Acta Geographica Sinica ›› 2009, Vol. 64 ›› Issue (11): 1319-1330.doi: 10.11821/xb200911004

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Changes of Some Monsoonal Temperate Glaciers in Hengduan Mountains Region during 1900-2007

LI Zong-xing1,2, HE Yuan-qing1,3, WANG Shi-jin1,2, JIA Wen-xiong1,2, HE Xian-zhong1,2, Zhang Ning-ning1,2, ZHU Guo-feng1,2, PU Tao3, DU Jian-kuo3, XIN Hui-juan1,2   

  1. 1. The State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science/Yulong Snow Mountain Glaciers and Environmental Observation Station,Cold and Arid Region Environment and Engineering Research Institute,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Lanzhou 730000,China;
    2. Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China;
    3. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences,Lanzhou University,Lanzhou 730000,China
  • Received:2009-01-24 Revised:2009-04-24 Online:2009-11-25 Published:2009-11-25
  • Supported by:

    This study was supported a Major Directionality Program of China's Academy of Sciences (KZCXZ-YW-317), a Project for Incubation of Specialists in Glaciology and Geocryology of National Natural Science Foundation of China (J0630966), a National Basic Research Program of China (2007CB411201), a Key Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (90511007), a West Light Foundation of China's Academy of Sciences (O828A11001), a Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40971019, 40801028), and the Foundation from The State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science and Lijiang City Government

Abstract:

Since the early 1900s, a tendency for some monsoonal temperate glaciers retreat has been observed in the Hengduan Mountains region. Against the background of climate change, 7 monsoonal temperate glaciers were in a stationary or an advancing state between the 1900s-1930s and the 1960s-1980s, and they were in a retreat state during the 1930s-1960s and from the 1980s to the present, which is consistent with the climatic fluctuations of China, the Northern Hemisphere and Hengduan Mountains region, and these glaciers were steady or advanced when the climate was characterised by cold-dry and vice versa. The variational extent is different among 7 glaciers owing to the locations and scales. The ablation water equivalent of glacier tongue in Dagongba Glacier, Xiaogongba Glacier and Hailuogou Glacier is 2710 mm, 3139 mm and 5281 mm in 1982/83, respectively, and the mean value in Hailuogou Glacier is 6157 mm during 1990/91-97/98, which is 876 mm more than that in 1982/83. The ablation of Baishui Glacier No.1 was in decline with the rise of altitude owing to the less debris cover in the summer of 2002. Based on the mass observation during 2008.9.19-30, the glacier started to accumulate after October 6, and the accumulation depth is 1 cm equal to 5 mm water equivalent per day during 9.30-10.13.

Key words: Hengduan Mountains, monsoonal temperate glaciers, glacier surface morpholog