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Monitoring glacial shrinkage using remote sensing and site-observation method on southern slope of Kalik Mountain, eastern Tian Shan, China

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Abstract

Currently, one of the effective means in monitoring glacier change in regional scale is remote sensing and site-observation method. In this article, we present a study of comparing glacier area in 2005 derived from SPOT5 satellite image with area in 1972 derived from topographic maps. Moreover, Miaoergou (庙儿沟) flat-summit glacier is site observed to verify glacial change in regional scale. During the study period, glaciers located in the southern slope of Kalik (喀尔里克) Mountain reduced their area by 12.3%. The high individual change indicates that the wastage corresponding to area changes has been the dominant process of glacier mass loss in this region. Glaciers smaller than the mean size (1.3 km2), especially those <0.5 km2, lost more of their area with high variability and yielding two glaciers vanished. It is suggested that small glaciers are prone to disappear under such climate conditions in future years. With the difference supplied by upstream glaciers, there appears great disparity trend of river runoff recently. Seen from decade-scale, the discharge, the lower glacier-covered catchment, is decreased because of strong consumption of small glaciers during the past decades. Owing to the rivers that are supplied by more meltwater from medium and larger glaciers mainly, the trend of the river runoff increase is still going on. Trends of river runoff of three different glacier-covered catchments exhibit distinctive results. This implies that retreating glaciers will reduce the ability to regulate the water circulation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences/Tianshan Glaciological Station, Cold and Arid Region Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Wenbin Wang  (王文彬) & Kaiming Li  (李开明)

  2. Hydrology and Water Resources Survey Bureau of Hami, Hami, 839000, China

    Jianfang Gao  (高建芳)

Authors
  1. Wenbin Wang  (王文彬)
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  2. Kaiming Li  (李开明)
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  3. Jianfang Gao  (高建芳)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wenbin Wang  (王文彬).

Additional information

This study was supported by the Knowledge Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX2-EW-311), the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2010CB951003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. Y111141001, J0630966), and the Foundation for Excellent Youth Scholars of CAREERI, CAS (No. 51Y084911).

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Wang, W., Li, K. & Gao, J. Monitoring glacial shrinkage using remote sensing and site-observation method on southern slope of Kalik Mountain, eastern Tian Shan, China. J. Earth Sci. 22, 503–514 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-011-0203-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-011-0203-8

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