This study presents a 64-year （1951-2014） reconstruction of the surface mass balance of Glacier No. 31, located in the Suntar-Khayata Range of the eastern Siberia, where the ablation zone is characterized by the ext...This study presents a 64-year （1951-2014） reconstruction of the surface mass balance of Glacier No. 31, located in the Suntar-Khayata Range of the eastern Siberia, where the ablation zone is characterized by the extensive dark ice surface. We use a temperature index-based glacier mass-balance model, which computes all major components of glacier mass budget and is forced by daily air temperature and precipitation from a nearby meteorological station. The glacier shows a mean annual mass balance of -0.35 m w.e.a-1 during the past 64 years, with an acceleration of -0.50 m w.e. a^-1 during the recent years. A cumulative mass loss of the glacier is -22.3 m w.e. over the study period, about 56% of which is observed during 1991-2014. In addition to the contribution of temperature rise and precipitation decrease to recent mass loss of the glacier, an experimental analysis, in which the clean and dark ice surfaces are respectively assumed to cover the entire ablation zone, indicates that dark ice surface, caused by insoluble impurities consisting of mineral dusts, eryoconite granules, and ice algae, plays a crucial role in the changing mass balance through enhancing melt rates in the ablation zone of the glacier.展开更多
基金supported by the National Basic Work Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(MOST)(Grant No.2013FY111400)the Major Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.KZZD-EW-12-1)MEXT through the Green Network of Excellence(GRENE)Arctic Climate Change Research Project
文摘This study presents a 64-year （1951-2014） reconstruction of the surface mass balance of Glacier No. 31, located in the Suntar-Khayata Range of the eastern Siberia, where the ablation zone is characterized by the extensive dark ice surface. We use a temperature index-based glacier mass-balance model, which computes all major components of glacier mass budget and is forced by daily air temperature and precipitation from a nearby meteorological station. The glacier shows a mean annual mass balance of -0.35 m w.e.a-1 during the past 64 years, with an acceleration of -0.50 m w.e. a^-1 during the recent years. A cumulative mass loss of the glacier is -22.3 m w.e. over the study period, about 56% of which is observed during 1991-2014. In addition to the contribution of temperature rise and precipitation decrease to recent mass loss of the glacier, an experimental analysis, in which the clean and dark ice surfaces are respectively assumed to cover the entire ablation zone, indicates that dark ice surface, caused by insoluble impurities consisting of mineral dusts, eryoconite granules, and ice algae, plays a crucial role in the changing mass balance through enhancing melt rates in the ablation zone of the glacier.
