Journal
SCIENCE CHINA-EARTH SCIENCES
Volume 59, Issue 1, Pages 170-184Publisher
SCIENCE PRESS
DOI: 10.1007/s11430-015-5118-2
Keywords
Debris-cover effect; Ice melting; Maritime glacier; Glacier status; Mount Gongga
Categories
Funding
- National Science and Technology Support Program of China [2012BAC19B07]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41190084]
- Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST) [2013FY111400]
- CREST Project of Japan Science and Technology Agency
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [26257202] Funding Source: KAKEN
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In the Tibetan Plateau, many glaciers have extensive covers of supraglacial debris in their ablation zones, which affects glacier response to climate change by altering ice melting and spatial patterns of mass loss. Insufficient debris thickness data make it difficult to analyze regional debris-cover effects. Maritime glaciers of the Mount Gongga have been characterized by a substantial reduction in glacier area and ice mass in recent decades. The thermal property of the debris layer estimated from remotely sensed data reveals that debris-covered glaciers are dominant in this region, on which the proportion of debris cover to total glacier area varies from 1.74% to 53.0%. Using a physically-based debris-cover effect assessment model, we found that although the presence of supraglacial debris has a significant insulating effect on heavily debris-covered glaciers, it accelerates ice melting on similar to 10.2% of total ablation zone and produces rapid wastage of similar to 25% of the debris-covered glaciers, leading to the similar mass losses between the debris-covered and debris-free glaciers. Widespread debris cover also facilitates the development of active terminus regions. Regional differences in debris-cover effects are apparent, highlighting the importance of debris cover for understanding glacier mass changes in the Tibetan Plateau and other mountain ranges around the world.
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