Contrasting glacier responses to recent climate change in high-mountain Asia.

ABSTRACT: Recent studies of Asian glaciers have shown that glaciers in eastern Karakoram and West Kunlun have been slightly gaining mass while those in nearby Jammu Kashmir and Himalayas are losing mass, at rates of more than 0.5 m w.e.yr^-1 and about 0.3 m w.e.yr^-1, respectively. Two possible explanations have been proposed for this difference in glacier behaviour: spatial heterogeneity in climate change (climatic forcing) or differing glacier responses to climate change (glacier response). However, neither explanation has strong supporting evidence. Here, we examine the glacial response by calculating the mass-balance sensitivity to temperature change in high-mountain Asia. In support of the glacier-response explanation, we find a strong correlation between observed glacier su

SUBMITTER: Sakai A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5651914 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature