Glacier changes in the Qilian Mountains in the past half-century: Based on the revised First and Second Chinese Glacier Inventory

doi:10.1007/s11442-018-1468-y

Abstract

Abstract:

Glaciers are the most important fresh-water resources in arid and semi-arid regions of western China. According to the Second Chinese Glacier Inventory (SCGI), primarily compiled from Landsat TM/ETM+ images, the Qilian Mountains had 2684 glaciers covering an area of 1597.81±70.30 km² and an ice volume of ~84.48 km³ from 2005 to 2010. While most glaciers are small (85.66% are <1.0 km²), some larger ones (12.74% in the range 1.0-5.0 km²) cover 42.44% of the total glacier area. The Laohugou Glacier No.12 (20.42 km²) located on the north slope of the Daxue Range is the only glacier >20 km² in the Qilian Mountains. Median glacier elevation was 4972.7 m and gradually increased from east to west. Glaciers in the Qilian Mountains are distributed in Gansu and Qinghai provinces, which have 1492 glaciers (760.96 km²) and 1192 glaciers (836.85 km²), respectively. The Shule River basin contains the most glaciers in both area and volume. However, the Heihe River, the second largest inland river in China, has the minimum average glacier area. A comparison of glaciers from the SCGI and revised glacier inventory based on topographic maps and aerial photos taken from 1956 to 1983 indicate that all glaciers have receded, which is consistent with other mountain and plateau areas in western China. In the past half-century, the area and volume of glaciers decreased by 420.81 km² (-20.88%) and 21.63 km³ (-20.26%), respectively. Glaciers with areas <1.0 km² decreased the most in number and area recession. Due to glacier shrinkage, glaciers below 4000 m completely disappeared. Glacier changes in the Qilian Mountains presented a clear longitudinal zonality, i.e., the glaciers rapidly shrank in the east but slowly in the central-west. The primary cause of glacier recession was warming temperatures, which was slightly mitigated with increased precipitation.

Key words: glacier change, glacier inventory, glacier volume, climate change, Qilian Mountains

Meiping SUN, Shiyin LIU, Xiaojun YAO, Wanqin GUO, Junli XU. Glacier changes in the Qilian Mountains in the past half-century: Based on the revised First and Second Chinese Glacier Inventory[J].Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2018, 28(2): 206-220.

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Basin (Code)	Sub-basin (Code)	Number		Area		Average area(km²)	Volume
Basin (Code)	Sub-basin (Code)		(%)	(km²)	(%)	Average area(km²)	(km³)	(%)
Datong River (5J4)	Datong River (5J42)	68	2.53	20.83	1.30	0.31	0.73	0.86
Hexi interior area (5Y4)	Shiyang River (5Y41)	97	3.61	39.94	2.50	0.41	1.55	1.83
	Heihe River (5Y42)	375	13.97	78.33	4.90	0.21	2.39	2.83
	Beida River (5Y43)	577	21.50	215.27	13.47	0.37	8.75	10.36
	Shule River (5Y44)	660	24.59	509.87	31.91	0.77	29.66	35.11
	Danghe River (5Y45)	318	11.85	203.77	12.75	0.64	10.08	11.93
	Total	2027	75.52	1047.18	65.54	0.52	52.43	62.07
Qaidam interior area (5Y5)	Buh River-Qinghai Lake (5Y51)	24	0.89	10.27	0.64	0.43	0.42	0.50
	Haltang River (5Y56)	268	9.99	283.52	17.74	1.06	17.58	20.81
	Har Lake (5Y57)	108	4.02	78.73	4.93	0.73	4.56	5.40
	Iqe River-Tatalin Gol River (5Y58)	179	6.67	155.08	9.71	0.87	8.69	10.29
	Bayan Gol River (5Y59)	10	0.37	2.20	0.14	0.22	0.06	0.07
	Total	589	21.94	529.8	33.16	0.90	31.31	37.07

Province	City/Autonomous Prefecture	Number		Area		Volume
Province	City/Autonomous Prefecture		(%)	(km²)	(%)	(km³)	(%)
Gansu	Jiuquan	718	26.75	508.99	31.86	28.17	33.35
	Zhangye	739	27.53	245.65	15.37	9.60	11.36
	Wuwei	35	1.31	6.32	0.40	0.17	0.20
	Total	1492	55.59	760.96	47.63	37.94	44.91
Qinghai	Haixi	825	30.74	729.79	45.67	42.79	50.65
	Haibei	367	13.67	107.06	6.70	3.75	4.44
	Total	1192	44.41	836.85	52.37	46.54	55.09

Ice volume of glaciers in the FCGI (km³)	Ice volume of glaciers in the SCGI (km³)	Glacier volume change			Method of glacier volume calculation	Reference
Ice volume of glaciers in the FCGI (km³)	Ice volume of glaciers in the SCGI (km³)	km³	km³/10a	%/10a	Method of glacier volume calculation	Reference
101.90	81.30	-20.60	-5.12	-5.65	V=0.0365A^1.375	Radi? and Hock (2010)
109.86	87.52	-22.34	-5.56	-5.69	V=0.0433A^1.29	Grinsted (2013)
108.44	86.49	-21.95	-5.46	-5.66	V=0.04A^1.35	Liu et al. (2003)