Abstract
The response of debris-covered glaciers to climate change is more heterogeneous and complex than that of debris-free glaciers. The debris has a significant effect on glacier dynamic characteristics, which causes uneven mass balance changes, and then affects the change of glacier geometry evolves in response to climate. In our study, both energy balance and a two-dimensional mass and momentum conservation equation were used to simulate the ice temperature and velocity respectively at the main stream line of Koxkar glacier. The influence of the debris on ice temperature was described in the model. The ice velocity simulation was coupled with a description of ice viscosity under the influence of ice temperature. Our simulation results showed that the debris could increase the ice velocity and ablation in the middle of the glacier. Especially in the surface from 3200 to 3400 m.a.s.l, where the debris had great influence for ice velocity and temperature. From simulation results, we inferred that the ice thickness in this region would change obviously. Comparing with the measured thickness changes by ground-penetrating radar (GPR) between 1981 and 2008, the simulation result is consistent with measured results. Therefore, supraglacial lakes are easily developed in this region because of the high ice temperature and uneven ice surface. And the Landsat 8 remote-sensing image had verified this conclusion.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blatter H (1995) Velocity and stress fields in grounded glaciers: a simple algorithm for including deviatoric stresses. J Glaciol 41(138):333–344
Caidong C, Sorteberg A (2010) Modelled mass balance of Xibu glacier, Tibetan Plateau: sensitivity to climate change. J Glaciol 56(196):235–248
Changwei X, Yongjian D, Caiping C, Tianding H (2007) Study on the change of Keqikaer Glacier during the last 30 years, Mt. Tuomuer, Western China. Environ Geol 51:1165–1170
Duan K, Yao T et al (2012) Numerical simulation of Urumqi Glacier No. 1 change and its response to climate change analysis. Sci Bull 57(36):3511–3515
Flowers GE, Clarke GKC (2000) An integrated modelling approach to understanding subglacial hydraulic release events. Ann Glaciol 31(1):222–228
Flowers GE, Björnsson H et al (2004) A coupled sheet-conduit mechanism for jökulhlaup propagation. Geophys Res Lett 31(5):L05401
Flowers G, Roux N et al (2011) Present dynamics and future prognosis of a slowly surging glacier. Cryosphere 5:299–313
Greve R, Blatter H (2009) Large-Scale Dynamics of Ice Sheets. Dynamics of Ice Sheets & Glaciers: 61–109.
Han H, Liu S et al (2008) Near-surface Meteorological characteristics on the Koxkar Baxi Glacier,Tianshan. J GLACIOL GEOC RYOL 30(6):967–975
Han H, Wang J, Wei J, Liu S (2010) Backwasting rate on debris-covered Koxkar glacier, Tuomuer mountain, China. J Glaciol 56(196):287–296
Hindmarsh RCA, Meur EL (2001) Dynamical processes involved in the retreat of marine ice sheets. J Glaciol 47(157):271–282
Janke JR, Bellisario AC, Ferrando FA (2015) Classification of debris-covered glaciers and rock glaciers in the Andes of central Chile. Geomorphology 241: 98–121
JosefinAhlkrona PL et al (2016) Dynamically coupling the non-linear Stokes equations with the shallow ice approximation in glaciology: description and first applications of the ISCAL method. J Comput Phys 308:1–19
Jouvet G, Huss M, Funk M, Blatter H (2011) Modelling the retreat of Grosser Aletschgletscher, Switzerland, in a changing climate. J Glaciol 57:1033–1045
Kirkbride MP, Deline P (2013) The formation of supraglacial debris covers by primary dispersal from transverse englacial debris bands. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 38: 1779–1792
Lin W, Zhongqin L et al (2011) Spatial distribution of the debris layer on glaciers of the Tuomuer Peak, western Tian Shan. J Earth Sci 22(4):528–538
Lindsey N, Benn D (2013). Properties of natural supraglacial debris in relation to modelling sub-debris ice ablation. Earth Surface Processes & Landforms 38(5): 490–501
Liu Q, Liu S (2015) Response of glacier mass balance to climate change in the Tianshan Mountains during the second half of the twentieth century. Clim Dyn 46(1-2):1–14
Mihalcea C, Mayer C, Diolaiuti G, Lambrecht A, Smiraglia C, Tartari G (2006) Ice ablation and meteorological conditions on the debris-covered area of Baltoro glacier, Karakoram, Pakistan. Ann Glaciol 43(1):292–300
Molg T, Cullen NJ et al (2009) Solar radiation, cloudiness and longwave radiation over low-latitude glaciers: implications for mass-balance modelling. J Glaciol 55(190):292–302
Ohmura A, Bauder A, Müller H, Kappenberger G (2007) Long-term change of mass balance and the role of radiation. Ann Glaciol 46(1):367–374
Paoli LD, Flowers GE (2009) Dynamics of a small surge-type glacier using one-dimensional geophysical inversion. J Glaciol 55(194):1101–1112
Paterson, W. S. B. (1994). The physics of glaciers.
