Northwestern Tibetan Plateau Research Articles

Temperature Trends in the Northwestern Tibetan Plateau Constrained by Ice Core Water Isotopes Over the Past 7,000 Years

AbstractThe reasons for the Holocene temperature conundrum, known as the inconsistency between the reconstructed cooling and the inferred warming simulations during the Holocene, remain unclear. Temperature reconstructions from the Tibetan Plateau (TP) provide important insights for understanding the Holocene temperature conundrum due to enhanced sensitivity to climate at high altitudes. Given the significant positive correlation between air temperature and δ18O in precipitation over the northern TP, the stable isotopic records of ice cores recovered from this area are widely used for paleotemperature reconstruction. Here we present a new high‐resolution δ18O record from the Chongce ice cores to bedrock, dated back to 7 ka BP by the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dating technique. Our reconstructed temperature record shows a long‐term warming trend until ~2 ka BP, followed by an abrupt change to a relatively cool period until the start of the industrial‐era warming. This record challenges the widely recognized Holocene reconstruction from the neighboring Guliya ice core. It is also different from many previous temperature reconstructions, most of which have summer biases and show a long‐term cooling trend over the past two millennia. In addition, our record shows that temperatures during the recent decades are almost the highest during the past 7 ka BP, highlighting the unusual warming forced by anthropogenic greenhouse gases.

Recent Abnormal Hydrologic Behavior of Tibetan Lakes Observed by Multi-Mission Altimeters

Inland lakes in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) with closed catchments and minimal human disturbance are an important indicator of climate change. However, the examination of changes in the spatiotemporal patterns of Tibetan lakes, especially water level variations, is limited due to inadequate access to measurements. This obstacle has been improved by the development of satellite altimetry observations. The more recent studies revealed that the trend of central TP to grow decreased or reversed between 2010 and 2016. However, thus far, this trend has not been investigated to determine whether this pattern would last for the following years. This study aims to combine the traditional (launched before 2010, e.g., TOPEX/POSEIDON, ERS-1, ERS-2, Jason-1/-2, and Envisat) and recently advanced (launched after 2010, e.g., SARAL and Sentinel-3) altimetry observations to understand the Tibetan lake changes further in recent years. Therefore, we acquired information on the continuous lake level changes in Tibetan lakes using the lake level sequence integration method based on multisource altimetry satellites. The results revealed that water level changes in 22 examined lakes showed abrupt rises in 2016–2018, but the onsets and magnitudes of the rises varied among the lakes. During the study period, the water levels of the lakes (except Nam Co) revealed a drastic rising tendency with a mean rate of 0.74 m/a, which was remarkably higher than the average rate of water level rise over the period 2010–2015 (approximately 0.28 m/a). Specifically, the water level of the nine lakes in the Northern TP (NTP) displayed a significant rising trend, with an average rate of 0.82 m/a. In the Central TP (CTP), the lake level changes were generally divided into two categories. The water levels for the lakes in the Western CTP rose rapidly, while, in the Eastern CTP, the lake water levels rose slowly, with an average rising rate less than 0.40 m/a. The water levels for the lakes in the Northeastern TP (NETP) and Northwestern TP (NWTP) kept a stable rising tendency. According to the results of the climate analysis, the spatial differences of the lake level rise rates were primarily caused by the spatial and temporal changes of precipitation over the TP.

Cenozoic cooling history and fluvial terrace development of the western domain of the Eastern Kunlun Range, northern Tibet

The growth of the Tibetan Plateau resulted primarily from Cenozoic India-Asia collision and continued convergence, and thus the deformation timing and geomorphic evolution of northern Tibet are critical to understanding the dynamics of orogenic plateau growth. Although previous studies have suggested that the Altyn Tagh Shan and the Eastern Kunlun Range of northern Tibet have experienced differential faulting and exhumation history, our knowledge of the temporal and spatial distribution of the growth of the northwestern Tibetan Plateau is still lacking. In this study, we integrate new geologic mapping, low-temperature themochronometry (18 apatite-fission track ages), and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating to provide constraints on the Cenozoic cooling history of northwestern Tibet and late Quaternary fluvial terrace development. We focus on where Altyn Tagh Shan structures are juxtaposed against Eastern Kunlun Range structures. New fission-track cooling ages from one traverse along the Aksu River yielded three cooling age domains: Paleocene, Miocene, and early Pliocene. With this new knowledge of ~12–10 Ma initiation of Jianxiashan thrusting and exhumation, we suggest a refined N-S shortening rate of this thrust system of 2.0–2.4 mm/yr and strain rates of 8–9 × 10−16 s−1. Thermal history modeling suggests that the study area experienced two broad events, including slow cooling through the AFT PAZ since the early Eocene and rapid cooling during the late Miocene. Our OSL dating results from the Aksu drainage reflect two separate processes of aggradation and incision that occurred during the late Pleistocene and Holocene, respectively, which are interpreted to result from long-term forcing of incision by a constant rate of tectonic uplift modulated by late Quaternary climatic variations. We interpret that this incision occurred at a rate of ~1 mm/yr, which is faster than exhumation rates inferred from the AFT data (0.3–0.5 mm/yr). These Quaternary exhumation rates may reflect faster recent exhumation or uplift associated with the proximal Altyn Tagh fault. In accordance with previous studies, we present a refined Cenozoic tectonic model for the evolution history of northern Tibet. The deformation pattern of northern Tibet results from clockwise rotation of preexisting weaknesses and transpressional deformation along the Kunlun fault and the Haiyuan fault.

Lake water and glacier mass gains in the northwestern Tibetan Plateau observed from multi-sensor remote sensing data: Implication of an enhanced hydrological cycle

Lakes and glaciers are widely distributed in the northwestern Tibetan Plateau. A synchronized examination of lake and glacier mass variations there has not previously been conducted, which has limited the understanding of the lake water balance and the hydrologic cycle in the region. In this study, we comprehensively examine lake area and volume, and glacier mass changes using multi-sensor satellite data. We find that lake expansion in the northwestern Tibetan Plateau was more robust from 1976 to 2018 when compared to other regions of the plateau, especially for the glacier-fed and endorheic lakes. Lake volume changes show that most of the lakes had an increase in water volume, particularly in 2000–2018 with a total water storage gain of ~28.6 Gt. By using high-resolution KH-9 and TanDEM-X data, we observe that the glacier surface elevation of the western Kunlun Mountains had a slight thinning rate of −0.07 ± 0.16 m/yr in 1973–2000, but a positive rate of 0.002 ± 0.003 m/yr in 2000–2018. The heterogeneous pattern of glacier elevation changes between the north (N) and south (S) slopes are revealed, i.e. -0.02 ± 0.01 m/yr (N) against −0.12 ± 0.03 m/yr (S) in 1973–2000 and − 0.05 ± 0.02 m/yr (N) against 0.06 ± 0.02 m/yr (S) in 2000–2018. Overall, the glaciers trend to a stable state (~0.05 m/yr) in both the south slope of the western Kunlun Mountains and Aru Co regions between 2000 and 2018. Similar patterns are also found for basin-wide examinations of lake storage changes (mass gains) and glacier mass budgets (positive or close to stable). The seasonal snow cover area changes, derived from cloud-free MODIS snow cover products, present a variable and insignificant trend between 2003 and 2017. Snow depth derived from passive microwave remote-sensing data, exhibits a decreasing trend between 1979 and 2015, but the water equivalent could contribute only an insignificant amount to the observed lake changes. The lake water gains, and almost positive glacier mass balance imply that the hydrological cycle in the northwestern Tibetan Plateau has become enhanced.

Main Detrainment Height of Deep Convection Systems over the Tibetan Plateau and Its Southern Slope

Deep convection systems (DCSs) can rapidly lift water vapor and other pollutants from the lower troposphere to the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. The main detrainment height determines the level to which the air parcel is lifted. We analyzed the main detrainment height over the Tibetan Plateau and its southern slope based on the CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar 2B_GEOPROF dataset and the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder Level 2 cloud ice product onboard the A-train constellation of Earth-observing satellites. It was found that the DCSs over the Tibetan Plateau and its southern slope have a higher main detrainment height (about 10–16 km) than other regions in the same latitude. The mean main detrainment heights are 12.9 and 13.3 km over the Tibetan Plateau and its southern slope, respectively. The cloud ice water path decreases by 16.8% after excluding the influences of DCSs, and the height with the maximum increase in cloud ice water content is located at 178 hPa (about 13 km). The main detrainment height and outflow horizontal range are higher and larger over the central and eastern Tibetan Plateau, the west of the southern slope, and the southeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau than that over the northwestern Tibetan Plateau. The main detrainment height and outflow horizontal range are lower and broader at nighttime than during daytime.

The desert hamster Phodopus roborovskii (Satunin, 1903) (Rodentia, Cricetidae) from north-western Tibetan plateau, Ladakh, India: an addition to the mammalian fauna of the Indian subcontinent

Abstract During a systematic survey of the small mammals in the relatively unexplored north-western regions of the Tibetan plateau in India, we captured and identified the desert hamster Phodopus roborovskii using molecular phylogenetic methods. We also provide revised distributional estimates for this species using niche modelling (Maxent and 19 bioclimatic variables), taking into account sampling bias. We evaluated suitable habitats for the species, identifying regions in the Trans-Himalayas that may harbour this species. This study improves the knowledge of the desert hamster’s range and is a new record and an addition to the Indian sub-continental mammalian fauna, ~750 km southward extension from its known range.

Three-dimensional fault geometry and kinematics of the 2008 Mw 7.1 Yutian earthquake revealed by very-high resolution satellite stereo imagery

Three-dimensional (3-D) fault geometry and surface slip are key factors for understanding fault behaviour and earthquake mechanics. Previous studies of the 2008 Yutian earthquake occurred on the northwestern Tibetan Plateau, and are limited by a lack of detailed measurements of fault structures and near-fault motion due to the inaccessibility and extreme weather of the area and severe decorrelation of InSAR. In this paper, we use a very-high resolution (VHR) DEM of the 2008 rupture zone extracted from the Pléiades satellite stereo imagery to measure the 3-D fault geometry and on-fault slip. The maximum vertical and horizontal coseismic displacement is 3.6 m and 2.8 m respectively. Despite the overall normal faulting, near-fault reverse vertical motion was observed, ranging from 0.5 m to 1.9 m, caused by the transformation of strike-slip motion into localised shortening due to local fault geometric variations. Measurements of the near-surface dip for the three fault segments (55°, 62°, and 58°) show good consistency, different from previous studies (43°, 60°, and 52°). Joint inversion of InSAR and the near-fault measurements of surface slip also show that the fault geometry does not change much along strike. The local ratio of the cumulative to the coseismic vertical offset recorded on an old alluvial fan and an ice tongue ranges from 1.86 to 2.79, suggesting at least 1–2 historical events occurred here before the 2008 earthquake.

Apparent discrepancy of Tibetan ice core <i>δ</i><sup>18</sup>O records may be attributed to misinterpretation of chronology

Abstract. Ice cores from the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are widely used for reconstructing past climatic and environmental conditions that extend beyond the instrumental period. However, challenges in dating and interpreting ice core records often lead to inconsistent results. The Guliya ice core drilled from the northwestern TP suggested a cooling trend during the mid-Holocene based on its decreasing δ18O values, which is not observed in other Tibetan ice cores. Here we present a new high-resolution δ18O record of the Chongce ice cores drilled to bedrock ∼30 km away from the Guliya ice cap. Our record shows a warming trend during the mid-Holocene. Based on our results as well as previously published ice core data, we suggest that the apparent discrepancy between the Holocene δ18O records of the Guliya and the Chongce ice cores may be attributed to a possible misinterpretation of the Guliya ice core chronology.

A tree-ring–based summer (June–July) minimum temperature reconstruction for the western Kunlun Mountains since AD 1681

Knowledge of past climatic variability for the Tibetan Plateau (TP), especially the northwestern part of it, is still limited due to the lack of long-term meteorological records. Within this study, we developed a summer (June–July) minimum temperature reconstruction since 1681 based on annual tree-ring width of Schrenk’s spruce (Picea schrenkiana Fisch. et Mey.) from a humid timberline on the western Kunlun Mountains. Our reconstruction passed the statistical calibration and validation tests, and accounted for 37.69% of the variance for the instrumental record during the period 1960–1996. The reconstruction mainly exhibited annual to decadal temperature variability, with cold periods in 1694–1696, 1745–1749, 1823–1824, and 1915–1921, and warm periods in 1755–1760, 1795–1799, and 1894–1896. Spatial correlations and comparisons with the Asia summer temperature reconstructions further verified our temperature reconstruction and its capability to serve as a proxy for large-scale temperature variability on the northwestern TP. Our results clearly indicate the great potential to perform dendrochronological studies on the western Kunlun Mountains.

Changes in Terrestrial Water Storage During 2003–2014 and Possible Causes in Tibetan Plateau

AbstractThe spatial‐temporal changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and six selected basins during 2003–2014 were analyzed by applying the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment data and the extended Variable Infiltration Capacity‐glacier model, including the upstream of Yangtze (UYA), Yellow (UYE), Brahmaputra (UB), and Indus river basins and the Inner TP and the Qaidam Basin. The possible causes of TWS changes were investigated from the perspective of surface water balance and TWS components through multisource data and the Variable Infiltration Capacity‐glacier model. There was a strong spatial heterogeneity in changes of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment TWS in the TP—with apparent mass accumulation in central and northern TP and a sharp decreasing trend in southern and northwestern TP. The TWS changes in the TP were mostly attributed to variations in precipitation and evapotranspiration from the perspective of land‐surface water balance. Precipitation played a dominant role on the TWS accumulation in the UYA and UYE, while evapotranspiration had a more important role than precipitation in TWS depletion in the UB. From the perspective of TWS components, the TWS increase in the UYA and UYE was mainly caused by an increase in soil moisture, whereas the decrease in TWS in the UB was mostly due to glacier mass loss. TWS was accumulating from March through August in southeastern TP while from November to April/May in northwestern TP. The seasonal variations of TWS are highly modulated by the large‐scale climate system, atmospheric moisture flux, and precipitation regime over the TP.

Characterizing the surge behavior of Alakesayi Glacier in the West Kunlun Shan, Northwestern Tibetan Plateau, from remote-sensing data between 2013 and 2018

Characterizing the surge behavior of Alakesayi Glacier in the West Kunlun Shan, Northwestern Tibetan Plateau, from remote-sensing data between 2013 and 2018

Summer Atmospheric Heat Sources over the Western–Central Tibetan Plateau: An Integrated Analysis of Multiple Reanalysis and Satellite Datasets

Multiple bias-corrected top-quality reanalysis datasets, gauge-based observations, and selected satellite products are synthetically employed to revisit the climatology and variability of the summer atmospheric heat sources over the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Verification-based selection and ensemble-mean methods are utilized to combine various datasets. Different from previous works, this study pays special attention to estimating the total heat source (TH) and its components over the data-void western plateau (70°–85°E), including the surface sensible heat (SH), latent heat released by precipitation (LH), and net radiation flux (RD). Consistent with previous studies, the climatology of summer SH (LH) typically increases (decreases) from southeast to northwest. Generally, LH dominates TH over most of the TP. A notable new finding is a minimum TH area over the high-altitude region of the northwestern TP, where the Karakoram mountain range is located. We find that during the period of 1984–2006, TH shows insignificant trends over the eastern and central TP, whereas it exhibits an evident increasing trend over the western TP that is attributed to the rising tendency of LH before 1996 and to that of RD after 1996. The year-to-year variation of TH over the central–eastern TP is highly correlated with that of LH, but that is not the case over the western TP. It is also worth noting that the variations of TH in each summer month are not significantly correlated with each other, and hence study of the interannual variation of the TP heat sources should consider the remarkable subseasonal variations.

