in the future, affecting glaciers’ mass balance sensitivity to changes in atmospheric conditions and year-to-year variability and resulting in irregular melt water release feeding the rivers that provide water to Bishkek. These kinds of datasets are sparse for Tien Shan and, yet, indispensable to enhancing our understanding of glacier changes in High Mountain Asia.

A twenty-years remote sensing study reveals changes to alpine pastures under asymmetric climate warming

Meteorological records over the past five decades have shown that climate warming has been faster during the nighttime than during the daytime. However, the responses of vegetation development to asymmetric warming are not well understood due to the misinterpretation of phenology that have resulted from the snowmelt effect. We applied normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) sources from Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS:1982–2015) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS: 2000–2020) to reveal maximum greenness in high-mountain Asia (HMA). The snow-free normalized difference phenology index (NDPI), which is a 3-band vegetation index that designed to best contrast vegetation from soil and snow, was applied for estimating the start of the growing season (SOS). We found that alpine pastures in HMA generally became greener and the SOS was delayed. Preseason daytime temperatures (Tday) and nighttime temperatures (Tnight) had opposite effects on maximum greenness, with Tday being negative and Tnight being positive. The responses of SOS to Tday and Tnight were highly related with the frequency of meteorological drought events during 2000–2020. In regions with lower frequency of drought events, both daytime and nighttime warming could advance SOS. In regions with higher frequency of drought events, daytime warming could delay SOS, but nighttime warming could advance SOS. The results of our study are of great significance to understand the responses of alpine ecosystems to asymmetric climate warming. Such an understanding is quite valuable for pasture management and future vegetation climate projections.

Changes in equilibrium-line altitude and implications for glacier evolution in the Asian high mountains in the 21st century

Changes in equilibrium-line altitude and implications for glacier evolution in the Asian high mountains in the 21st century

Editorial: Lake Changes, Drivers and Consequences in High Mountain Asia

Editorial: Lake Changes, Drivers and Consequences in High Mountain Asia

Source apportionment and elevational gradient of dissolved organic matter over the Tibetan plateau

Our understanding of water-soluble organic constituents and their transformation in the unique aqueous continuum over cryosphere region is scarce. Here, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), and dissolved total nitrogen (DTN) and water-soluble inorganic ions in multiple water bodies from the eastern Tibetan Plateau (TP) cryosphere are systematically determined from a suite of field campaigns, laboratory experiments, linear regression analysis, and multiple comparisons, etc. We found that the water bodies located at high elevation have much lower DOC contents compared to the samples at lower elevation, there has significant altitude dependence of DOC abundance in water bodies over the study area (elevation range: 1971–4700 m asl). Comparison of optical properties, source apportionment, chemical analysis and model simulation of the water bodies provide evidence that the atmospheric deposition of organic species in high mountains is transported to plateau lakes in the northeast of TP via alpine runoff (45%) and snow/ice meltwater (20%). Further, dominance of anthropogenic activities in lower elevations can contribute (35%) to the observed altitudinal dependency. Thus, this preliminary study represents the first systematic investigation of the transport and cycling of organic carbonaceous matter and nitrogenous matter in eastern TP and warrants more robust in-situ observations and measurements in future in High Mountains of Asia.

Automated Glacier Snow Line Altitude Calculation Method Using Landsat Series Images in the Google Earth Engine Platform

