Landsat images, real-time kinematic GPS measurements, and topographic maps were used to determine changes in ice elevation, volume, and areal extent of the Laohugou No. 12 glacier (Qilian Mountains, China) between 195...Landsat images, real-time kinematic GPS measurements, and topographic maps were used to determine changes in ice elevation, volume, and areal extent of the Laohugou No. 12 glacier (Qilian Mountains, China) between 1957 and 2007. The glacier experienced significant thinning and areal shrinkage in the ablation zone, but slight thickening in part of the accumulation zone. Elevation decreased by 18.6±5.4 m between 1957 and 2007 in the regions covered by the GPS measurements. The total volume loss for the entire glacier was estimated to be 0.218 km3 using a third-order polynomial fit method. The area diminished by 0.28 km2 between 1957 and 1994, 0.26 km2 between 1994 and 2000, and 0.28 km2 between 2000 and 2007, suggesting that the rate of loss in glacial coverage has increased since the mid-1990s. Significant increases in annual mean air temperature may have contributed to shrinkage and thinning of the glacier.展开更多
Glaciers in the eastern Pamir are important for water resources and the social and economic development of the region.In the last 50 years,these glaciers have shrunk and lost ice mass due to climate change.In order to...Glaciers in the eastern Pamir are important for water resources and the social and economic development of the region.In the last 50 years,these glaciers have shrunk and lost ice mass due to climate change.In order to understand recent glacier dynamics in the region,a new inventory was compiled from Landsat TM/ETM+ images acquired in2009,free of clouds and with minimal snow cover on the glacierized mountains.The first glacier inventory of the area was also updated by digitizing glacier outlines from topographical maps that had been modified and verified using aerial photographs.Total glacier area decreased by 10.8%±1.1%,mainly attributed to an increase in air temperature,although precipitation,glacier size and topographic features also combined to affect the general shrinkage of the glaciers.The 19.3–21.4 km^3 estimated glacier mass loss has contributed to an increase in river runoff and water resources.展开更多
Changes in glacial lakes and the consequences of these changes, particularly on the development of water resources and management of glacial lake outburst flood(GLOF) risk, has become one of the challenges in the sust...Changes in glacial lakes and the consequences of these changes, particularly on the development of water resources and management of glacial lake outburst flood(GLOF) risk, has become one of the challenges in the sustainable development of high mountain areas in the context of global warming. This paper presents the findings of a study on the distribution of, and area changes in, glacial lakes in the Koshi basin in the central Himalayas.Data on the number of glacial lakes and their area was generated for the years 1977, 1990, 2000, and 2010 using Landsat satellite images. According to the glacial lake inventory in 2010, there were a total of 2168 glacial lakes with a total area of 127.61 km^2 and average size of 0.06 km^2 in the Koshi basin. Of these,47% were moraine dammed lakes, 34.8% bedrock dammed lakes and 17.7% ice dammed lakes. The number of glacial lakes increased consistently over the study period from 1160 in 1977 to 2168 in 2010, an overall growth rate of 86.9%. The area of glacial lakes also increased from 94.44 km^2 in 1977 to 127.61 km^2 in 2010, a growth rate of 35.1%. A large number of glacial lakes in the inventory are small in size(≤ 0.1km^2). End moraine dammed lakes with area greater than 0.1 km^2 were selected to analyze the change characteristics of glacial lakes in the basin. The results show that, in 2010, there were 129 lakes greater than 0.1 km^2 in area; these lakes had a total area of 42.92km^2 in 1997, increasing to 63.28 km^2 in 2010. The distribution of lakes on the north side of the Himalayas(in China) was three times higher than on the south side of the Himalayas(in Nepal).Comparing the mean growth rate in area for the 33 year study period(1977-2010), the growth rate on the north side was found to be a little slower than that on the south side. A total of 42 glacial lakes with an area greater than 0.2 km^2 are rapidly growing between 1977 and 2010 in the Koshi basin, which need to be paid more attention to monitoring in the future and to identify how critical they are in terms of GLOF.展开更多
Poor bleaching is a significant problem for Optically Stimulated Luminescence(OSL) dating of glacial sediments. Five young glacial samples(including two modern analogues) from different depositional settings were coll...Poor bleaching is a significant problem for Optically Stimulated Luminescence(OSL) dating of glacial sediments. Five young glacial samples(including two modern analogues) from different depositional settings were collected beyond the Yingpu Glacier in the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. De was determined using different OSL methods. The luminescence characteristics and dating results showed that the large aliquot quartz Blue Stimulated Luminescence(BSL) is more applicable than polymineral infrared stimulated luminescence(IRSL) method. Small aliquot quartz BSL results showed poor luminescence properties due to low luminescence sensitivity of quartz in this area. The dating results also indicated that glaciofluvial samples deposited close to ice margin(~40 m and ~700 m) and supraglacial debris dominated lateral moraine samples are relatively well-bleached, whereas samples from ground moraine and low terminal moraine were poorly bleached, probably due to containing subglacial and englacial debris. The residual doses of glaciofluvial and lateral moraine crest samples were below a few Gy and age overestimations were below a few hundred years. The ground moraine and low terminal moraine samples had residual doses as high as ~110 Gy, and ages were overestimated by ~15-17 ka.展开更多
Seasonal ice cover is uncommon on Australian lakes. In the Snowy Mountains, there are five natural, seasonally ice-covered lakes including Lake Cootapatamba, the highest lake in Australia. Blue Lake is the only one of...Seasonal ice cover is uncommon on Australian lakes. In the Snowy Mountains, there are five natural, seasonally ice-covered lakes including Lake Cootapatamba, the highest lake in Australia. Blue Lake is the only one of the five lakes with sufficient volume to be relatively independent of short-term changes in ambient temperature, and therefore is the lake most likely to be of use in tracking long-term regional climate change. Ice forms on Blue Lake near the winter solstice and ice-breakup occurs from late September to November. Timing of breakup is related to spring temperature and, as such, mirrors the timing of general snow thaw in the mountains. The existence of historic photographs taken of the lake at about the time of ice breakup allows for the possibility of reconstructing a history of alpine climate and in 1905 ice breakup was probably as late as mid-December.展开更多
Climate warming has been more pronounced in the Arctic than elsewhere, resulting in a recent rapid glacial retreat. Over 85% of the Almajallojekna glacier has disappeared over the last 115 years and it is one of the f...Climate warming has been more pronounced in the Arctic than elsewhere, resulting in a recent rapid glacial retreat. Over 85% of the Almajallojekna glacier has disappeared over the last 115 years and it is one of the fastest retreating glaciers in Sweden. In 2011 and 2012, at 18 sites in the vicinity of the remaining glacier network, we sampled arthropods and related the species richness, abundance and proportion of herbivores to altitude (ranging from 824 to 1,524 m.a.s.1.) and the age of the site (ranging from 0 to 〉 115 years). Temperature was measured at six sites and the average annual air temperature ranged from -3.7℃ to 1.1℃. In total, we recorded 3,705 arthropods from 117 species in nine different taxonomic groups. The most abundant and species-rich group was Coleoptera (1,381 individuals, 41 species) followed by Araneae (1,050 individuals, 15 species) and Macrolepidoptera (732 individuals, 17 species). Only at lower altitudes did the abundance and species richness of arthropods increase with increasing age of the site. The results were consistent among the studied taxonomic groups and when controlling for sam- piing intensity using two different approaches. The proportion of herbivores decreased with increasing age of the site and with increasing altitude. Clearly, altitude appears more important than the age of the site and, at higher altitudes, abundance, species richness and herbivory are low [Current Zoology 60 (2): 203-220, 2014].展开更多
Fluctuation history of Midui glacier in the southeastern Tibet since the Little Ice Age(LIA) was reconstructed by the dating of lateral and terminal moraines using tree rings.Four conversions of glacier advance/stabil...Fluctuation history of Midui glacier in the southeastern Tibet since the Little Ice Age(LIA) was reconstructed by the dating of lateral and terminal moraines using tree rings.Four conversions of glacier advance/stabilization to retreat were identified at around 1767,1875,1924 and 1964.The glacier reached its LIA maximum position at 1767.The fluctuations are consistent with those of other glaciers from the Tibetan Plateau,the Rockies and the Alps,suggesting high spatial coherency of glacier fluctuations in the Northern Hemisphere.Comparison with the summer temperature reconstruction in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau indicated that the Midui glacier fluctuation may be related to temperature variation on the centennial timescale.On the decadal scale,the fluctuation could correspond to cold/warm variation with an 8-year lag on average.展开更多
