Slight glacier mass loss in the Karakoram region during the 1970s to 2000 revealed by KH-9 images and SRTM DEM

• Published in: Journal of glaciology 2017-04, Vol.63 (238), p.331-342
• Main Authors: ZHOU, YUSHAN, LI, ZHIWEI, LI, JIA
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Climate change; Cryosphere; Glacier mass balance; Glaciers; Hydrology; Image acquisition; Mass; Mass balance of glaciers; Precipitation; remote sensing; Studies; surface mass budget
• ISSN: 0022-1430; 1727-5652
• DOI: 10.1017/jog.2016.142

An anomalously slight glacier mass gain during 2000 to the 2010s has recently been reported in the Karakoram region. However, to date, no investigations of the region-wide glacier mass balance in the Karakoram prior to 2000 have been reported, leaving a knowledge gap for assessing glacier responses to climate change. We calculated elevation and mass change using DEMs generated from KH-9 images acquired during 1973–1980 and the 1 arc-second SRTM DEM. We find a slight mass loss of −0.09 ± 0.03 m w.e. a−1 (12 366 km2) for 1973–2000, which is less negative than the global average rate for 1971–2009 (−0.31 ± 0.19 m w.e. a−1). Within the Karakoram, the glacier change patterns are spatially and temporally heterogeneous. In particular, a nearly stable state in the central Karakoram (−0.04 ± 0.05 m w.e. a−1 during the period 1974–2000) implies that the Karakoram anomaly dates back to the 1970s. Combined with the previous studies, we conclude that the Karakoram glaciers as a whole were in a nearly balanced state during the 1970s to the 2010s.