The Urumqi River source Glacier No. 1, Tianshan, China: Changes over the past 45 years

Abstract

This study analyzes long-term climate and glacier records to examine climate change and glacier response over the past 45 years in Urumqi River source region, the Tianshan Mountains of China. The results show that summer temperature and annual precipitation near the glacier increased by 0.8°C and 87 mm (19%), respectively, during the study period. The glacier continuously retreated from 1962 to 2003, with the cumulated mass balance being -10,032 mm, or 20% of the glacier volume. Annual basin runoff has significantly increased by 413 mm or 62% during 1980-2003 due to precipitation increase and enhanced glacier melt caused by summer climate warming. Both summer precipitation and temperate are negatively correlated with mass balance and positively associated with runoff. Relative to precipitation-mass balance relation, the regression between temperature and mass balance is much stronger, indicating that summer temperature controls glacier mass balance and runoff changes Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.