The Gongga Mountain is the largest area of modern glaciation in the Hengduan Mountains and,with a summit elevation of 7556 m,is the highest mountain on the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.During the Quaternary g...The Gongga Mountain is the largest area of modern glaciation in the Hengduan Mountains and,with a summit elevation of 7556 m,is the highest mountain on the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.During the Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles the Gongga Mountain was extensively and repeatedly glaciated,and glacial landforms and outwash deposits from multiple glaciations are well-preserved in valleys,in basins,and on piedmonts.To constrain the glacial chronology of the eastern slope of Gongga Mountain,sample sites were selected based on the distribution and weathering of glacial tills,relationships among glacial deposits,and soil development on moraines.Dating of the tills and glaciofluvial deposits was undertaken with electron spin resonance(ESR) and optically stimulated luminescence(OSL).The ages of the glacial deposits can be divided into four clusters:2.2±0.5,11.9±0.6,35.9±2.7-58.0±6.3 and 119.2±15.9-194.2±32.8 ka.Five glacial advances in this region have been identified,which are equivalent in age to the Little Ice Age(LIA),Neoglaciation,marine oxygen isotope stage(MIS) 2,mid-MIS3,and MIS6.The largest local last glacial maximum(LGML) occurred on Gongga Mountain during mid-MIS3,characterized by a cold-humid climate,rather than the global Last Glacial Maximum(LGMG) of MIS2.The Gongga,Nanmenguangou(NMGG) and Yajiageng Glaciations occurred during the late part of the last glacial cycle,the middle of the last glacial cycle and the penultimate glacial cycle,respectively.On the basis of geomorphological,sedimentological,and compositional characteristics,landforms of the Moxi Platform and terraces can be grouped by facies and geochronology.In combination with the dating results,this analysis indicates the basal part of the Moxi Platform between Xinxin and the Moxi Hotel is correlative with the till of the Nanguanmen Glaciation(mid-MIS3).This basal unit has occasional lenses of glaciofluvial sandy gravel and lacustrine sediments.The remainder of the Moxi Platform and the terraces beside the platform are glaciofluvial deposits occasionally mixed with debris flow deposits and range in age from MIS3 to Holocene.展开更多
基金supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (Grant No. 2006FY110200)the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZCX2-YW-GJ04)the Global Change Research Program of China (Grant No. 2010CB951401)
文摘Landsat images, real-time kinematic GPS measurements, and topographic maps were used to determine changes in ice elevation, volume, and areal extent of the Laohugou No. 12 glacier (Qilian Mountains, China) between 1957 and 2007. The glacier experienced significant thinning and areal shrinkage in the ablation zone, but slight thickening in part of the accumulation zone. Elevation decreased by 18.6±5.4 m between 1957 and 2007 in the regions covered by the GPS measurements. The total volume loss for the entire glacier was estimated to be 0.218 km3 using a third-order polynomial fit method. The area diminished by 0.28 km2 between 1957 and 1994, 0.26 km2 between 1994 and 2000, and 0.28 km2 between 2000 and 2007, suggesting that the rate of loss in glacial coverage has increased since the mid-1990s. Significant increases in annual mean air temperature may have contributed to shrinkage and thinning of the glacier.
基金supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No.KZZD-EW-12-1)the National Natural Science Foundation (Grant No.41190084)+3 种基金the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST) (Grant Nos.2013FY111400,2010DFA92720-23)an immediate past project from the MOST (Grant No.2006FY110200)provided by "Investigation on glacier resources and their change in China" (Grant No.2006FY110200)"Glacier change monitoring and its impact assessment research in west China" (Grant No.kzcx2-yw-301)
文摘Glaciers in the eastern Pamir are important for water resources and the social and economic development of the region.In the last 50 years,these glaciers have shrunk and lost ice mass due to climate change.In order to understand recent glacier dynamics in the region,a new inventory was compiled from Landsat TM/ETM+ images acquired in2009,free of clouds and with minimal snow cover on the glacierized mountains.The first glacier inventory of the area was also updated by digitizing glacier outlines from topographical maps that had been modified and verified using aerial photographs.Total glacier area decreased by 10.8%±1.1%,mainly attributed to an increase in air temperature,although precipitation,glacier size and topographic features also combined to affect the general shrinkage of the glaciers.The 19.3–21.4 km^3 estimated glacier mass loss has contributed to an increase in river runoff and water resources.
