The response of glacial lakes in the Altay Mountains of China to climate change during 1992-2013
Received date: 2014-08-27
Request revised date: 2014-11-02
Online published: 2015-02-10
Copyright
Glacial lakes of the Altay Mountains in China during the past 20 years were interpreted and classified based on the remote sensing images of Landsat TM(1992)/ETM+(2002)/OLI(2013) respectively, with properties including basin, altitude and slope gained from SRTM DEM by spatial overlay analysis in GIS. The features of temporal-spatial distribution and variation of glacial lakes during 1992-2013 and factors which impacted the evolution of glacial lakes in this area were discussed. The results indicate that: (1) there were 1147 glacial lakes in the Altay Mountains of China in 2013, with a total area of 101.628 km2, and both the number and area of glacial lakes increased during the past two decades. (2) The responses of ice-scour lakes and moraine-dammed lakes to climate change were totally different. (3) With temperature rising, the peak of profit and loss of ice-scour lakes reached a higher altitude, and the variation of moraine-dammed lakes became more unstable. (4) Westerly circulation had a significant influence on the glacial lakes, the precipitation on the west-facing slope was sufficient, therefore the west-facing ice-scour lakes varied little, while the west-facing moraine-dammed lakes kept expanding as the profit constantly overmatched the loss. (5) Owing to the lower elevation, glacial lakes in this region were sensitive to climate change than other alpine-plateau areas in western China over the past two decades, both surplus and deficit of water were of high quantity, resulting in few net increment after lake water balance. (6) The magnitude of temperature rise and precipitation reduction during 1992-2002 were larger compared with the period 2002-2013, and the quantity of water surplus and deficit of glacial lakes in spatial units of each size was greater compared with the 2002-2013 period. There is a positive correlation between water surplus and deficit of glacial lakes and the range of temperature rise and precipitation reduction.
CHEN Chen , ZHENG Jianghua , LIU Yongqiang , XU Zhonglin . The response of glacial lakes in the Altay Mountains of China to climate change during 1992-2013[J]. GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH, 2015 , 34(2) : 270 -284 . DOI: 10.11821/dlyj201502007
Fig. 1 Location and terrain of the Altay Mountains of China图1 中国阿尔泰山区位置与地形 |
Fig. 2 Different types of glacial lakes interpreted in a typical area图2 冰湖类型判别样例 |
Fig. 3 Distribution of glacial lakes in the Altay Mountains of China in 2013图3 2013年中国阿尔泰山区冰湖分布图 |
Tab. 1 Number and area of glacial lakes in the Altay Mountains of China during the last two decades表1 近20年中国阿尔泰山区冰湖的数量与面积 |
| 年份 | 冰湖总数量(片) | 冰湖总面积(km2) | 冰川侵蚀湖 | 冰碛阻塞湖 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 数量 (片) | 占总数量比例(%) | 面积(km2) | 占总面积比例(%) | 数量 (片) | 占总数量比例(%) | 面积(km2) | 占总数量比例(%) | ||||
| 1992 | 1063 | 99.38 | 688 | 64.7 | 28.66 | 28.9 | 375 | 35.3 | 70.68 | 71.1 | |
| 2002 | 1120 | 100.19 | 741 | 66.2 | 29.42 | 29.5 | 379 | 33.8 | 70.67 | 70.5 | |
| 2013 | 1147 | 101.63 | 774 | 67.5 | 29.83 | 29.4 | 373 | 32.5 | 71.73 | 70.6 | |
