Abstract
To get a better overview of atmosphere-driven mass changes at Urumqi Glacier No.1, Chinese Tien Shan, the surface energy budget and mass balance is modeled by linking the COupled Snowpack and Ice surface energy and MAss balance model (COSIMA) with in-situ measured meteorological records for the ablation period in 2018. The COSIMA is calibrated by manual optimization and the modeled results agree well with the in-situ surface temperature, snow height and seasonal mass balance. Our results reveal that Urumqi Glacier No.1 experienced a significant mass loss, with an average value of − 0.77 m w.e. over the ablation period 2018. The surface energy budget components can be classified into two categories: radiation (shortwave and longwave) and turbulent fluxes. Surface melt and solid precipitation were dominated components of mass balance. The COSIMA can reproduce the glaciological mass balance compared with other models. Sensitivity analysis showed that the mass balance was more sensitive to the temperature than precipitation, and mass loss caused by temperature increase of 1 K needed to be compensated by at least 40% precipitation increase. Air temperature during the ablation period was more important than annual precipitation in controlling mass balance changes on Urumqi Glacier No. 1. These findings will enhance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying mass balance processes of ablation period and their contribution to the acceleration of glacier retreat in Tien Shan.
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Data availability
Glaciological mass balance data related to this study are submitted to the WGMS and be available at the following website: https://doi.org/10.5904/wgms-fog-2019-12 (WGMS, 2019). COSIMA is available online as an open-source software and used for this study (https://bitbucket.org/glaciermodel/cosima; Huintjes et al. 2015a). The meteorological data are available upon request by email to the corresponding author (wangpuyu@lzb.ac.cn).
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Funding
This research was jointly funded by the Third Xinjiang Scientific Expedition Program (Grant No. 2021xjkk0801), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS (Grant No.Y2021110), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41771077, 42001067), and the State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science (Grant No. SKLCS-ZZ-2022).
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Li, H., Wang, P., Li, Z. et al. Summertime surface mass balance and energy balance of Urumqi Glacier No. 1, Chinese Tien Shan, modeled by linking COSIMA and in-situ measured meteorological records. Clim Dyn 61, 765–787 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06571-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06571-z