Recent Changes in Glaciers in the Northern Tien Shan, Central Asia

Remote Sensing

Congjian Sun¹  Qifei Zhang¹  Yupeng Li²  Yanyun Xiang²  Zhi Li²  Yaning Chen² 

[1] School of Geographical Sciences, Shanxi Normal University, Taiyuan 030031, China;State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China;

关键词: climate change;    glacier;    remote sensing;    Tien Shan;    Central Asia;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs14122878

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The Tien Shan is regarded as the “Water tower of Central Asia,” being a solid reservoir of freshwater resources and also a natural and early warning indicator of climate change. Research on glaciers is important for the sustainable development and management of water resources in Central Asia. This study investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of glaciers in the northern Tien Shan from 1990 to 2015 using multi-source remote sensing and meteorological data. The results showed that the total area and volume of glaciers in the northern Tien Shan exhibited negative trends, decreasing by 456.43 km² (16.08%) and 26.14 km³ (16.38%), respectively. The reduction in the total glacier area exhibited an accelerating trend, decreasing by 0.60%/a before 2000, but by 0.71%/a after 2000. Glaciers in the outer northern Tien Shan region, with areas < 2 km² showed the greatest shrinkage, especially those in the northeastern and southwestern regions. All aspects in the northern Tien Shan exhibited negative trends in the glacier area, especially in the east–west aspects (shrinkage of 24.74–38.37%). Regarding altitude, the termini of glaciers rose continuously from 1990 to 2015, particularly for glaciers below 3700 m, with a total area decrease of 30.37%, and the lower altitude of the glaciers showed a higher area decrease.

【 授权许可】

Unknown