Glacier mass changes in Rongbuk catchment on Mt. Qomolangma from 1974 to 2006 based on topographic maps and ALOS PRISM data

Qinghua Ye; Tobias Bolch; Renji Naruse; Yuzhe Wang; Jibiao Zong; Zhongyan Wang; Rui Zhao; Daqing Yang; Shichang Kang

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.09.014

Glacier mass changes in Rongbuk catchment on Mt. Qomolangma from 1974 to 2006 based on topographic maps and ALOS PRISM data

Qinghua Ye^*, Tobias Bolch, Renji Naruse, Yuzhe Wang, Jibiao Zong, Zhongyan Wang, Rui Zhao, Daqing Yang, Shichang Kang

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Elevation changes of glacier surfaces were investigated in Rongbuk Catchment (RC) on the northern slopes of Mt. Qomolangma in the central Himalayas, by comparing a digital elevation model (DEM) generated from the 2006 ALOS/PRISM imageries with the base DEM1974 derived from the 1:50,000 topographic maps. The average elevation change rate of glacier surfaces in RC was estimated at -0.47±0.23ma^-1 between 1974 and 2006. Such surface lowering rates varied significantly with glaciers and altitudes. One of the notable results is that the debris-covered ice thinned much more rapidly than the exposed ice at higher altitudes. Overall, glaciers in RC have lost mass of -0.06±0.04Gta^-1 during 1974-2006. Glacier imbalance constitutes about 50% or more of the Rongbuk runoff.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	273-280
Number of pages	8
Journal	Journal of Hydrology
Volume	530
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.09.014
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2015
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

ALOS/PRISM
Digital elevation model (DEM)
Glacier mass changes
Mt. Qomolangma (Mt. Everest MQ)
Rongbuk Catchment (RC)
Topographic maps

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Water Science and Technology

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.09.014

Cite this

@article{95523a945d7947dcaf1669ecb8ee6720,

title = "Glacier mass changes in Rongbuk catchment on Mt. Qomolangma from 1974 to 2006 based on topographic maps and ALOS PRISM data",

abstract = "Elevation changes of glacier surfaces were investigated in Rongbuk Catchment (RC) on the northern slopes of Mt. Qomolangma in the central Himalayas, by comparing a digital elevation model (DEM) generated from the 2006 ALOS/PRISM imageries with the base DEM1974 derived from the 1:50,000 topographic maps. The average elevation change rate of glacier surfaces in RC was estimated at -0.47±0.23ma-1 between 1974 and 2006. Such surface lowering rates varied significantly with glaciers and altitudes. One of the notable results is that the debris-covered ice thinned much more rapidly than the exposed ice at higher altitudes. Overall, glaciers in RC have lost mass of -0.06±0.04Gta-1 during 1974-2006. Glacier imbalance constitutes about 50% or more of the Rongbuk runoff.",

keywords = "ALOS/PRISM, Digital elevation model (DEM), Glacier mass changes, Mt. Qomolangma (Mt. Everest MQ), Rongbuk Catchment (RC), Topographic maps",

author = "Qinghua Ye and Tobias Bolch and Renji Naruse and Yuzhe Wang and Jibiao Zong and Zhongyan Wang and Rui Zhao and Daqing Yang and Shichang Kang",

note = "Funding Information: The research results have been obtained through the cooperation between the research organization (Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS) and JAXA (JAXA/METI for PALSAR) in JAXA{\textquoteright}s ALOS RA. The work is supported by the Special Basic Research Project of MST (2013FY111400-2), by NSF of China (41120114001, 41125003, 40971048, 41071254), by Foundation Program for outstanding Young Scholar of CAS (KZCX2-EW-QN104). The project was also supported by Open Research Fund of TEL in CAS, by Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science and by in-situ investigated data from QOMORS. T.B. was funded by DFG (Codes: BO 3199/2-1 and BU 949/20-1) and ESA within the Glaciers_cci Project (4000101778/10/I-AM). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015 Elsevier B.V.",

year = "2015",

month = nov,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.09.014",

language = "English",

volume = "530",

pages = "273--280",

journal = "Journal of Hydrology",

issn = "0022-1694",

publisher = "Elsevier B.V.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Glacier mass changes in Rongbuk catchment on Mt. Qomolangma from 1974 to 2006 based on topographic maps and ALOS PRISM data

AU - Ye, Qinghua

AU - Bolch, Tobias

AU - Naruse, Renji

AU - Wang, Yuzhe

AU - Zong, Jibiao

AU - Wang, Zhongyan

AU - Zhao, Rui

AU - Yang, Daqing

AU - Kang, Shichang

N1 - Funding Information: The research results have been obtained through the cooperation between the research organization (Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS) and JAXA (JAXA/METI for PALSAR) in JAXA’s ALOS RA. The work is supported by the Special Basic Research Project of MST (2013FY111400-2), by NSF of China (41120114001, 41125003, 40971048, 41071254), by Foundation Program for outstanding Young Scholar of CAS (KZCX2-EW-QN104). The project was also supported by Open Research Fund of TEL in CAS, by Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science and by in-situ investigated data from QOMORS. T.B. was funded by DFG (Codes: BO 3199/2-1 and BU 949/20-1) and ESA within the Glaciers_cci Project (4000101778/10/I-AM). Publisher Copyright: © 2015 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2015/11/1

Y1 - 2015/11/1

N2 - Elevation changes of glacier surfaces were investigated in Rongbuk Catchment (RC) on the northern slopes of Mt. Qomolangma in the central Himalayas, by comparing a digital elevation model (DEM) generated from the 2006 ALOS/PRISM imageries with the base DEM1974 derived from the 1:50,000 topographic maps. The average elevation change rate of glacier surfaces in RC was estimated at -0.47±0.23ma-1 between 1974 and 2006. Such surface lowering rates varied significantly with glaciers and altitudes. One of the notable results is that the debris-covered ice thinned much more rapidly than the exposed ice at higher altitudes. Overall, glaciers in RC have lost mass of -0.06±0.04Gta-1 during 1974-2006. Glacier imbalance constitutes about 50% or more of the Rongbuk runoff.

AB - Elevation changes of glacier surfaces were investigated in Rongbuk Catchment (RC) on the northern slopes of Mt. Qomolangma in the central Himalayas, by comparing a digital elevation model (DEM) generated from the 2006 ALOS/PRISM imageries with the base DEM1974 derived from the 1:50,000 topographic maps. The average elevation change rate of glacier surfaces in RC was estimated at -0.47±0.23ma-1 between 1974 and 2006. Such surface lowering rates varied significantly with glaciers and altitudes. One of the notable results is that the debris-covered ice thinned much more rapidly than the exposed ice at higher altitudes. Overall, glaciers in RC have lost mass of -0.06±0.04Gta-1 during 1974-2006. Glacier imbalance constitutes about 50% or more of the Rongbuk runoff.

KW - ALOS/PRISM

KW - Digital elevation model (DEM)

KW - Glacier mass changes

KW - Mt. Qomolangma (Mt. Everest MQ)

KW - Rongbuk Catchment (RC)

KW - Topographic maps

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84943798114&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.09.014

DO - 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.09.014

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84943798114

VL - 530

SP - 273

EP - 280

JO - Journal of Hydrology

JF - Journal of Hydrology

SN - 0022-1694

ER -

Glacier mass changes in Rongbuk catchment on Mt. Qomolangma from 1974 to 2006 based on topographic maps and ALOS PRISM data

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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