基金supported by the Cryosphere Monitoring Programme (CMP) of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairssupported by core funds of ICIMOD contributed by the Governments of Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Norway, Pakistan, Switzerland, and the United Kingdomthe Koshi Basin Programme at ICIMOD, which is supported by the Australian Government through the Sustainable Development Investment Portfolio for South Asia
文摘Changes in glacial lakes and the consequences of these changes, particularly on the development of water resources and management of glacial lake outburst flood(GLOF) risk, has become one of the challenges in the sustainable development of high mountain areas in the context of global warming. This paper presents the findings of a study on the distribution of, and area changes in, glacial lakes in the Koshi basin in the central Himalayas.Data on the number of glacial lakes and their area was generated for the years 1977, 1990, 2000, and 2010 using Landsat satellite images. According to the glacial lake inventory in 2010, there were a total of 2168 glacial lakes with a total area of 127.61 km^2 and average size of 0.06 km^2 in the Koshi basin. Of these,47% were moraine dammed lakes, 34.8% bedrock dammed lakes and 17.7% ice dammed lakes. The number of glacial lakes increased consistently over the study period from 1160 in 1977 to 2168 in 2010, an overall growth rate of 86.9%. The area of glacial lakes also increased from 94.44 km^2 in 1977 to 127.61 km^2 in 2010, a growth rate of 35.1%. A large number of glacial lakes in the inventory are small in size(≤ 0.1km^2). End moraine dammed lakes with area greater than 0.1 km^2 were selected to analyze the change characteristics of glacial lakes in the basin. The results show that, in 2010, there were 129 lakes greater than 0.1 km^2 in area; these lakes had a total area of 42.92km^2 in 1997, increasing to 63.28 km^2 in 2010. The distribution of lakes on the north side of the Himalayas(in China) was three times higher than on the south side of the Himalayas(in Nepal).Comparing the mean growth rate in area for the 33 year study period(1977-2010), the growth rate on the north side was found to be a little slower than that on the south side. A total of 42 glacial lakes with an area greater than 0.2 km^2 are rapidly growing between 1977 and 2010 in the Koshi basin, which need to be paid more attention to monitoring in the future and to identify how critical they are in terms of GLOF.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (Grant No. 41371080, 41290252, and 41271077)"Strategic Priority Research Program (B)" of CAS (Grant No. XDB03030200)Training Plan for Outstanding Young Teachers in Higher Education Institutions of Guangdong (20140102)
文摘Poor bleaching is a significant problem for Optically Stimulated Luminescence(OSL) dating of glacial sediments. Five young glacial samples(including two modern analogues) from different depositional settings were collected beyond the Yingpu Glacier in the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. De was determined using different OSL methods. The luminescence characteristics and dating results showed that the large aliquot quartz Blue Stimulated Luminescence(BSL) is more applicable than polymineral infrared stimulated luminescence(IRSL) method. Small aliquot quartz BSL results showed poor luminescence properties due to low luminescence sensitivity of quartz in this area. The dating results also indicated that glaciofluvial samples deposited close to ice margin(~40 m and ~700 m) and supraglacial debris dominated lateral moraine samples are relatively well-bleached, whereas samples from ground moraine and low terminal moraine were poorly bleached, probably due to containing subglacial and englacial debris. The residual doses of glaciofluvial and lateral moraine crest samples were below a few Gy and age overestimations were below a few hundred years. The ground moraine and low terminal moraine samples had residual doses as high as ~110 Gy, and ages were overestimated by ~15-17 ka.
文摘Seasonal ice cover is uncommon on Australian lakes. In the Snowy Mountains, there are five natural, seasonally ice-covered lakes including Lake Cootapatamba, the highest lake in Australia. Blue Lake is the only one of the five lakes with sufficient volume to be relatively independent of short-term changes in ambient temperature, and therefore is the lake most likely to be of use in tracking long-term regional climate change. Ice forms on Blue Lake near the winter solstice and ice-breakup occurs from late September to November. Timing of breakup is related to spring temperature and, as such, mirrors the timing of general snow thaw in the mountains. The existence of historic photographs taken of the lake at about the time of ice breakup allows for the possibility of reconstructing a history of alpine climate and in 1905 ice breakup was probably as late as mid-December.
