Climate Change Research ›› 2025, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (2): 208-220.doi: 10.12006/j.issn.1673-1719.2024.174

• Changes in Climate System • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Characteristics of glacier mass balance changes and response to climate change in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

WANG Ying-Shan1, SUN Wei-Jun1(), DING Ming-Hu2, LIU Wei-Gang3, DU Wen-Tao4,5,6, QIN Xiang4, ZHANG Dong-Qi2   

  1. 1 College of Geography and Environment, Shandong Normal University, Ji’nan 250358, China
    2 Institute of Global Change and Polar Research, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
    3 Lanzhou Institute of Arid Meteorology of China Meteorological Administration, Lanzhou 730020, China
    4 Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science and Frozen Soil Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
    5 Disaster Prevention and Control Technology Centre for Intelligent Equipment and Big Data in Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730000, China
    6 Zhangye Meteorological Bureau, Zhangye 734000, China
  • Received:2024-07-08 Revised:2024-08-27 Online:2025-03-30 Published:2024-12-31

Abstract:

The glacier is one of the most important components of the cryosphere, and the glacier mass balance is the most direct response to climate change. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) is known as the “Water Tower of Asia”. It is important to explore changes in the mountain glacier mass balance in the plateau to assess changes in sea level and water resources and provide early warning of the risk of ice-snow disaster. As a result of the “plateau amplification effect”, the QTP is warming at a rate higher than the global average. It continues to warm, and the plateau climate is becoming warmer and more humid. The westerlies and monsoon are the determining factors of climate and environmental change on the QTP; the glaciers in the monsoon-influenced area retreat strongly, the glaciers in the westerlies influenced area tend to stable or even advance in part of the glaciers, and the degree of glacier retreat in the westerlies-monsoon transition area is weakened. The loss of glacier mass is accelerated in the south-east of the QTP, while the shrinkage rate of the north-west glaciers is smaller, and the total glacier area will continue to decrease in the future. Most of the glaciers on the QTP are more sensitive to temperature changes than to precipitation, and extreme weather and large-scale circulation also have an important influence on changes in glacier mass balance, but research on the mechanism of their influence needs to be further strengthened. Researching changes in glacier mass balance in the QTP still faces many challenges and is a future frontier scientific issue and priority for cryosphere science.

Key words: Glacier mass balance, Response to climate change, Climate sensitivity, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP)

京ICP备11008704号-4
Copyright © Climate Change Research, All Rights Reserved.
Tel: (010)58995171 E-mail: accr@cma.gov.cn
Powered by Beijing Magtech Co. Ltd