Acceleration of Glacier Mass Loss after 2013 at the Mt. Everest (Qomolangma)

doi:10.11947/j.JGGS.2020.0406

Journal of Geodesy and Geoinformation Science ›› 2020, Vol. 3 ›› Issue (4): 60-69.doi: 10.11947/j.JGGS.2020.0406

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Acceleration of Glacier Mass Loss after 2013 at the Mt. Everest (Qomolangma)

Gang LI^1,²(),Hui LIN³(),Qinghua YE⁴,Liming JIANG⁵,Andrew HOOPER⁶,Yinyi LIN⁷

1. Shool of Geospatial Engineering and Science, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
2. Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai 519082, China
3. School of Geography and Environment, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
4. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academic of Science, Beijing 100100, China
5. Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Wuhan 430077, China
6. COMET, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT United Kingdom
7. Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China

Received:2020-10-11 Accepted:2020-11-20 Online:2020-12-20 Published:2021-01-15
Contact: Hui LIN E-mail:ligang57@mail.sysu.edu.cn;huilin@cuhk.edu.hk
About author:Gang LI (1986—), male, assistant professor, majors in satellite imagery geodesy, cryospheric remote sensing and modelling.E-mail: ligang57@mail.sysu.edu.cn
Supported by:
National Natural Science Foundation of China(41901384);National Basic Research Program of China(2015CB954103);General Research Fund of HKSAR(CUHK 14233016);General Research Fund of HKSAR(CUHK 14206818);Open Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth’s Dynamics(SKLGED2018-2-3-EZ)

Abstract

Abstract:

Satellite geodesy is capable of observing glacier height changes and most recent studies focus on the decadal scale due to limitations of data acquisition and precision. Glaciers at the Mt. Everest (Qomolangma), locating at the central Himalaya, have been studied from the 1970s to 2015. Here we obtained TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X images observed in two epochs, a group around 2013 and another in 2017. Together with SRTM observed in 2000, we derived geodetic glacier mass balance between 2000 and 2013 and 2013 and 2017. We proposed two InSAR procedures for deriving the second period, which yields with basically identical results of geodetic glacier mass balance. The differencing between DEMs derived by TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X shows better precision than that between TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X formed DEM and SRTM, and it can capable of providing geodetic glacier mass balance at a sub-decadal scale. Glaciers at the Mt. Everest (Qomolangma) and its surroundings present obvious speeding up in mass loss rates before and after 2013 for both the Chinese and the Nepalese sides. The previous obtained spatial heterogeneous pattern for glacier downwasting between 2000 and 2013 generally kept the same after 2013. Glaciers with lacustrine terminus present the most rapid lost rates.

Key words: Mt. Everest (Qomolangma); geodetic glacier mass balance; TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X; bistatic D-InSAR

Gang LI,Hui LIN,Qinghua YE,Liming JIANG,Andrew HOOPER,Yinyi LIN. Acceleration of Glacier Mass Loss after 2013 at the Mt. Everest (Qomolangma)[J]. Journal of Geodesy and Geoinformation Science, 2020, 3(4): 60-69.

Figures/Tables 6

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References 19

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Date	Relative orbit	Orbital Pass	Effective perpendicular baseline/m	Height of ambiguity/m	Average incidence angle	Master satellite
2011-11-04	128	Ascending	113.8	-49.9	36	TSX
2012-01-31	128	Ascending	83.2	-62.9	34	TSX
2012-10-04	29	Descending	88.1	71.5	39	TSX
2012-10-10	128	Ascending	195.5	-28.0	35	TSX
2016-12-11	37	Ascending	117.7	70.9	48	TDX
2017-01-08	128	Ascending	117.1	44.6	34	TDX
2017-01-19	128	Ascending	117.3	48.4	36	TDX

Region or sub-region	2000 to 2013	2013 to 2016/2017
Total region	-0.38±0.04	-0.467±0.048
Chinese Side (Northern slope)	-0.35±0.04	-0.401±0.050
Nepalese Side (Southern slope)	-0.41±0.05	-0.587±0.058
Southeast	-0.28±0.05	-0.503±0.054
Kangxiong	-0.13±0.04	-0.417±0.053
Northeast	-0.22±0.04	-0.468±0.053
Rongbuk Catchment	-0.51±0.05	-0.588±0.059
Northwest	-0.19±0.04	-0.121±0.042
West	-0.51±0.05	-0.510±0.047
Ngozumpa	-0.43±0.05	-0.482±0.054
Bolch’s ROI	-0.48±0.05	-0.758±0.070

Acceleration of Glacier Mass Loss after 2013 at the Mt. Everest (Qomolangma)

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