Glacier is the supply water source of rivers in the western mountainous area, and it is one of the most basic elements for people to survive and develop industry, agriculture and animal husbandry in the western region. Glaciers are not only valuable fresh water resources, but also the source of serious natural disasters in mountainous areas, such as sudden ice lake outburst flood, glacier debris flow and ice avalanche. Glacier hydrological monitoring is the basis for studying the characteristics of glacier melt water, the replenishment of glacier melt water to rivers, the relationship between glacier surface ablation and runoff, the process of ice runoff and confluence, and the calculation and prediction of floods and debris flows induced by glacier and seasonal snow melt water. Glacial hydrology refers to the water and heat conditions of glacial covered basins (i.e. glacial action areas), that is, the water and heat exchange between glaciers and their surrounding environment, the physical process of water accumulation and flow on the surface, inside and bottom of glaciers, the water balance of glaciers, the replenishment of glacial melt water to rivers, and the impact of water bodies in cold regions on climate change. At present, hydrological monitoring stations are mainly established at the outlet of the river basin to carry out field monitoring《 Glacial water resources of China (1991), hydrology of cold regions of China (2000) and glacial Hydrology (2001) summarize the early studies on glacial hydrology. China has carried out glacier hydrological monitoring on more than 20 glaciers in Tianshan, Karakorum, West Kunlun, Qilian, Tanggula, Nianqing Tanggula, gangrigab, Hengduan and Himalayas. This data set is the monthly runoff data of representative glaciers.
YANG Wei, LI Zhongqin, WANG Ninglian, QIN Xiang
Near-surface air temperature variability and the reliability of temperature extrapolation within glacierized regions are important issues for hydrological and glaciological studies that remain elusive because of the scarcity of high-elevation observations. Based on air temperature data in 2019 collected from 12 automatic weather stations, 43 temperature loggers and 6 national meteorological stations in six different catchments, this study presents air temperature variability in different glacierized/nonglacierized regions and assesses the robustness of different temperature extrapolations to reduce errors in melt estimation. The results show high spatial variability in temperature lapse rates (LRs) in different climatic contexts, with the steepest LRs located on the cold-dry northwestern Tibetan Plateau and the lowest LRs located on the warm-humid monsoonal-influenced southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Near-surface air temperatures in high-elevation glacierized regions of the western and central Tibetan Plateau are less influenced by katabatic winds and thus can be linearly extrapolated from off-glacier records. In contrast, the local katabatic winds prevailing on the temperate glaciers of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau exert pronounced cooling effects on the ambient air temperature, and thus, on-glacier air temperatures are significantly lower than that in elevation-equivalent nonglacierized regions. Consequently, linear temperature extrapolation from low-elevation nonglacierized stations may lead to as much as 40% overestimation of positive degree days, particularly with respect to large glaciers with a long flowline distances and significant cooling effects. These findings provide noteworthy evidence that the different LRs and relevant cooling effects on high-elevation glaciers under distinct climatic regimes should be carefully accounted for when estimating glacier melting on the Tibetan Plateau.
YANG Wei
This data is the simulated data of glacier distribution in the alpine region of Asia since the last glacial maximum, It includes the annual resolution glacier area change sequence of typical regions (High mountain Asia, Tianshan Mountains, Himalayas and Pamir Plateau) and typical periods (LGM (20000 ~ 19000ka), HS1 (17000 ~ 16000ka), BA (~ 14900 ~ 14350ka), yd (12900 ~ 12000ka), eh (9500 ~ 8500ka), MH (6500 ~ 5500ka), LH (3500 ~ 2500ka) and modern (1951 ~ 1990)) 1 km resolution glacier distribution in High Mountain Asia. This data are created by taking the trace full forcing simulation based on ccsm3 climate model as the external forcing field to drive the 1 km resolution PISM ice sheet model. This data can be used to study the changes of glacier distribution in the alpine region of Asia since the last glacial maximum and its impact on environmental and climatic factors such as lake water level, runoff and landform.
YAN Qing
Qiangyong glacier: 90.23 °E, 28.88° N, 4898 m asl. The surface is bedrock. The record contains data of absolute pressure and water temperature. Data from the automatic water gauge was collected using USB equipment at 12:00 on June 15, 2021, with a recording interval of one hour, and data was downloaded at 12:00 on Nov. 2, 2021. There is no missing data. Jiagang glacier: 88.69°E, 30.82°N, 5362 m asl. The surface is rubble and weeds. The record contains data of absolute pressure and water temperature. Data from the automatic water gauge was collected using USB equipment at 20:00 on June 19, 2021, with a recording interval of one hour, and data was downloaded at 11:00 onSept 18 , 2021. There is no missing data.