Glacier snow line altitude (SLA) at the end of the ablation season is an indicator of the equilibrium line altitude (ELA), which is a key parameter for calculating and assessing glacier mass balance. Here, we present an automated algorithm to classify bare ice and snow cover on glaciers using Landsat series images and calculate the minimum annual glacier snow cover ratio (SCR) and maximum SLA for reference glaciers during the 1985–2020 period in Google Earth Engine. The calculated SCR and SLA values are verified using the observed glacier accumulation area ratio (AAR) and ELA. We select 14 reference glaciers from High Mountain Asia (HMA), the Caucasus, the Alps, and Western Canada, which represent four mountainous regions with extensive glacial development in the northern hemisphere. The SLA accuracy is ~73%, with a mean uncertainty of ±24 m, for 13 of the reference glaciers. Eight of these glaciers yield R2 > 0.5, and the other five glaciers yield R2 > 0.3 for their respective SCR–AAR relationships. Furthermore, 10 of these glaciers yield R2 > 0.5 and the other three glaciers yield R2 > 0.3 for their respective SLA–ELA relationships, which indicate that the calculated SLA from this algorithm provides a good fit to the ELA observations. However, Careser Glacier yields a poor fit between the SLA calculations and ELA observations owing to tremendous surface area changes during the analyzed time series; this indicates that glacier surface shape changes due to intense ablation will lead to a misclassification of the glacier surface, resulting in deviations between the SLA and ELA. Furthermore, cloud cover, shadows, and the Otsu method limitation will further affect the SLA calculation. The post-2000 SLA values are better than those obtained before 2000 because merging the Landsat series images reduces the temporal resolution, which allows the date of the calculated SLA to be closer to the date of the observed ELA. From a regional perspective, the glaciers in the Caucasus, HMA and the Alps yield better results than those in Western Canada. This algorithm can be applied to large regions, such as HMA, to obtain snow line estimates where manual approaches are exhaustive and/or unfeasible. Furthermore, new optical data, such as that from Sentinel-2, can be incorporated to further improve the algorithm results.

Controls on the relative melt rates of debris-covered glacier surfaces

Supraglacial debris covers 7% of mountain glacier area globally and generally reduces glacier surface melt. Enhanced energy absorption at ice cliffs and supraglacial ponds scattered across the debris surface leads these features to contribute disproportionately to glacier-wide ablation. However, the degree to which cliffs and ponds actually increase melt rates remains unclear, as these features have only been studied in a detailed manner for selected locations, almost exclusively in High Mountain Asia. In this study we model the surface energy balance for debris-covered ice, ice cliffs, and supraglacial ponds with a set of automatic weather station records representing the global prevalence of debris-covered glacier ice. We generate 5000 random sets of values for physical parameters using probability distributions derived from literature, which we use to investigate relative melt rates and to isolate the melt responses of debris, cliffs and ponds to the site-specific meteorological forcing. Modelled sub-debris melt rates are primarily controlled by debris thickness and thermal conductivity. At a reference thickness of 0.1 m, sub-debris melt rates vary considerably, differing by up to a factor of four between sites, mainly attributable to air temperature differences. We find that melt rates for ice cliffs are consistently 2–3× the melt rate for clean glacier ice, but this melt enhancement decays with increasing clean ice melt rates. Energy absorption at supraglacial ponds is dominated by latent heat exchange and is therefore highly sensitive to wind speed and relative humidity, but is generally less than for clean ice. Our results provide reference melt enhancement factors for melt modelling of debris-covered glacier sites, globally, while highlighting the need for direct measurement of debris-covered glacier surface characteristics, physical parameters, and local meteorological conditions at a variety of sites around the world.

Seasonality and Variability of Snowfall to Total Precipitation Ratio over High Mountain Asia Simulated by the GFDL High-Resolution AM4

Abstract The ratio of snowfall to total precipitation (S/P ratio) is an important metric that is widely used to detect and monitor hydrologic responses to climate change over mountainous areas. Changes in the S/P ratio over time have proved to be reliable indicators of climatic warming. In this study, the seasonality and interannual variability of monthly S/P ratios over High Mountain Asia (HMA) have been examined during the period 1950-2014 based on a three-member ensemble of simulations using the latest GFDL AM4 model. The results show a significant decreasing trend in S/P ratios during the analysis period, which is mainly resulted from reductions in snowfall with increases in total precipitation playing a secondary role. Significant regime shifts in S/P ratios are detected around the mid-1990s, with rainfall becoming the dominant form of precipitation over HMA after the change points. Attribution analysis demonstrates that increases in rainfall during recent decades were primarily caused by a transformation of snowfall to rainfall as temperature warmed. A logistic equation is used to explore the relationship between the S/P ratio and surface temperature, allowing calculation of a threshold temperature at which the S/P ratio equals 50% (i.e., precipitation is equally likely to take the form of rainfall or snowfall). These temperature thresholds are higher over higher elevations. This study provides an extensive evaluation of simulated S/P ratios over the HMA that helps clarify the seasonality and interannual variability of this metric over the past several decades. The results have important socioeconomic and environmental implications, particularly with respect to water management in Asia under climate change.

