Debris-covered Glaciers and Rock Glaciers in the Nanga Parbat Himalaya, Pakistan

The origin and mobilization of the extensive debris cover associated with the glaciers of the Nanga Parbat Himalaya is complex. In this paper we propose a mechanism by which glaciers can form rock glaciers through inefficiency of sediment transfer from glacier ice to meltwater. Inefficient transfer is caused by various processes that promote plentiful sediment supply and decrease sediment transfer potential. Most debris‐covered glaciers on Nanga Parbat with higher velocities of movement and/ or efficient debris transfer mechanisms do not form rock glaciers, perhaps because debris is mobilized quickly and removed from such glacier systems. Those whose ice movement activity is lower and those where inefficient sediment transfer mechanisms allow plentiful debris to accumulate, can form classic rock glaciers. We document here with maps, satellite images, and field observations the probable evolution of part of a slow and inefficient ice glacier into a rock glacier at the margins of Sachen Glacier in c. 50 years, as well as several other examples that formed in a longer period of time. Sachen Glacier receives all of its nourishment from ice and snow avalanches from surrounding areas of high relief, but has low ice velocities and no efficient system of debris removal. Consequently it has a pronounced digitate terminus with four lobes that have moved outward from the lateral moraines as rock glaciers with prounced transverse ridges and furrows and steep fronts at the angle of repose. Raikot Glacier has a velocity five times higher than Sachen Glacier and a thick cover of rock debris at its terminus that is efficienctly removed. During the advance stage of the glacier since 1994, ice cliffs were exposed at the terminus, and an outbreak flood swept away much debris from its margins and terminus. Like the Sachen Glacier that it resembles, Shaigiri Glacier receives all its nourishment from ice and snow avalanches and has an extensive debris cover with steep margins close to the angle of repose. It has a high velocity similar to Raikot Glacier and catastrophic breakout floods have removed debris from its terminus twice in the recent past. In addition, the Shaigiri terminus blocked the Rupal River during the Little Ice Age and is presently being undercut and steepened by the river. With higher velocities and more efficient sediment transfer systems, neither the Raikot nor the Shaigiri form classic rock‐glacier morphologies.     

念青唐古拉山脉西段雪线高度变化遥感观测

利用Landsat TM/ETM+/8 OLI和HJ1A遥感影像资料作为数据源,通过目视解译方法,提取念青唐古拉山脉西段雪线高度变化值,同时对研究区周边气温与降水变化趋势进行分析,研究其与冰川变化的关系。结果表明：2004~2013年北坡13条冰川和南坡15条冰川的雪线高度都呈升高的趋势;从整体上来考察,北坡雪线高度升高值为14 m/a,南坡升高值为4.9 m/a,北坡升高速度比南坡快;自1964年以来,研究区气温升高趋势显著,降水增加不明显,气候变暖是冰川退缩的主要原因;北坡冰川比南坡冰川经历更大的物质负平衡,主要是由于气温的升高率北坡比南坡快所致。     

我国极地航运能力建设和高冰级船队发展对策分析

我国在南极和北极的活动日益增多,参与南北极事务和争取极地资源的利用已经成为国家未来向外扩展的重要举措之一。随着气候变暖,极地冰融速度加快,尤其是北极航运窗口期越来越长,两极资源利用和科考活动的需求量越来越大。而目前我国用于航行两极,尤其是北极的高冰级商业化船队十分缺乏,航运的陆基支持保障能力缺少,这将严重影响我国极地事业和商业航运运营的发展。本文通过对不同冰级船舶的保有量、建造技术能力、船舶运营和极地港口设施等各环节的分析,得出我国缺乏带较高等级冰级符号且可抗浮冰厚度1m及以上的极地航行船舶、相应极地航运能力不足的结论,并提出了我国建设极地航运能力的对策建议,为我国建设一支能在极地航行且带较高等级冰级符号船舶的船队、破冰船队以及建设极地陆基航运支持保障能力等提供决策参考。     

天山1号冰川厚度和冰下地形探测与冰储量分析

通过对天山乌鲁木齐河源 1号冰川的雷达回波探测 ,清晰地揭示出冰川底部冰 /岩界面的位置及其起伏变化特征 ,显示出雷达波对山地冰川良好的穿透能力和对冰下地形的高分辨能力 ,冰川雷达测厚的误差小于 1 .2 %。研究结果显示 ,1号冰川东支冰川平均厚度为 5 8.77m ,西支冰川平均厚度为 44.84m ,冰体厚度最大值发育于冰川中部趋于主流线位置。冰川冰储量计算表明 ,东支冰储量为 0 .0 5 1 868km3,西支冰储量为 0 .0 2 0 2 1 0km3。表面和底部地形有明显差异 ,主要因冰川动力过程对基岩强烈的地貌作用所致 ,意味着冰床的起伏地形对冰川浅层冰体的运动过程影响不显著。     