ZHANG Dongqi
This is a comprehensive dataset on microbial abundance, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and total nitrogen (TN) for glaciers on the TP based on extensive field sampling from 2010. The dataset comprises 5,409 microbial abundance records of ice cores and snow pits from 12 glaciers and 2,532 DOC and TN records of five habitats, including ice core, snow pit, surface ice, surface snow, and proglacial runoff, from 38 glaciers. These glaciers covered broad areas and diverse climate conditions with a multiyear average temperature ranging from -13.4 ℃ (the Guliya glacier) to 2.9 ℃ (the Zhuxigou glacier) and multiyear average precipitation ranging from 76.9 mm (the No.15 glacier) to 927.8 mm (the 24K glacier), which makes this dataset suitable for studies across the entire TP. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first dataset of microbial abundance and TN in glaciers on the TP, and also the first dataset of DOC in ice cores on the TP. These new data could provide valuable information for researches on the glacier carbon and nitrogen cycle and assessing the potential impacts of glacier retreat due to global warming on downstream ecosystems.
LIU Yongqin
The mass loss of the Greenland ice sheet has been the main contributor to global sea level rise in recent decades. Under the trend of global warming, the Greenland ice sheet is melting faster. It is of great scientific significance to explore the causes of mass loss and its response to climate change. Based on the MEaSUREs Greenland groundingline and the basin boundaries, we discretize the groundingline, combine the MEaSUREs annual ice velocity data from 1985 to 2015 with the BedMachine v3 ice thickness data, and vectorially calculate the ice discharge at each flux gate of the groundingline. We use the surface mass balance data of RACMO2.3p2 model to spatially calculate the surface mass balance of each basin, and combined it with the ice discharge results to obtain the Greenland ice sheet mass balance data set (1985-2015). The data set includes the mass balance results of each basin of the Greenland ice sheet in the year 1985, 2000 and 2015, and the annual ice velocity data, ice thickness and annual ice discharge corresponding to the location of each flux gate. The data set realizes the fine evaluation of ice flux at the groundingline, and reflect the changes and spatial distribution characteristics of the mass balance of each basin of the Greenland ice sheet in recent 30 years. It provides basic data for the subsequent fine change evaluation and prediction of the mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet and the exploration of the mechanism of ice sheet loss.
LIN Yijing, CHENG Xiao
The Antarctic ice sheet is one of the largest potential sources of global sea level rise. Accurately determining the mass budget of the ice sheet is the key to understand the dynamic changes of the Antarctic ice sheet. It is very important to understand the evolution process of the ice sheet and accurately predict the future global sea level rise. Based on the MEaSUREs Antarctic groundingline and the basin boundaries, we discretize the groundingline, combine the MEaSUREs and RAMP annual ice velocity data from 1985 to 2015 with the BedMachine ice thickness data, and vectorially calculate the ice discharge at each flux gate of the groundingline. We use the surface mass balance data of RACMO2.3p2 model to spatially calculate the surface mass balance of each basin, and combined it with the ice discharge results to obtain the Antarctic ice sheet mass balance data set (1985-2015). The data set includes the mass balance results of each basin of the Antarctic ice sheet in the year 1985, 2000 and 2015, and the annual ice velocity data, ice thickness and annual ice discharge corresponding to the location of each flux gate. The data set realizes the fine evaluation of ice flux at the groundingline, and reflect the changes and spatial distribution characteristics of the mass balance of each basin of the Antarctic ice sheet in recent 30 years. It provides basic data for the subsequent fine change evaluation and prediction of the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet and the exploration of the mechanism of ice sheet loss.
LIN Yijing, CHENG Xiao
Geladandong region is an important and typical source region of great rivers and lakes in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. This data set provides DEM covering glaciers in the source region of the Yangtze River and Selin Co with different time scales and resolutions to calculate the seasonal and decadal changes of glacier surface elevation in the source region. This data set includes seven 5-meter resolution TanDEM-X data from July 2016 to 2017, which can be used to calculate the seasonal change of glacier surface elevation; it includes one KH-9 DEM with a resolution of 30m in 1976, five TanDEM-X with a resolution of 30m in 2011, one TanDEM-X in 2014 and three TanDEM-X in 2017 with a resolution of 30m. The data can be used to calculate the change of glacier surface elevation during 1976-2000, 2000-20112011-2017. At the same time, Landsat ETM data are used to extract the glacier outline in 1976and we divide it according to the RGI6.0; The right figure shows the spatial and temporal coverage information of the data set, and the base figure is the orthophoto corrected kh-9 image.
CHEN Wenfeng
The surface elevation of the ice sheet is very sensitive to climate change, so the elevation change of the ice sheet is considered as an important variable to evaluate climate change. The time series of long-term ice sheet surface elevation change has become a fundamental data for understanding climate change. The longest time series of ice sheet surface elevation can be established by combining the observation records of radar satellite altimetry missions. However, the previous methods for correcting the intermission bias still have error residue when cross-calibrating different missions. Therefore，we modify the commonly used plane-fitting least-squares regression model by restricting the correction of intermission bias and the ascending–descending bias at the same time to ensure the self-consistency and coherence of surface elevation time series across different missions. Based on this method, we use Envisat and CryoSat-2 data to construct the time series of Antarctic ice sheet elevation change from 2002 to 2019. The time series is the monthly grid data, and the spatial grid resolution is 5 km×5 km. Using airborne and satellite laser altimetry data to evaluate the results, it is found that compared with the traditional method, this method can improve the accuracy of intermission bias correction by 40%. Using the merged elevation time series, combining with firn densification-modeled volume changes due to surface processes, we find that ice dynamic processes make the ice sheet along the Amundsen Sea sector the largest volume loss of the Antarctic ice sheet. The surface processes dominate the volume changes in Totten Glacier sector, Dronning Maud Land, Princess Elizabeth Land, and the Bellingshausen Sea sector. Overall, accelerated volume loss in the West Antarctic continues to outpace the gains observed in the East Antarctic. The total volume change during 2002–2019 for the AIS was −68.7 ± 8.1 km3/y, with an acceleration of −5.5 ± 0.9 km3/y2.