Modelling supraglacial debris-cover evolution from the single-glacier to the regional scale: an application to High Mountain Asia

Abstract. Currently, about 12 %–13 % of High Mountain Asia’s glacier area is debris-covered, which alters its surface mass balance. However, in regional-scale modelling approaches, debris-covered glaciers are typically treated as clean-ice glaciers, leading to a bias when modelling their future evolution. Here, we present a new approach for modelling debris area and thickness evolution, applicable from single glaciers to the global scale. We derive a parameterization and implement it as a module into the Global Glacier Evolution Model (GloGEMflow), a combined mass-balance ice-flow model. The module is initialized with both glacier-specific observations of the debris' spatial distribution and estimates of debris thickness. These data sets account for the fact that debris can either enhance or reduce surface melt depending on thickness. Our model approach also enables representing the spatiotemporal evolution of debris extent and thickness. We calibrate and evaluate the module on a selected subset of glaciers and apply GloGEMflow using different climate scenarios to project the future evolution of all glaciers in High Mountain Asia until 2100. Explicitly accounting for debris cover has only a minor effect on the projected mass loss, which is in line with previous projections. Despite this small effect, we argue that the improved process representation is of added value when aiming at capturing intra-glacier scales, i.e. spatial mass-balance distribution. Depending on the climate scenario, the mean debris-cover fraction is expected to increase, while mean debris thickness is projected to show only minor changes, although large local thickening is expected. To isolate the influence of explicitly accounting for supraglacial debris cover, we re-compute glacier evolution without the debris-cover module. We show that glacier geometry, area, volume, and flow velocity evolve differently, especially at the level of individual glaciers. This highlights the importance of accounting for debris cover and its spatiotemporal evolution when projecting future glacier changes.

Westerlies effect in Holocene paleoclimate records from the central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Our knowledge of the influence of the Westerlies on the hydroclimate of High Mountain Asia during the Holocene, especially during the mid-Holocene, remains poorly understood, limiting our understanding of the controlling mechanisms of past climate change in this region. Assessing the impact of the westerly winds has proven to be a challenge due to a lack of direct indicators. In this study, we summarize the influence of the Westerlies reflected in Holocene paleoclimate records from the central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (CQTP). This is the transitional zone of atmospheric circulation where the climate is drier under the influence of westerly winds than under monsoonal influences. We identify two types of “Westerlies effect”, emerging at 13–11 ka (I) and 7–2 ka (II), and then assess potential circulation mechanisms by examining circulation indices and developing a Westerlies effect index (WEI) in combination with modern observations of precipitation stable isotopes. The WEI integrates signals of two independent environmental indicators, leaf wax δD from Linggo Co and median grain size from Chibuzhang Co. We observe two types of Westerlies effects: Type I prevailed in the Late Glacial, and Type II occurred under the cool conditions of the mid- to late Holocene (7.0–4.5 ka and 3.5–2.0 ka on the CQTP). During the times of Type II Westerlies effects, circulation affecting regional atmospheric precipitation appears to have shifted from being dominated by the South Asian Summer Monsoon (SASM) to a monsoon-westerly transition state with relatively lower total effective moisture. However, compared with the driest periods (e.g. the Younger Dryas), the westerly jets still brought considerable precipitation, especially in non-monsoon seasons, and even helped to maintain moderate lake water levels. The asynchronous relationship between lake levels (water balance) and atmospheric circulation patterns since ~2.0 ka indicates that air mass source (marine and continental) and trajectory can influence rates of water recycling and/or re-evaporation. This study sheds light on the hydrological processes and environmental dynamics associated with the interplay between the westerly winds and the monsoons on the QTP and indicates that at times during the Holocene the Westerlies played a more prominently role in delivering moisture to the region (especially the transitional zone) than was previously thought.

Trends in land surface temperature and its drivers over the High Mountain Asia

The present study estimates spatial and temporal (seasonal/annual) trends in daytime land surface temperature (LST) and its drivers (elevation, cloud fraction (CF), atmospheric water vapor (AWV), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and snow cover area (SCA)) over the High Mountain Asia (HMA) during 2001–2019 using MODIS remote sensing data. The findings of the study showed mixed trends in LST in the region with intra-regional variations. Overall, the warming in the region is attributed to increasing AWV and NDVI and declining CF and SCA. The study also found evidence of elevation-dependent warming (EDW) (4500–5500 m AMSL) in some regions. However, the same conclusion cannot be drawn in all the sub-regions of HMA, suggesting the need to explore the effects of additional natural and anthropogenic factors on LST with fine resolution data to improve the understanding of its spatio-temporal dynamics.

