Variations in glacier volume and snow cover and their impact on lake storage in the Paiku Co Basin,in the Central Himalayas

Glaciers and snow cover are important constituents of the surface of the Tibetan Plateau. The responses of these phenomena to global environmental changes are sensitive, rapid and intensive due to the high altitudes and arid cold climate of the Tibetan Plateau. Based on multisource remote sensing data, including Landsat images, MOD10A2 snow product, ICESat, Cryosat-2 altimetry data and long-term ground climate observations, we analysed the dynamic changes of glaciers, snow melting and lake in the Paiku Co basin using extraction methods for glaciers and lake, the degree-day model and the ice and lake volume method. The interaction among the climate, ice-snow and the hydrological elements in Paiku Co is revealed. From 2000 to 2018, the basin tended to be drier, and rainfall decreased at a rate of −3.07 mm/a. The seasonal temperature difference in the basin increased, the maximum temperature increased at a rate of 0.02°C/a and the minimum temperature decreased at a rate of −0.06°C/a, which accelerated the melting from glaciers and snow at rates of 0.55 × 10⁷ m³/a and 0.29 × 10⁷ m³/a, respectively. The rate of contribution to the lake from rainfall, snow and glacier melted water was 55.6, 27.7 and 16.7%, respectively. In the past 18 years, the warmer and drier climate has caused the lake to shrink. The water level of the lake continued to decline at a rate of −0.02 m/a, and the lake water volume decreased by 4.85 × 10⁸ m³ at a rate of −0.27 × 10⁸ m³/a from 2000 to 2018. This evaluation is important for understanding how the snow and ice melting in the central Himalayas affect the regional water cycle.     

Wavelet analysis of inter‐annual variability in the runoff regimes of glacial and nival stream catchments,Bow Lake,Alberta

Continuous wavelet analyses of hourly time series of air temperature, stream discharge, and precipitation are used to compare the seasonal and inter‐annual variability in hydrological regimes of the two principal streams feeding Bow Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta: the glacial stream draining the Wapta Icefields, and the snowmelt‐fed Bow River. The goal is to understand how water sources and flow routing differ between the two catchments. Wavelet spectra and cross‐wavelet spectra were determined for air temperature and discharge from the two streams for summers (June–September) 1997–2000, and for rainfall and discharge for the summers of 1999 and 2000. The diurnal signal of the glacial runoff was orders of magnitude higher in 1998 than in other years, indicating that significant ice exposure and the development of channelized glacial drainage occurred as a result of the 1997–98 El Niño conditions. Early retreat of the snowpack in 1997 and 1998 led to a significant summer‐long input of melt runoff from a small area of ice cover in the Bow River catchment; but such inputs were not apparent in 1999 and 2000, when snow cover was more extensive. Rainfall had a stronger influence on runoff and followed quicker flow paths in the Bow River catchment than in the glacial catchment. Snowpack thickness and catchment size were the primary controls on the phase relationship between temperature and discharge at diurnal time scales. Wavelet analysis is a fast and effective means to characterize runoff, temperature, and precipitation regimes and their interrelationships and inter‐annual variability. The technique is effective at identifying inter‐annual and seasonal changes in the relative contributions of different water sources to runoff, and changes in the time required for routing of diurnal meltwater pulses through a catchment. However, it is less effective at identifying changes/differences in the type of the flow routing (e.g. overland flow versus through flow) between or within catchments. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Progresses in the ice formation of glaciers in China

Glaciers, formed by snowfall and characterized by movement and size, are the most sensitive indicators to climate change. The ice formation of glaciers (the processes, mechanisms and results of transformation from snow to ice) can indicate the growth condition, the formation process and the physical characteristics of glaciers. Its spatial variation can also reflect glacier change, and further reveal climate change. Studies on ice formation of glaciers in China were initiated in 1962, when Xie and others studied the ice formation of Glacier No.1 at the Urumqi River head, Tianshan Mountain. Other researchersfollowed suit and did studies on ice formation of glaciers in Qilian Mountain. As time goes by, the concept of ice formation came into being in China. This paper reviews the development history of glacier zones, and the studies of ice formation of glaciers in China since the 1960s. These studies mainly focus on Qilian Mountain, Tianshan Mountain, Altay Mountain, and the western Kunlun Mountain, Himalaya Mountain, the southeastern Tibetan and Hengduan Mountains. The paper also discusses the significance of ice formation studies, the limitation and deficiency of previous studies, and the prospects and suggestions for future studies. __________ Translated from Advances in Earth Science, 2007, 22(4): 386–395 [译自: 地球科学进展]     

A quantitative bifurcation analysis of Hénon-like 2D maps

We numerically study the bifurcations of two nonlinear maps, with the same linear part, which depend on a parameter namely the Hénon quadratic map and the so called beam-beam map. Many families of periodic orbits which bifurcate from the central family, are studied. Each family undergoes a sequence of period doubling bifurcations in the quadratic map, But the behavior of the beam-beam map is completely different. Inverse bifurcations occur in both maps. But some families of the same type which bifurcate inversely in the quadratic map do not bifurcate inversely in the beam-beam map, even though both maps have common linear part.     

