Reconciling High Glacier Surface Melting in Summer with Air Temperature in the Semi-Arid Zone of Western Himalaya
| Autor: | Lavkush Kumar Patel, Bhanu Pratap, Vinay Kumar Gaddam, Ajit T. Singh, Parmanand Sharma, Sunil Oulkar, Meloth Thamban |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
lcsh:Hydraulic engineering
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences 0208 environmental biotechnology Geography Planning and Development Drainage basin 02 engineering and technology Aquatic Science Atmospheric sciences 01 natural sciences Biochemistry Himalayan glaciers lcsh:Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes lcsh:TC1-978 Precipitation Arid zone 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Water Science and Technology summer melting geography temperature lapse rate and high-altitude observations lcsh:TD201-500 geography.geographical_feature_category Lapse rate Glacier Snow 020801 environmental engineering Temperature gradient Air temperature Environmental science human activities |
| Zdroj: | Water, Vol 11, Iss 8, p 1561 (2019) Water Volume 11 Issue 8 |
| ISSN: | 2073-4441 |
| Popis: | In Himalaya, the temperature plays a key role in the process of snow and ice melting and, importantly, the precipitation phase changes (i.e., snow or rain). Consequently, in longer period, the melting and temperature gradient determine the state of the Himalayan glaciers. This necessitates the continuous monitoring of glacier surface melting and a well-established meteorological network in the Himalaya. An attempt has been made to study the seasonal and annual (October 2015 to September 2017) characteristics of air temperature, near-surface temperature lapse rate (tlr), in-situ glacier surface melting, and surface melt simulation by temperature-index (T-index) models for Sutri Dhaka Glacier catchment, Lahaul-Spiti region in Western Himalaya. The tlr of the catchment ranges from 0.3 to 6.5 ° C km&minus 1, varying on a monthly and seasonal timescale, which suggests the need for avoiding the use of standard environmental lapse rate (SELR ~6.5 ° 1). The measured and extrapolated average air temperature (tavg) was found to be positive on glacier surface (4500 to 5500 m asl) between June and September (summer). Ablation data calculated for the balance years 2015&ndash 16 and 2016&ndash 17 shows an average melting of &minus 4.20 ± 0.84 and &minus 3.09 ± 0.62 m w.e., respectively. In compliance with positive air temperature in summer, ablation was also found to be maximum ~88% of total yearly ice melt. When comparing the observed and modelled ablation data with air temperature, we show that the high summer glacier melt was caused by warmer summer air temperature and minimum spells of summer precipitation in the catchment. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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