Anomalous glacier changes in the southeast of Tuomuer-Khan Tengri Mountain Ranges, Central Tianshan

Abstract

Central Tianshan (CTS) plays a prominent role in maintaining the vulnerable ecosystem in Central Asia. Rivers originating from it have high proportions of the runoffs contributed by glacier meltwater. In this study, the glacier mass balance in the catchments of Muzart and Karayulun rivers, CTS, was estimated by a geodetic method based on Advanced Land Observing Satellite/Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping images and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model (DEM). The results revealed that at the west and east glacial centers in the study area, the 2000–2011 mass loss rates were −0.03 ± 0.17 and −0.06 ± 0.17 m w.e./a, respectively, considerably lower than other CTS zones. In order to ascertain this stable glacier state, we also performed a geodetic measurement based on TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement (TanDEM-X) images and SRTM DEM (2000–2012), and the results are similar (0.01 ± 0.17 and −0.04 ± 0.17 m w.e./a, respectively). The glacier thickness change around the regional snowline was close to zero. The strong capability of cold storage and the temperature drop in the early 21st century may account for the anomalous mass changes. Despite slight overall mass changes, obvious thinning was observed on many exposed glacier feet. This study indicates that the glacier melting can be effectively controlled if the rising trend of temperatures is reversed; furthermore, the land surface hydrological model should be calibrated with geodetic glacier mass balance measurement when it is used to simulate the streamflow trend in the headwater basin.