A multi-model analysis of glacier equilibrium line altitudes in western China during the last glacial maximum

Based on numerical experiments undertaken with nine climate models, the glacier equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) in western China during the last glacial maximum (LGM) are investigated to deepen our understanding of the surface environment on the Tibetan Plateau. Relative to the preindustrial period, the summer surface air temperatures decrease by 4–8°C while the annual precipitation decreases by an average of 25% across the Tibetan Plateau during the LGM. Under the joint effects of reductions in summer temperature and annual precipitation, the LGM ELAs in western China are lowered by magnitudes that vary with regions. The ELAs in the southern margin and northwestern Tibetan Plateau decline by approximately 1100 m; the central hinterland, by 650–800 m; and the eastern part, by 550–800 m, with a downward trend from southwest to northeast. The reduction in ELAs is no more than 650 m in the Tian Shan Mountains within China and approximately 500–600 m in the Qilian Mountains and Altai Mountains. The high-resolution models to reproduce the low values of no more than 500 m in ELA reductions in the central Tibetan Plateau, which are consistent with the proxy records from glacier remains. The accumulation zones of the Tibetan Plateau glaciers are mainly located in the marginal mountains during the LGM and have areas 2–5 times larger than those of the modern glaciers but still do not reach the central part.

Lake Surface Water Temperature Change Over the Tibetan Plateau From 2001 to 2015: A Sensitive Indicator of the Warming Climate

AbstractThe Tibetan Plateau (TP) plays a significant role in the Earth's climate system. This letter examines the nighttime lake surface water temperature (LSWT) of 374 lakes (≥10 km2 each) over the TP for the past 15 years (2001–2015). An overall warming trend (0.037 °C/year) is found and it is consistent with the warming air temperature (0.036 °C/year) over the TP, with the vast majority of the lakes (70%, with 28% of which are significant) showing warming (0.076 °C/year) and the rest (30%, with 37% of which are significant) showing cooling (−0.053 °C/year). This astonishing contrast was controlled by different water sources recharging these lakes: (1) warming LSWT due to increased precipitation (central and northern TP) or permafrost degradation (northwestern TP) and (2) cooling LSWT due to increased glacier meltwater (southwestern TP), revealing LSWT a sensitive indicator to climate change that triggered different regional responses in precipitation, permafrost, and glacier changes over the TP. This study helps improve our understanding of high‐altitude lakes and their changing mechanisms under the warming climate.

Estimation of permafrost on the Tibetan Plateau under current and future climate conditions using the CMIP5 data

Permafrost has significant impacts on climate change through its strong interaction with the climate system. In order to better understand the permafrost variation and the role it plays in climate change, model outputs from Phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) are used in the present study to diagnose the near‐surface permafrost on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), assess the abilities of the models to simulate present‐day (1986–2005) permafrost and project future permafrost change on the TP under four different representative concentration pathways (RCPs). The results indicate that estimations of present‐day permafrost using the surface frost index (SFI) and the Kudryavtsev method (KUD) show a spatial distribution similar to that of the frozen soil map on the TP. However, the permafrost area calculated via the KUD is larger than that calculated via the SFI. The SFI produces a present‐day permafrost area of 127.2 × 104 km2. The results also indicate that the permafrost on the TP will undergo regional degradation, mainly at the eastern, southern and northeastern edges, during the 21st century. Furthermore, most of the sustainable permafrost will probably exist only in the northwestern TP by 2099. The SFI also indicates that the permafrost area will shrink by 13.3 × 104 km2 (9.7%) and 14.6 × 104 km2 (10.5%) under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, respectively, in the next 20 years and by 36.7 × 104 km2 (26.6%) and 45.7 × 104 km2 (32.7%), respectively, in the next 50 years. The results are helpful for us to better understand the permafrost response to climate change over the TP, further investigate the physical mechanism of the freeze–thaw process and improve the model parameterization scheme.