The relationship between polar sea ice and the precipitation and temperature over China revealed by using SVD method

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Potassium alum and aluminum sulfate micro-inclusions in polar ice from Dome Fuji,East Antarctica

Water-soluble trace constituents affect the physicochemical properties of polar ice. Their structural distribution provides important insights into the formation history of ice and inclusions. We report the first finding of KAl(SO₄)₂·12H₂O (potassium alum) and Al₂(SO₄)₃·nH₂O (aluminum sulfate) micro-inclusions in the Dome Fuji ice core, East Antartica, using a micro-Raman technique. Eutectic temperatures of these water-soluble species determined using thermal analysis were −0.4 °C for potassium alum and −8.0 °C for aluminum sulfate. Although the formation process of the aluminum-bearing sulfates remains unclear, the occurrence of these salts largely depends on ice depth.     

Influence of thin liquid films on polar ice chemistry: Implications for Earth and planetary science

The polar snowpack (and sea-ice) plays a major role in affecting overlying boundary layer chemistry and has only recently come to light. Furthermore, the understanding of this system and its importance is steadily growing. Investigations done thus far, nonetheless, examined the subsets of the polar environment as an uncoupled system. Analogous to some materials, the surface of snow/ice exhibits thin liquid layers (e.g., the quasi-liquid layer (QLL) and brine layer (BL)). This paper gives an overview of thin liquid films and illustrations of their function in Earth science. The impact of such films in polar science (i.e., polar snowpack photochemistry) is discussed within the context of how field data has been elucidated through laboratory data and modeling techniques. Specifically, what laboratory and modeling investigations have revealed about the effect of thin liquid layers on constraining field observations and, more importantly, the physicochemical mechanisms that govern the behavior of trace gases within the snowpack (and sea-ice) and how they are released from the polar snowpack. Current and future impacts of these findings are discussed, along with putative implications of the effect of thin liquid films in planetary science.     

Geodetic observations of ice flow velocities over the southern part of subglacial Lake Vostok, Antarctica, and their glaciological implications

In the austral summer seasons 2001/02 and 2002/03, Global Positioning System (GPS) data were collected in the vicinity of Vostok Station to determine ice flow velocities over Lake Vostok. Ten GPS sites are located within a radius of 30 km around Vostok Station on floating ice as well as on grounded ice to the east and to the west of the lake. Additionally, a local deformation network around the ice core drilling site 5G-1 was installed.
The derived ice flow velocity for Vostok Station is  2.00 m a⁻¹± 0.01 m a⁻¹  . Along the flowline of Vostok Station an extension rate of about 10⁻⁵ a⁻¹ (equivalent to 1 cm km⁻¹ a⁻¹) was determined. This significant velocity gradient results in a new estimate of 28 700 years for the transit time of an ice particle along the Vostok flowline from the bedrock ridge in the southwest of the lake to the eastern shoreline. With these lower velocities compared to earlier studies and, hence, larger transit times the basal accretion rate is estimated to be 4 mm a⁻¹ along a portion of the Vostok flowline. An assessment of the local accretion rate at Vostok Station using the observed geodetic quantities yields an accretion rate in the same order of magnitude. Furthermore, the comparison of our geodetic observations with results inferred from ice-penetrating radar data indicates that the ice flow may not have changed significantly for several thousand years.     

利用高支链类异戊二烯(HBIs)重建极地海冰的研究进展

海冰的准确重建对反演气候和环境变化具有重要意义。近期研究表明,有机指标高支链类异戊二烯(HBIs)具有重建极地海冰状况的潜质,海洋沉积物中具有海冰特异性的单烯HBI(IP_(25))和双烯HBI(IPSO_(25))指标已分别成为研究北极和南极海冰变化的有力工具。本文综述了IP_(25)、IPSO_(25)的提出和验证,分析了影响HBIs生成、迁移和埋藏的诸多因素,总结了为实现精细化区分海冰状况和定量化重建海冰密集度而提出的新指标的发展及应用,并就目前存在的问题和未来研究方向进行了探讨和展望。     

Remote sensing of ice cap outlet glacier fluctuations on Nordaustlandet, Svalbard