Pattyn F (2002) Transient glacier response with a higher-order numerical ice-flow model. J Glaciol 48(162):467–477
Pattyn F, Brabander SD et al (2005) Basal and thermal control mechanisms of the Ragnhild glaciers, East Antarctica. Ann Glaciol 40(1):225–231
Pellicciotti F, Brock B, Strasser U, Burlando P, Funk M, Corripio J (2005) An enhanced temperature-index glacier melt model including the shortwave radiation balance: development and testing for Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland. J Glaciol 51(175):573–587
Pimentel S, Flowers GE (2011) A numerical study of hydrologically driven glacier dynamics and subglacial flooding. Proc R Soc A: Math, Phys Eng Sci 467(2126):537–558
Quincey DJ, Luckman A, Benn D (2009) Quantification of Everest region glacier velocities between 1992 and 2002, using satellite radar interferometry and fea-ture tracking. J Glaciol 55:596–606
Reid TD, Brock BW (2014) Assessing ice-cliff backwasting and its contribution to total ablation of debris-covered Miage glacier, Mont Blanc massif, Italy. Journal of Glaciolgy 60: 3–13
Rowan AV, Egholm DL, Quincey DJ, Glasser NF (2015) Modelling the feedbacks between mass balance, ice flow and debris transport to predict the response to climate change of debris-covered glaciers in the Himalaya. Earth Planet Sci Lett 430:427–438
Sakai A, Fujita K (2010) Formation conditions of supraglacial lakes on debris-covered glaciers in the Himalaya. J Glaciol 56(195):177–181
SEDDIK H, GREVE R et al (2012) Simulations of the Greenland ice sheet 100 years into the future with the full Stokes model Elmer/Ice. J Glaciol 58(209):427–440
Shroder JF, Bishop MP, Copland L, Sloan VF (2000) Debris-covered glaciers and rock glaciers in the Nanga Parbat Himalaya, Pakistan. Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography 82(1):17–31
Shukla A, Gupta R et al (2009) Estimation of debris cover and its temporal variation using optical satellite sensor data: a case study in Chenab basin, Himalaya. J Glaciol 55(191):444–452
Sicart JE, Hock R, Ribstein P, Chazarin JP (2010) Sky longwave radiation on tropical Andean glaciers: parameterization and sensitivity to atmospheric variables. J Glaciol 56(199):854–860
Su Z, Shi Y (2002) Response of monsoonal temperate glaciers to global warming since the Little Ice Age. Quat Int 97:123–131
Sund M, Lauknes TR, Eiken T (2014) Surge dynamics in the Nathorstbreen glacier system, Svalbard. Cryosphere 8(2):623–638
Wu Z, Liu S (2012) Imaging the debris internal structure and estimating the effect of debris layer on ablation of Glacier ice. J Geol Soc India 80(6):825–835
Zagorodnov V, Nagornov O, Thompson LG (2006) Influence of air temperature on a glacier’s active-layer temperature. Ann Glaciol 43(1):285–291
Zhang Y, Hirabayashi Y et al (2013a) Spatial debris-cover effect on the maritime glaciers of Mount Gongga, south-eastern Tibetan Plateau. Cryosphere Discuss 7(3):3413–2453
Zhang T, Xiao C, Colgan W, Qin X, du W, Sun W, Liu Y, Ding M (2013b) Observed and modelled ice temperature and velocity along the main flowline of East Rongbuk Glacier, Qomolangma (Mount Everest), Himalaya. J Glaciol 59(215):438–448
Zhao L, Tian L, Zwinger T, Ding R, Zong J, Ye Q, Moore JC (2014) Numerical simulations of Gurenhekou glacier on the Tibetan Plateau. J Glaciol 60(219):71–82
Zhen W, Shiyin L (2012) Imaging the debris internal structure and estimating the effect of debris layer on ablation of Glacier ice. J Geol Soc India 80(6):825–835
Funding
This study has been supported by China Earthquake Administration, Science Program (2015IESLZ01); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41761006, 41301018) and National Key R&D Program of China (No.2018YFC 1503206); The opening foundation of the State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Desertification and Aeolian Sand Disaster Combating, Gansu Desert Control Research Institute, Grant (No GSDC201502).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Editorial handling: A. M. Al-Amri
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhen, W., Huiwen, Z., Shiyin, L. et al. Influence of debris cover on glacier response to climate change: insights from Koxkar glacier using dynamic simulation. Arab J Geosci 12, 506 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-019-4673-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-019-4673-9