文摘Climate warming has been more pronounced in the Arctic than elsewhere, resulting in a recent rapid glacial retreat. Over 85% of the Almajallojekna glacier has disappeared over the last 115 years and it is one of the fastest retreating glaciers in Sweden. In 2011 and 2012, at 18 sites in the vicinity of the remaining glacier network, we sampled arthropods and related the species richness, abundance and proportion of herbivores to altitude (ranging from 824 to 1,524 m.a.s.1.) and the age of the site (ranging from 0 to 〉 115 years). Temperature was measured at six sites and the average annual air temperature ranged from -3.7℃ to 1.1℃. In total, we recorded 3,705 arthropods from 117 species in nine different taxonomic groups. The most abundant and species-rich group was Coleoptera (1,381 individuals, 41 species) followed by Araneae (1,050 individuals, 15 species) and Macrolepidoptera (732 individuals, 17 species). Only at lower altitudes did the abundance and species richness of arthropods increase with increasing age of the site. The results were consistent among the studied taxonomic groups and when controlling for sam- piing intensity using two different approaches. The proportion of herbivores decreased with increasing age of the site and with increasing altitude. Clearly, altitude appears more important than the age of the site and, at higher altitudes, abundance, species richness and herbivory are low [Current Zoology 60 (2): 203-220, 2014].
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.40801033 and 41130529)DFG,German Research Foundation (Grant No.BR1895/21-1)
文摘Fluctuation history of Midui glacier in the southeastern Tibet since the Little Ice Age(LIA) was reconstructed by the dating of lateral and terminal moraines using tree rings.Four conversions of glacier advance/stabilization to retreat were identified at around 1767,1875,1924 and 1964.The glacier reached its LIA maximum position at 1767.The fluctuations are consistent with those of other glaciers from the Tibetan Plateau,the Rockies and the Alps,suggesting high spatial coherency of glacier fluctuations in the Northern Hemisphere.Comparison with the summer temperature reconstruction in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau indicated that the Midui glacier fluctuation may be related to temperature variation on the centennial timescale.On the decadal scale,the fluctuation could correspond to cold/warm variation with an 8-year lag on average.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41171063)Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(Grant No.LZUJBKY-2010-114)+1 种基金Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences,Cold and Arid Regions Environment and Engineering Research Institute,Chinese Academy Sciences(Grant No.SKLCS2011-03)the Program of Ministry of Science and Technology of China(Grant No.2006FY110200)
文摘The Gongga Mountain is the largest area of modern glaciation in the Hengduan Mountains and,with a summit elevation of 7556 m,is the highest mountain on the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.During the Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles the Gongga Mountain was extensively and repeatedly glaciated,and glacial landforms and outwash deposits from multiple glaciations are well-preserved in valleys,in basins,and on piedmonts.To constrain the glacial chronology of the eastern slope of Gongga Mountain,sample sites were selected based on the distribution and weathering of glacial tills,relationships among glacial deposits,and soil development on moraines.Dating of the tills and glaciofluvial deposits was undertaken with electron spin resonance(ESR) and optically stimulated luminescence(OSL).The ages of the glacial deposits can be divided into four clusters:2.2±0.5,11.9±0.6,35.9±2.7-58.0±6.3 and 119.2±15.9-194.2±32.8 ka.Five glacial advances in this region have been identified,which are equivalent in age to the Little Ice Age(LIA),Neoglaciation,marine oxygen isotope stage(MIS) 2,mid-MIS3,and MIS6.The largest local last glacial maximum(LGML) occurred on Gongga Mountain during mid-MIS3,characterized by a cold-humid climate,rather than the global Last Glacial Maximum(LGMG) of MIS2.The Gongga,Nanmenguangou(NMGG) and Yajiageng Glaciations occurred during the late part of the last glacial cycle,the middle of the last glacial cycle and the penultimate glacial cycle,respectively.On the basis of geomorphological,sedimentological,and compositional characteristics,landforms of the Moxi Platform and terraces can be grouped by facies and geochronology.In combination with the dating results,this analysis indicates the basal part of the Moxi Platform between Xinxin and the Moxi Hotel is correlative with the till of the Nanguanmen Glaciation(mid-MIS3).This basal unit has occasional lenses of glaciofluvial sandy gravel and lacustrine sediments.The remainder of the Moxi Platform and the terraces beside the platform are glaciofluvial deposits occasionally mixed with debris flow deposits and range in age from MIS3 to Holocene.