Decline of Geladandong Glacier Elevation in Yangtze River's Source Region: Detection by ICESat and Assessment by Hydroclimatic Data
作者:Chao, NF (Chao, Nengfang)[ 1 ] ; Wang, ZT (Wang, Zhengtao)[ 2 ] ; Hwang, C (Hwang, Cheinway)[ 2,3 ] ; Jin, TY (Jin, Taoyong)[ 2 ] ;Cheng, YS (Cheng, Yung-Sheng)[ 3 ]
REMOTE SENSING
卷: 9
期: 1
文献号: 75
DOI: 10.3390/rs9010075
出版年: JAN 2017
摘要
Several studies have indicated that glaciers in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau are thinning, resulting in reduced water supplies to major rivers such as the Yangtze, Yellow, Lancang, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra in China, and south Asia. Three rivers in the upstream of Yangtze River originate from glaciers around the Geladandong snow mountain group in central Tibet. Here we used elevation observations from Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and reference elevations from a 3-arc-second digital elevation model (DEM) of Shuttle Radar Terrestrial Mission (SRTM), assisted with Landsat-7 images, to detect glacier elevation changes in the western (A), central (B), and eastern (C) regions of Geladandong. Robust fitting was used to determine rates of glacier elevation changes in regions with dense ICESat data, whereas a new method called rate averaging was employed to find rates in regions of low data density. The rate of elevation change was -0.158 +/- 0.066 ma(-1) over 2003-2009 in the entire Geladandong and it was -0.176 +/- 0.102 ma(-1) over 2003-2008 in Region C (by robust fitting). The rates in Regions A, B, and C were -0.418 +/- 0.322 ma(-1) (2000-2009), -0.432 +/- 0.020 ma(-1) (2000-2003), and -0.321 +/- 0.139 ma(-1) (2000-2008) (by rate averaging). We used in situ hydroclimatic dataset to assess these negative rates: the glacier thinning was caused by temperature rises around Geladandong, based on the temperature records over 1979-2009, 1957-2013, and 1966-2013 at stations Tuotuohe, Wudaoliang, and Anduo. The thinning Geladandong glaciers led to increased discharges recorded at the river gauge stations Tuotuohe and Chumda over 1956-2012. An unabated Geladandong glacier melting will reduce its long-term water supply to the Yangtze River Basin, causing irreversible socioeconomic consequences and seriously degrading the ecological system of the Yangtze River Basin.
关键词
作者关键词:ICESat altimetry; Geladandong; glacier; Landsat-7; SRTM; Yangtze River
KeyWords Plus:SEA-LEVEL RISE; CLIMATE-CHANGE; MASS-LOSS; HIMALAYAN GLACIERS; WESTERN HIMALAYA; TIBETAN PLATEAU; NEPAL HIMALAYA; STEREO IMAGERY; VOLUME CHANGE; BALANCE
作者信息
通讯作者地址: Hwang, C (通讯作者)
Wuhan Univ, Sch Geodesy & Geomat, Wuhan 430079, Peoples R China. |
通讯作者地址: Hwang, C (通讯作者)
Natl Chiao Tung Univ, Dept Civil Engn, 1001 Ta Hsueh Rd, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan. |
地址:
[ 2 ] Wuhan Univ, Sch Geodesy & Geomat, Wuhan 430079, Peoples R China | |
[ 3 ] Natl Chiao Tung Univ, Dept Civil Engn, 1001 Ta Hsueh Rd, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan |
电子邮件地址:[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
基金资助致谢
NSFC (China) | 41274032 41474018 41429401 |
National 973 Project of China | 2013CB733301 2013CB733302 |
Basic Research Foundation of the Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment and Geodesy of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University | 14-02-04 |
Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan | 103-2221-E-009-114-MY3 104-2611-M-009-001 |
出版商
MDPI AG, ST ALBAN-ANLAGE 66, CH-4052 BASEL, SWITZERLAND
类别 / 分类
研究方向:Remote Sensing
Web of Science 类别:Remote Sensing
文献信息
文献类型:Article
语种:English
入藏号: WOS:000395492600074
ISSN: 2072-4292
期刊信息
Impact Factor (影响因子): 3.036