Landsat multispectral scanner images and 1:50, 000 scale aerial photographs are used to measure marginal fluctuations in 22 outlet glaciers of the Nordaustlandet ice caps, Svalbard, for all or parts of the period 1969 to 1981. Little was previously known about the behaviour of these glacier termini. Digital analysis of Landsat computer compatible tapes yielded measurement errors of less than ±150m, whereas data extracted from aerial photographs had an accuracy of ±25 m. Of the 22 glacier termini examined using aerial photographs, 15 were retreating, four were static and three were advancing. Retreat was usually in the order of hundreds of metres during the period of observation. For any outlet glacier, retreat was probably a result of either (1) glacier response to climatic wanning since the early part of the 20th century, or (2) stagnation and thinning during the quiescent period between surges. Short term iceberg calving events may also be responsible for retreat in a few cases. All observed outlet glaciers of Austfonna were static or retreating between 1969 and 1981, but analysis of Landsat imagery and aerial photographs showed that five outlet glaciers from Vestfonna and one from Vegafonna were advancing for all or part of that period. Bodleybreen advanced by a mean of 440 and a maximum of 580m a⁻¹ between 1976 and 1981. Bodleybreen, Søre Rijpbreen, and Palanderbreen are identified as surging, based on increases or changes in the pattern of surface crevassing. The ice streams Aldousbreen, Frazerbreen, and Idunbreen also advanced between 1976 and 1981, but surface crevasse patterns remained largely unaltered and surging is not inferred.     

中国季风温冰川区近代气候变化与冰川动态

通过对中国季风温冰川区的气候实测资料、冰芯记录、树木年轮指数和冰川进退记载等多种指标的综合分析,较详细地研究了400年以来本区气候与冰川变化。自17~19世纪小冰期的两个寒冷阶段以后,中国季风温冰川分布区气温普遍波动上升,与全球变暖的大背景一致, 大部分冰川正在后退,但降水量变化则比较复杂,达索普冰芯记录证明,本区西部的喜马拉雅山地区降水量表现为下降的趋势,与气温变化相反,而东部的横断山等地的降水则表现为上升的趋势,与气温变化同步,这主要是不同来源大气环流影响的结果。研究区主要盛行来源于印度洋的西南季风,此外,其东部还受来源于西太平洋东南季风的影响,西部受西风环流南支的影响,造成中国季风温冰川区东西部不均匀的降水分布和变化趋势。小冰期以后,我国的季风温冰川对气候变暖反应敏感,绝大部分冰川持续后退。20世纪80年代以来,后退速度加剧, 但后退幅度和规模因地而异。     

Dating of the Dome Fuji shallow ice core based on a record of volcanic eruptions from AD 1260 to AD 2001

We measured the concentration of non-sea-salt sulfate () in the Dome Fuji shallow ice core (Antarctica) from the surface to 40 m depth with the aim of dating the core with reference to the record of volcanic eruptions. Three huge spikes related to large-scale volcanic eruptions were detected at depths of 12.5, 29.9, and 38.8 m, correlated to the eruptions of Tambora (AD 1815), Kuwae (AD 1452) and an unknown event (AD 1259), respectively. We identified another nine spikes related to accurately dated eruption events. The shallow ice core was dated from AD 1260 to AD 2001 based on these 12 eruption events and the assumption of constant annual snow accumulation in the periods between eruption events. The results yield a maximum correction of ∼20 years compared with the dating proposed in a previous study. The annual accumulation varied within ±∼15% of the average water equivalent value over the study period (25.5 mm).     

天山乌鲁木齐河源1号冰川冰芯记录形成过程及年代划分

冰川冰芯记录了历史时期的气候环境信息.天山乌鲁木齐河源1号冰川位于亚洲大陆干旱半干旱地区的腹地,1991 -1998年在1号冰川钻取的4根深冰芯(To ～T3),用于探究该地区历史时期各项气候环境信息记录.通过化学离子季节变化特征以及δ18O和Mg2+的剖面与树轮重建的温度记录对比,分别对冰芯T2(80.1 m)的32...     

中国西部冰川度日因子的空间变化特征

在冰川与积雪消融研究中,度日模型应用较为广泛,该模型是基于冰雪消融与气温,尤其是正积温之间的线性关系建立的。度日因子是该模型的重要参数,反映了单位正积温产生的冰雪消融量,其空间变化特征对于不同模型模拟冰雪消融过程的精度有较大影响。 本文根据中国西部不同地区数十条冰川的短期考察和观测资料,分析了西部冰川度日因子的空间变化特征,结果表明：由于青藏高原及其周围地区独特的气候和热量条件,西部冰川度日因子具有明显的区域特征。在同一冰川上,度日因子的空间变化较为明显。从冰川类型来看,与极大陆型及亚大陆型冰川相比,海洋型冰川的度日因子较大。总体看来,西部冰川的度日因子由西北向东南逐渐增大,这与中国西部冰川的气候环境变化趋势是一致的,即在干冷的气候条件下,度日因子较小;而在暖湿的气候条件下度日因子较大。