Understanding monsoon controls on the energy and mass balance of glaciers in the Central and Eastern Himalaya

Abstract. The Indian and East Asian summer monsoons shape the melt and accumulation patterns of glaciers in High Mountain Asia in complex ways due to the interaction of persistent cloud cover, large temperature ranges, high atmospheric water content and high precipitation rates. Glacier energy- and mass-balance modelling using in situ measurements offers insights into the ways in which surface processes are shaped by climatic regimes. In this study, we use a full energy- and mass-balance model and seven on-glacier automatic weather station datasets from different parts of the Central and Eastern Himalaya to investigate how monsoon conditions influence the glacier surface energy and mass balance. In particular, we look at how debris-covered and debris-free glaciers respond differently to monsoonal conditions. The radiation budget primarily controls the melt of clean-ice glaciers, but turbulent fluxes play an important role in modulating the melt energy on debris-covered glaciers. The sensible heat flux decreases during core monsoon, but the latent heat flux cools the surface due to evaporation of liquid water. This interplay of radiative and turbulent fluxes causes debris-covered glacier melt rates to stay almost constant through the different phases of the monsoon. Ice melt under thin debris, on the other hand, is amplified by both the dark surface and the turbulent fluxes, which intensify melt during monsoon through surface heating and condensation. Pre-monsoon snow cover can considerably delay melt onset and have a strong impact on the seasonal mass balance. Intermittent monsoon snow cover lowers the melt rates at high elevation. This work is fundamental to the understanding of the present and future Himalayan cryosphere and water budget, while informing and motivating further glacier- and catchment-scale research using process-based models.

Imminent threat of rock-ice avalanches in High Mountain Asia

Upsurge of glacier-related hazards in High Mountain Asia (HMA) has been evident in recent years due to global warming. While many glacial-related hazards are instantaneous, some large landslides were preceded by slow gravitational deformation, which can be predicted to evade catastrophes. Here, we present robust evidence of historical deformation in 2021 Chamoli rock-ice avalanche of Himalaya using space imaging techniques. Multi-temporal satellite data provide evidence of a precursor event in 2016 and expansion of a linear fracture along joint planes, indicating 2021 rock-ice avalanche is a retrogressive wedge failure. The deformation history shows that the fracture propagated at a velocity of ~0.07 m day−1 until September 2020, and with an accelerated velocity (~0.14 m day−1 on average) lately. Analysis of recent similar cases in HMA supported our inference on global warming-induced glacier retreat and thermomechanical effects in enhancing the weakening of fractured rock masses in tectonically active mountain belts. Recent advances in Earth observation and seismic monitoring system can offer clues to the location and timing of impending catastrophic failures in high mountain regions.