A geochronological approach to understanding the role of solar activity on Holocene glacier length variability in the Swiss Alps

We present a radiocarbon data set of 71 samples of wood and peat material that melted out or sheared out from underneath eight presentday mid‐latitude glaciers in the Central Swiss Alps. Results indicated that in the past several glaciers have been repeatedly less extensive than they were in the 1990s. The periods when glaciers had a smaller volume and shorter length persisted between 320 and 2500 years. This data set provides greater insight into glacier variability than previously possible, especially for the early and middle Holocene. The radiocarbon‐dated periods defined with less extensive glaciers coincide with periods of reduced radio‐production, pointing to a connection between solar activity and glacier melting processes. Measured long‐term series of glacier length variations show significant correlation with the total solar irradiance. Incoming solar irradiance and changing albedo can account for a direct forcing of the glacier mass balances. Long‐term investigations of atmospheric processes that are in interaction with changing solar activity are needed in order to understand the feedback mechanisms with glacier mass balances.     

Computation of Large Anisotropic Seismic Heterogeneities (CLASH)

A general tomographic technique is designed in order (i) to operate in anisotropic media; (ii) to account for the uneven seismic sampling and (iii) to handle massive data sets in a reasonable computing time. One modus operandi to compute a 3-D body wave velocity model relies on surface wave phase velocity measurements. An intermediate step, shared by other approaches, consists in translating, for each period of a given mode branch, the phase velocities integrated along ray paths into local velocity perturbations. To this end, we develop a method, which accounts for the azimuthal anisotropy in its comprehensive form. The weakly non-linear forward problem allows to use a conjugate gradient optimization. The Earth's surface is regularly discretized and the partial derivatives are assigned to the individual grid points. Possible lack of lateral resolution, due to the inescapable uneven ray path coverage, is taken into account through the a priori covariances on parameters with laterally variable correlation lengths. This method allows to efficiently separate the 2ψ and the 4ψ anisotropic effects from the isotropic perturbations. Fundamental mode and overtone phase velocity maps, derived with real Rayleigh wave data sets, are presented and compared with previous maps. The isotropic models concur well with the results of Trampert & Woodhouse. Large 4ψ heterogeneities are located in the tectonically active regions and over the continental lithospheres such as North America, Antarctica or Australia. At various periods, a significant 4ψ signature is correlated with the Hawaii hotspot track. Finally, concurring with the conclusions of Trampert & Woodhouse, our phase velocity maps show that Rayleigh wave data sets do need both 2ψ and 4ψ anisotropic terms.     

叶尔羌河冰川阻塞性洪水发生的气象因素

2002年8月12日，叶尔羌河再次发生因高原冰川阻塞形成的洪水。本文对叶尔羌河历次高原冰川阻塞性洪水的成因以及与气象的关系做了较详尽的分析，并提出了从气象角度预报该类型洪水的方法和利用卫星遥感技术对冰川阻塞湖进行监测的建议，期望对叶尔羌河今后的防洪工作有一些指导意义。     

青藏高原各拉丹冬地区冰川变化的遥感监测

以位于青藏高原长江源头的各拉丹冬地区冰川为例, 利用2000年的TM数字遥感影像资料、 1969年的航空相片遥感资料、地形图及数字地形模型, 通过遥感图像处理和分析提取研究区小冰期最盛期(LIA)、 1969年和2000年的冰川范围, 并在地理信息系统技术支持下分析该地区冰川的进退情况. 研究结果表明, 该地区1969年冰川面积比小冰期最盛期的冰川面积减少了5.2%, 2000年的冰川面积比1969年的冰川面积减少了1.7%. 从1969年到2000年最大冰川退缩速度为-41.5 m*a-1, 最大冰川前进速度为+21.9 m*a-1. 本区的冰川基本处于稳定状态, 冰川退缩的速度不是太大, 并有前进的冰川存在.