Spatial-temporal variations analysis of snow cover in China from 1992−2010

Snow cover is an important component of land cover on the Earth’s surface and is also a good indicator of climate change. Hence, monitoring the spatial distribution and temporal variation of snow cover is of great significance to the study of the global water cycle and climate change. Traditional snow cover monitoring has been primarily based on in situ observations; however, the uneven and low-density distribution of meteorological stations made it difficult to reflect the overall picture of snow cover in some regions. To solve this problem, we used the Presence and Background Learning (PBL) algorithm to estimate the snow cover in China and obtained the 5 days (5 d) snow cover maps of the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I). The PBL model is a type of one-class classifier that needs no negative training sample in the training set. The cornerstone of this method is to combine SSM/I Brightness Temperature data and in situ observations to estimate the probability of the existence of snow cover based on the Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The estimation result indicates that the average annual overall accuracy of the PBL model in China is 0.88, which shows good agreement with the Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS) snow cover products. Compared with other snow cover products, such as MODIS/Terra Snow Cover 8-Day L3 Global 500 m Grid (MOD10A2) and AMSR-E/Aqua 5-Day L3 Global Snow Water Equivalent EASE-Grids(AE_5DSno), the performance of the PBL model is better at predicting the snow cover distribution in China. After obtaining the SSM/I 5d snow cover maps of China, we analysed the temporal and spatial variations of snow cover in China during 1992−2010 using the Mann-Kendall test, which included the variation of annual snow cover days, seasonal snow cover distribution and change characteristics, and the variation of the stable snow cover area. The results suggest that China’s snow cover is primarily distributed in the Tibetan Plateau, Xinjiang, northeast China, and Inner Mongolia, which are all high altitude or high latitude regions. From 1992−2010, the following occurred. (1) The number of snow cover days decreased significantly in the three major snow cover regions of China due to rising temperatures, while there was an observably upward trend in the northwestern Tibetan Plateau with the increase of precipitation. (2) The snow cover area of Xinjiang and Northeast-Inner Mongolia reached its maximum in winter and was relatively small in the spring and autumn. The Tibetan Plateau’s snow cover area is generally the largest in the spring, and it is also very large in the autumn and winter. Thus, the seasonal variation characteristics of snow cover there is not as obvious as that of the other two major snow regions. (3) In the four years of 1996, 2003, 2004 and 2006, the snow cover area in the spring in Xinjiang was much lower than that in the autumn, which indicates a “warmer winter” event caused by warmer than usual temperatures in the winter. (4) Although no significant change in the snow cover area was found in all regions during the study period, the change in snow cover on the Tibetan Plateau is particularly noteworthy due to its area having increased greatly since 2005, which might be the beginning of the increase of snow cover area in this region. (5) The stable snow cover area of China is 3.39 million km2. In the three major snow cover regions, the stable snow cover area of the Tibetan Plateau is the largest (1.68 million km2), the Northeast-Inner Mongolia region is the second largest (1.05 million km2), and the Xinjiang region is the smallest (0.63 million km2). The stable snow cover area had no significant variation trend in China during 1992−2010—only the snow cover days of the Tibetan Plateau had a larger interannual fluctuation.

Rupture process of the 2015 Pishan earthquake from joint inversion of InSAR, teleseismic data and GPS

An earthquake of M w6.4 occurred in Pishan County in Xinjiang Province, northwestern Tibetan Plateau, on July 3, 2015. The epicenter was located on an active blind thrust system located at the northern margin of the Western Kunlun Mountain Orogenic Belt southwest of the Tarim Basin. We constructed a shovel-shaped fault model based on the layered-crust model with reference to the seismic reflection profile, and obtained the rupture process of the earthquake from the joint inversion of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) measurements, far-field waveform data, and Global Positioning System (GPS) data. The results show that the seismic fault dips southward with a strike of 109°, and the rupture direction was essentially northward. The fault plane rupture distribution is concentrated, with a maximum recorded slip of 73 cm. The main features of the fault are as follows: low inclination angle (25°–10°), thrust slip at a depth of 9–13 km, rupture propagation time of about 12 s, no significant slip in soft or hard sedimentary layers at 0–4 km depth and propagation from the initial rupture point to the surrounding area with no obvious directionality. The InSAR time-series analysis method is used to determine the deformation rate in the source region within 2 years after the earthquake, and the maximum value is ~17 mm yr−1 in the radar line-of-sight direction. Obvious post-earthquake deformation is evident in the hanging wall, with a similar trend to the coseismic displacement field. These results suggest that the Pishan earthquake has not completely released the accumulated energy of the region, given that the multilayer fold structure above the blind fault is still in a process of slow uplift since the earthquake. Post-earthquake adjustment models and aftershock risk analysis require further study using more independent data.

