1. Hot spots of glacier mass balance variability in Central Asia
- Author
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Eric Pohl, Robert McNabb, Etienne Berthier, Martina Barandun, Tomas Saks, Martin Hoelzle, Matthias Huss, Kathrin Naegeli, Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), and Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Subjects
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Biogeosciences ,Volcanic Effects ,01 natural sciences ,Global Change from Geodesy ,Volcanic Hazards and Risks ,Oceans ,Sea Level Change ,Cryosphere ,Glacial period ,910 Geography & travel ,Water cycle ,Disaster Risk Analysis and Assessment ,Meltwater ,[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean, Atmosphere ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Climate and Interannual Variability ,Tien Shan and Pamir ,Climate Impact ,climate change ,Geophysics ,Earthquake Ground Motions and Engineering Seismology ,Explosive Volcanism ,Earth System Modeling ,Atmospheric Processes ,Ocean Monitoring with Geodetic Techniques ,Ocean/Atmosphere Interactions ,Atmospheric ,Regional Modeling ,Atmospheric Effects ,Volcanology ,Hydrological Cycles and Budgets ,Decadal Ocean Variability ,Land/Atmosphere Interactions ,Research Letter ,Geodesy and Gravity ,Global Change ,Air/Sea Interactions ,Numerical Modeling ,550 Earth sciences & geology ,Solid Earth ,Geological ,Ocean/Earth/atmosphere/hydrosphere/cryosphere interactions ,Water Cycles ,Modeling ,Glacier ,Avalanches ,Volcano Seismology ,15. Life on land ,Benefit‐cost Analysis ,Computational Geophysics ,Regional Climate Change ,Physical geography ,Natural Hazards ,Abrupt/Rapid Climate Change ,Informatics ,Glaciology ,Surface Waves and Tides ,Atmospheric Composition and Structure ,annual glacier mass balance time series ,010502 geochemistry & geophysics ,Volcano Monitoring ,Remote Sensing ,Snow and Ice ,Snow ,Seismology ,Climatology ,Radio Oceanography ,transient snowlines ,Gravity and Isostasy ,Marine Geology and Geophysics ,hydrological cycle ,Physical Modeling ,Oceanography: General ,Cryospheric Change ,cryosphere ,transient snowline ,Impacts of Global Change ,Geology ,Oceanography: Physical ,Risk ,Oceanic ,Theoretical Modeling ,Climate change ,Radio Science ,Tsunamis and Storm Surges ,Glacier mass balance ,Paleoceanography ,Climate Dynamics ,Numerical Solutions ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Climate Change and Variability ,geography ,Effusive Volcanism ,Climate Variability ,Ice ,General Circulation ,Policy Sciences ,Climate Impacts ,Mud Volcanism ,Air/Sea Constituent Fluxes ,Water resources ,Mass Balance ,Ocean influence of Earth rotation ,13. Climate action ,Volcano/Climate Interactions ,General Earth and Planetary Sciences ,Hydrology ,Sea Level: Variations and Mean - Abstract
The Tien Shan and Pamir mountains host over 28,000 glaciers providing essential water resources for increasing water demand in Central Asia. A disequilibrium between glaciers and climate affects meltwater release to Central Asian rivers, challenging the region's water availability. Previous research has neglected temporal variability. We present glacier mass balance estimates based on transient snowline and geodetic surveys with unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution from 1999/00 to 2017/18. Our results reveal spatiotemporal heterogeneity characterized by two mass balance clusters: (a) positive, low variability, and (b) negative, high variability. This translates into variable glacial meltwater release (≈1–16%) of annual river runoff for two watersheds. Our study reveals more complex climate forcing‐runoff responses and importance of glacial meltwater variability for the region than suggested previously., Key Points Annual glacier mass balance for Central Asia (1999/00–2017/18) is derived by combining transient snowlines, geodetic surveys, and modelingStrong spatiotemporal heterogeneity with contrasting patterns of mass gain and loss are foundHot spots of heterogeneous mass balance variability are associated with highly variable glacier melt water runoff
- Published
- 2021
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