Tab. 2 Statistics of distribution and variation of glacial lakes in Asia during recent decades表2 数十年来亚洲不同地区冰湖分布及变化比较 |
| 研究区 | 所属 山系 | 时间段 (年) | 前一期 面积(km2) | 后一期 面积(km2) | 面积变化(km2) | 年平均 面积变化(km2/a) | 面积 变化率 (%) | 年平均 面积变化率/(%/a) | 文献 来源 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 中国阿尔泰山 | 阿尔泰山 | 1992-2013 | 99.383 | 101.628 | 2.245 | 0.107 | 2.3 | 0.11 | 本研究 |
| 北天山 | 天山 | 1990-2010 | 15.890 | 19.195 | 3.305 | 0.165 | 20.8 | 1.04 | [26] |
| 西天山 | 1990-2010 | 7.373 | 9.145 | 1.772 | 0.089 | 24.03 | 1.2 | [26] | |
| 中央天山 | 1990-2010 | 37.378 | 39.045 | 1.667 | 0.083 | 4.46 | 0.22 | [26] | |
| 东天山 | 1990-2010 | 22.075 | 29.119 | 7.044 | 0.352 | 31.91 | 1.60 | [26] | |
| 然乌湖流域 | 念青唐古拉山 | 1980-2005 | 29.790 | 33.270 | 3.480 | 0.139 | 11.68 | 0.47 | [23] |
| 帕隆藏布江上游 | 1988-2005 | 7.030 | 7.210 | 0.180 | 0.011 | 2.56 | 0.15 | [24] | |
| 念青唐古拉山西段 | 1991-2009 | 5.350 | 7.177 | 1.827 | 0.102 | 34.15 | 1.90 | [25] | |
| 希夏邦马峰东坡 | 喜马拉雅山 | 1977-2003 | 3.720 | 7.480 | 3.760 | 0.145 | 101.08 | 3.89 | [19] |
| 朋曲流域 | 1980-2001 | 42.032 | 47.509 | 5.477 | 0.261 | 13.03 | 0.62 | [16] | |
| 波曲流域 | 1987-2001 | 12.014 | 17.606 | 5.592 | 0.399 | 46.55 | 3.32 | [18] | |
| 洛扎地区 | 1980-2007 | 9.970 | 13.05 | 3.080 | 0.114 | 30.89 | 1.14 | [20] | |
| 中国喜马拉雅山西段 | 1970-2008 | 38.554 | 52.793 | 14.239 | 0.375 | 36.93 | 0.97 | [12] | |
| 中国喜马拉雅山中段 | 1970-2008 | 69.228 | 90.574 | 21.346 | 0.562 | 30.83 | 0.81 | [12] | |
| 中国喜马拉雅山东段 | 1970-2008 | 58.698 | 71.932 | 13.234 | 0.348 | 22.55 | 0.59 | [12] |
Tab. 3 Changes of number and area of glacial lakes in each watershed in the Altay Mountains of China表3 中国阿尔泰山区各流域近20年的冰湖变化 |
| 水系 | 流域 | 年份 | 冰湖数量(片) | 数量净变化(片) | 数量变化比例(%) | 冰湖面积(km2) | 面积净变化(hm2) | 面积变化比例(%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 额尔齐斯河 | 哈巴河 | 1992 | 30 | 7 | 23.3 | 0.60 | 1.4 | 2.3 |
| 2013 | 37 | 0.62 | ||||||
| 布尔津河 | 1992 | 711 | 52 | 7.3 | 85.68 | 147.2 | 1.7 | |
| 2013 | 763 | 87.15 | ||||||
| 克兰河 | 1992 | 41 | 4 | 9.8 | 2.34 | 15.9 | 6.8 | |
| 2013 | 45 | 2.50 | ||||||
| 喀拉额尔齐斯河 | 1992 | 54 | 2 | 3.7 | 2.28 | -8.4 | -3.7 | |
| 2013 | 56 | 2.20 | ||||||
| 喀依尔特河 | 1992 | 163 | 24 | 14.7 | 4.51 | 33.1 | 7.3 | |
| 2013 | 187 | 4.84 | ||||||
| 科布多河 | 科布多河 | 1992 | 5 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.38 | -1.7 | -4.5 |
| 2013 | 5 | 0.36 | ||||||
| 乌伦古河 | 大青格里河 | 1992 | 59 | -5 | -8.5 | 3.59 | 37.2 | 10.4 |
| 2013 | 54 | 3.96 |
Fig. 4 Number and area of glacial lakes at different altitudes in the Altay Mountains of China图4 中国阿尔泰山区冰湖在不同海拔区间的分布情况 |
Fig. 5 Number and area of glacial lakes in different aspects in the Altay Mountains of China图5 中国阿尔泰山区各个坡向上冰湖的分布情况 |
Fig. 6 The precipitation and average temperature (from October to March and April to September) of meteorological stations near the Altay Mountains of China in the last three decades图6 近30年中国阿尔泰山区气象站年际冰雪积累期与冰雪消融期降水总量与平均气温变化情况 |
Fig. 7 Contrasted changes of different classes of glacial lakes at different altitudes in the Altay Mountains of China图7 中国阿尔泰山区不同冰湖类型在不同海拔区间上的面积变化情况 |
Fig. 8 Contrasted changes of different classes of glacial lakes in different aspects in the Altay Mountains of China图8 中国阿尔泰山区不同冰湖类型在各个坡向上的面积变化情况 |
Fig. 9 Changes of typical moraine-dammed lakes during the last two decades图9 典型冰碛阻塞湖近20年的变化情况 |
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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