Glacier anomaly over the western Kunlun Mountains, Northwestern Tibetan Plateau, since the 1970s

ABSTRACTWestern Kunlun Mountain (WKM) glaciers show balanced or even slightly positive mass budgets in the early 21st century, and this is anomalous in a global context of glacier reduction. However, it is unknown whether the stability prevails at longer time scales because mass budgets have been unavailable before 2000. Here topographical maps, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and Landsat data are used to examine the area and surface elevation changes of glaciers on the WKM since the 1970s. Heterogeneous glacier behaviors are observed not only in the changes of length and area, but also in the spatial distribution of surface elevation changes. However, on average, glacier area and elevation changes are not significant. Glaciers reduce in the area by 0.07 ± 0.1% a−1 from the 1970s to 2016. Averaged glacier mass loss is −0.06 ± 0.13 m w.e. a−1 from the 1970s to 1999. These findings show that the WKM glacier anomaly extends back at least to the 1970s.

Clean Low-Biomass Procedures and Their Application to Ancient Ice Core Microorganisms.

Microorganisms in glacier ice provide tens to hundreds of thousands of years archive for a changing climate and microbial responses to it. Analyzing ancient ice is impeded by technical issues, including limited ice, low biomass, and contamination. While many approaches have been evaluated and advanced to remove contaminants on ice core surfaces, few studies leverage modern sequencing to establish in silico decontamination protocols for glacier ice. Here we sought to apply such “clean” sampling techniques with in silico decontamination approaches used elsewhere to investigate microorganisms archived in ice at ∼41 (D41, ∼20,000 years) and ∼49 m (D49, ∼30,000 years) depth in an ice core (GS3) from the summit of the Guliya ice cap in the northwestern Tibetan Plateau. Four “background” controls were established – a co-processed sterile water artificial ice core, two air samples collected from the ice processing laboratories, and a blank, sterile water sample – and used to assess contaminant microbial diversity and abundances. Amplicon sequencing revealed 29 microbial genera in these controls, but quantitative PCR showed that the controls contained about 50–100-times less 16S DNA than the glacial ice samples. As in prior work, we interpreted these low-abundance taxa in controls as “contaminants” and proportionally removed them in silico from the GS3 ice amplicon data. Because of the low biomass in the controls, we also compared prokaryotic 16S DNA amplicons from pre-amplified (by re-conditioning PCR) and standard amplicon sequencing, and found the resulting microbial profiles to be repeatable and nearly identical. Ecologically, the contaminant-controlled ice microbial profiles revealed significantly different microorganisms across the two depths in the GS3 ice core, which is consistent with changing climate, as reported for other glacier ice samples. Many GS3 ice core genera, including Methylobacterium, Sphingomonas, Flavobacterium, Janthinobacterium, Polaromonas, and Rhodobacter, were also abundant in previously studied ice cores, which suggests wide distribution across glacier environments. Together these findings help further establish “clean” procedures for studying low-biomass ice microbial communities and contribute to a baseline understanding of microorganisms archived in glacier ice.

Possible ENSO Influences on the Northwestern Tibetan Plateau Revealed by Annually Resolved Ice Core Records

AbstractTwo annually resolved ice core records, one drilled on Mutztagata (7,000 m above sea level) on the western slope (dated 1952–2002) and the other drilled on Kuokuosele (5,600 m above sea level) on the southwestern slope (dated 1900–2010) of the Pamir Plateau of the northwestern Tibetan Plateau (TP), were selected to study possible El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) influences on the northwestern TP. δ18O at KKSL was more enriched, though both records varied in phase. Eight of the 10 noticeably strong El Niño events since 1955 corresponded to δ18O depletions in both ice core records, which were followed by δ18O enrichment. Atmospheric circulation indices, including water vapor flux and divergence, had a coincidence of a positive Indian Ocean Dipole mode with El Niño events, which contributed to the northward transport of southerly flows from the western Indian Ocean; its convergence with midlatitude wind flows at high levels depleted δ18O levels. The meridional shift in the Asian‐Pacific subtropical high induced by latent heat release due to precipitation in the northwestern Pacific was found to play an important role in initiating convergence. A statistical analysis confirmed the significant correlations in δ18O with the ENSO index and tropical and subtropical summer monsoon circulations. We noted that the dominant circulation pattern over the northwestern TP was characterized by a midlatitude flow regime that had a teleconnection with tropical sea surface temperatures. Therefore, ENSO is one of a variety of influences on ice core δ18O on the TP.