Paper Info
Title
Changes in Glaciers and Glacial Lakes in the Bosula Mountain Range, Southeast Tibet, over the past Two Decades
Abstract
Glaciers and glacial lakes in the Bosula Mountain Range need special attention, because their instability may cause disastrous consequences to the downstream settlements and the Sichuan-Tibet Road. The latter is a pivotal traffic line in the Southeast Tibetan Plateau. In order to investigate the state of glaciers and glacial lakes in the Bosula Mountain Range, we estimated the changes in glacier/glacial lake boundaries, glacier surface elevation, and glacier flow velocity between 2000 and 2021 based on multisource remote sensing data. Our results showed that, from the period 2000-2013 to the period 2013-2021, the average shrinking rate of glacier area increased from 0.99 km(2)/a to 1.74 km(2)/a, and the average expanding rate of glacial lake area increased from 0.04 km(2)/a to 0.06 km(2)/a. From the period 1990-2011 to the period 2015-2019, the average thinning rate of glaciers increased from 0.83 m/a to 1.58 m/a. These results indicate the Bosula Mountain Range is one of the fastest melting glacierized regions in the High Mountain Asia, and the factors that account for this may include quick temperature rise, abundant summer rainfall, and thin debris cover. In spite of strong ice melting, the observed changes in glacier boundaries, surface elevation, and flow velocity show no sign of surge activity, and the frequency of glacier lake outburst has not increased since 1989. Currently, three proglacial lakes that expanded quickly during 2000-2021 are now prominent hazards. They are directly threatened by accidental ice calving and ice avalanche, and their outburst could cause considerable damage to the downstream settlements and the Sichuan-Tibet Road.
Year
DOI
Venue
2022
10.3390/rs14153792
REMOTE SENSING
Keywords
DocType
Volume
glacier, glacial lake, TanDEM-X, Sentinel-2, Southeast Tibetan Plateau
Journal
14
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
15
2072-4292
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Jia Li100.68
Yunyang Gu200.34
Lixin Wu39435.60
Lei Guo401.01
Haodong Xu500.34
Zelang Miao612513.82