An Assessment of Glacier Inventories for the Third Pole Region

A glacier inventory contains data that are important for understanding the hydrology, water resources, and impacts of climate change in glaciated regions. Ten glacier inventories have been created for the Third Pole Region (TPR) or high-mountain Asia, but they vary largely in spatial coverage area and data quality. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the data quality to help potential users choose the right glacier inventories for their research. Using the analytical hierarchy process, this study selects eight assessment factors and quantifies the quality of eight glacier inventories of the TPR. The eight glacier inventories that we assessed are the Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI), the Glacier Area Mapping for Discharge in Asian Mountains (GGI18), the Second Chinese Glacier Inventory (CGI-2), the Glacier Inventory of the Hindu Kush–Himalayan Region (HKHGI), the Glacier Inventory for the Western Himalayas (WHGI), the Glacier Inventory for the Karakoram and Pamir Region (KPGI), the Second Glacier Inventory of Pakistan (PGI-2) and the Glacier Inventory for the Southeastern Tibetan Plateau (SETPGI). The assessment results indicate that the overall quality of the small-scale glacier inventories of WHGI, KPGI, PGI-2, and SETPGI is higher than that of the large-scale inventories of RGI, GGI18, CGI-2, and HKHGI. For the large-scale inventories, the quality-ranking order from high to low is CGI-2, GGI18, RGI, and HKHGI. However, the comprehensive quality of CGI-2 and GGI18 is comparable over the area covered by CGI-2. The comprehensive quality of CGI-2, GGI18, and RGI exhibits clear spatial differences. Overall, the data quality is higher for the inner TPR than for the surrounding areas. By merging the products of the eight glacier inventories, a new glacier inventory product of the best comprehensive quality was derived for the entire TPR. This new product resembles the spatial distribution of the best-quality glacier inventories of the regions where the different products overlap. In terms of specific regions, the CGI-2 and GGI18 are the best products for most parts of the TPR in China, except for an area of southeastern Tibet where the highest-quality data are from the SETPGI. The other main distributions of the best products are the WHGI for the western Himalayas, the GGI18 and HKHGI for the Hindu Kush and the middle and eastern Himalayas, the PGI-2 for Pakistan, the KPGI for the Karakorum–Pamir area, and the GGI18 and CGI-2 for the Tianshan Mountains. The new data product greatly promotes the quality of a single glacier inventory for the entire TPR. This database will meet the needs of a variety of potential researchers, including those who prefer to get information for a particular parameter from a single glacier inventory (http://data.tpdc.ac.cn/en/data).

Evolution of geodetic mass balance over the largest lake-terminating glacier in the Tibetan Plateau with a revised radar penetration depth based on multi-source high-resolution satellite data

The southeast Tibetan Plateau has become the region with the fastest rate of mass loss within High Mountain Asia (HMA), and the mass loss from lake-terminating glaciers in the region is the most significant. However, the evolution of the mass change of lake-terminating glaciers is still unclear, and accurate penetration depth estimates of C-band and X-band radar in glacierized areas are unknown, which greatly hinders the monitoring and understanding of the glacier evolution. Hence, in this study, taking the largest lake-terminating glacier in HMA (the Yanong Glacier) as the study object, we first evaluated the X-band penetration depth using Pléiades and TanDEM-X data, and further combined the penetration depth difference between the C-band and X-band radar (1.14 ± 0.14 m) to estimate the C-band penetration depth based on a newly proposed area-weighted strategy, according to surface categories. The results indicate a region-wide average penetration depth of 1.84 ± 0.59 m and 2.98 ± 0.61 m for the X-band and C-band radar, respectively, demonstrating either an underestimation of 60% or an overestimation of 202% for the previous C-band penetration corrections. On this basis, we determined the multi-temporal glacier mass balance for the Yanong Glacier, using KH-9, SRTM DEM, SPOT-7, and multi-orbit TanDEM-X data. The results show that the Yanong Glacier has been in a state of serious mass loss (at a rate of −0.73 ± 0.13 m w.e./a) during 1974–2015, and the rate of mass loss has doubled since 2000 (i.e., −0.48 ± 0.20 (1974–2000), −0.95 ± 0.20 (2000−2012), and − 1.02 ± 0.53 m w.e./a (2012–2015)). Moreover, the inter-annual mass change has shown a highly volatile and accelerating trend during 2012–2015 (i.e., −0.47 ± 0.85 (2011−2012), −0.87 ± 0.66 (2012−2013), −1.26 ± 0.72 (2013–2014), and − 1.58 ± 0.44 m w.e./a (2014–2015)). By further analyzing the ERA5 reanalysis data and the changes in the proglacial lake and glacier dynamics, we can conclude that, qualitatively: 1) the long-term acceleration of mass loss at the Yanong Glacier has mainly been controlled by climate change, but has also been affected by the glacier dynamics to a limited extent; and 2) the inter-annual acceleration of mass loss has, to some extent, been affected by subglacial/englacial melting. The findings of this study will not only provide an accurate penetration depth correction for future relevant studies, but will also significantly improve the understanding of the evolution of lake-terminating glaciers in HMA and other high mountain areas of the world.

Evaluation of High Mountain Asia‐Land Data Assimilation System (Version 1) From 2003 to 2016: 2. The Impact of Assimilating Satellite‐Based Snow Cover and Freeze/Thaw Observations Into a Land Surface Model

AbstractThis second paper of the two‐part series focuses on demonstrating the impact of assimilating satellite‐based snow cover and freeze/thaw observations into the hyper‐resolution, offline terrestrial modeling system used for the High Mountain Asia (HMA) region from 2003 to 2016. To this end, this study systematically evaluates a total of six sets of 0.01° (∼1 km) model simulations forced by different precipitation forcings, with and without the dual assimilation scheme enabled, at point‐scale, basin‐scale, and domain‐scale. The key variables of interest include surface net shortwave radiation, surface net longwave radiation, skin temperature, near‐surface soil temperature, snow depth, snow water equivalent (SWE), and total runoff. First, the point‐scale assessment is mainly conducted via evaluating against ground‐based measurements. In general, the assimilation enabled estimates are better than no‐assimilation counterparts. Second, the basin‐scale runoff assessment demonstrates that across three snow‐dominated basins, the assimilation enabled experiment yields systematic improvements in all goodness‐of‐fit statistics through mitigating the negative effects brought by the fixed long‐term precipitation correction factors. For example, when forced by the bias‐corrected precipitation, the assimilation‐enabled experiment improves the bias by 69%, the root‐mean‐squared error by 30%, and the unbiased root‐mean‐squared error by 18% (relative to the no‐assimilation counterpart). Finally, the domain‐scale assessment is conducted via evaluating against satellite‐based SWE and skin temperature products. Both sets of domain‐scale analysis further corroborate the findings in the point‐scale evaluations. Overall, this study suggests the benefits of the proposed multi‐variate assimilation system in improving the cryospheric‐hydrological process within a land surface model for use in HMA.

Spatial variability between glacier mass balance and environmental factors in the High Mountain Asia

Spatial variability between glacier mass balance and environmental factors in the High Mountain Asia

Inter- and Intra-Annual Glacier Elevation Change in High Mountain Asia Region Based on ICESat-1&2 Data Using Elevation-Aspect Bin Analysis Method

Glaciers are sensitive indicators of climate change and have a significant influence on regional water cycle, human survival and social development. Global warming has led to great changes in glaciers over the High Mountain Asia (HMA) region. Glacier elevation change is a measure of glacier mass balance driven by the processes of energy and mass exchange between the glacier surface and the atmosphere which are influenced by climatic factors and glacier surface properties. In this study, we estimated the inter-annual and intra-annual elevation changes of glaciers in the HMA region in 2003–2020 using Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) data and Shuttle Radar Terrain Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model (DEM) data by developing an “elevation-aspect bin analysis method” that considered the difference of glacier elevation changes in different elevations and aspects of glacier topography. The results showed that: (1) The inter-annual change of glacier elevation in 2003–2020 had large spatial heterogeneity. Glacier elevation reduction mainly occurred in the marginal region of the HMA with the maximum decline in the Nyainqentanglha region, while glacier elevation showed increase in the West Kunlun of inner HMA regions in 2003–2020. The glacier elevation change rate showed an accelerating reduction trend in most of the HMA regions, except in the west HMA where the glacier elevation reduction rate showed slowdown tendency. Specifically, the glacier elevation change rate in the entire HMA was −0.21 ± 0.12 m/year in 2003–2008 and −0.26 ± 0.11 m/year in 2003–2020, respectively. (2) The intra-annual change of HMA glacier elevation in 2019 and 2020 showed obvious spatiotemporal heterogeneity, and the glacier thickening period was gradually delayed from the marginal area to the inner area of the HMA. The glaciers in the western marginal part of the HMA (the Tienshan Mountains, Pamir and Hindu Kush and Spiti Lahaul) and Karakoram thickened in winter or spring, the glaciers in the Nyainqentanglha Mountains exhibited spring accumulation. The glaciers in West Kunlun accumulated in two time periods, i.e., from March to June and from July to September. The glaciers in the Inner Tibetan Plateau and Bhutan and Nepal areas experienced spring or summer accumulation, especially in June or July. Moreover, we found that the inter-annual and intra-annual change of glacier elevation could be explained by the changes in temperature and precipitation. A similar analysis can be extended to mountain glaciers in other regions of the world, and glacier change trends could be further explored over a longer time span with the continuous operation of ICESat-2.