ZHANG Baojun, WANG Zemin, YANG Quanming, LIU Jingbin, AN Jiachun, LI Fei, GENG Hong
This data set includes the average concentrations of chemical species (Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+ and TDS) in meltwater runoff draining 77 glaciers worldwide, annual glacial runoff from eight mountain ranges in Asia, and the mineral compositions of glacial deposits in some typical glacial catchments within Asia. This data set comes from the field monitoring of 19 glaciers in Asia by the data set provider, the previous published data worldwide, and the data shared by the authors of published papers. This data set can be used to evaluate the impact of climate warming on glacier erosion process and chemical weathering process, and the impact of glacier melt caused by climate warming on downstream ecosystems and element cycles.
LI Xiangying
In recent years, the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet has accelerated, and a large amount of surface melt water has appeared on the surface of the Antarctic ice sheet. Understandings of the spatial distribution and dynamics of surface melt water on the Antarctic ice sheet is of great significance for the study of the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet. This dataset is 2000-2020 surface melt water dataset of Antarctica Ice Sheet typical melting area (Prydz bay) based on 10-30m Landsat-7, 8 and Sentinel-2 images. The projections are polar azimuthal projections in vector format (ESRI Shapefile) and raster format (GeoTIFF) and the time is Southern Hemisphere summer (December-to-February).
YANG Kang
This dataset contains the glacier outlines in Qilian Mountain Area in 2020. The dataset was produced based on classical band ratio criterion and manual editing. Chinese GF series images collected in 2020 were used as basic data for glacier extraction. Google images and Map World images were employed as reference data for manual adjusting. The dataset was stored in SHP format and attached with the attributions of coordinates, glacier ID and glacier area. Consisting of 1 season, the dataset has a spatial resolution of 2 meters. The accuracy is about 1 pixel (±2 meter). The dataset directly reflects the glacier distribution within the Qilian Mountain in 2020, and can be used for quantitative estimation of glacier mass balance and the quantitative assessment of glacier change’s impact on basin runoff.
Li Jia Li Jia LI Jia LI Jia
The data include K, Na, CA, Mg, F, Cl, so 4 and no 3 in the glacier runoff of zhuxigou, covering most of the inorganic dissolved components. The detection limit is less than 0.01 mg / L and the error is less than 10%; The data can be used to reflect the contribution of chemical weathering processes such as sulfide oxidation, carbonate dissolution and silicate weathering to river solutes in zhuxigou watershed, and then accurately calculate the weathering rates of carbonate and silicate rocks, so as to provide scientific basis for evaluating the impact of glaciation on chemical weathering of rocks and its carbon sink effect.
WU Guangjian
Glacier is the supply water source of rivers in the western mountainous area, and it is one of the most basic elements for people to survive and develop industry, agriculture and animal husbandry in the western region. Glaciers are not only valuable fresh water resources, but also the source of serious natural disasters in mountainous areas, such as sudden ice lake outburst flood, glacier debris flow and ice avalanche. Glacier hydrological monitoring is the basis for studying the characteristics of glacier melt water, the replenishment of glacier melt water to rivers, the relationship between glacier surface ablation and runoff, the process of ice runoff and confluence, and the calculation and prediction of floods and debris flows induced by glacier and seasonal snow melt water. Glacial hydrology refers to the water and heat conditions of glacial covered basins (i.e. glacial action areas), that is, the water and heat exchange between glaciers and their surrounding environment, the physical process of water accumulation and flow on the surface, inside and bottom of glaciers, the water balance of glaciers, the replenishment of glacial melt water to rivers, and the impact of water bodies in cold regions on climate change. At present, hydrological monitoring stations are mainly established at the outlet of the river basin to carry out field monitoring《 Glacial water resources of China (1991), hydrology of cold regions of China (2000) and glacial Hydrology (2001) summarize the early studies on glacial hydrology. China has carried out glacier hydrological monitoring on more than 20 glaciers in Tianshan, Karakorum, West Kunlun, Qilian, Tanggula, Nianqing Tanggula, gangrigab, Hengduan and Himalayas. This data set is the monthly runoff data of representative glaciers.
YANG Wei, LI Zhongqin, WANG Ninglian, QIN Xiang
Glacier surface micrometeorology is to observe the wind direction, wind speed, temperature, humidity, air pressure, four component radiation, ice temperature and precipitation at a certain height of the glacier surface. Glacier surface micrometeorology monitoring is one of the important contents of glacier monitoring. It is an important basic data for the study of energy mass balance, glacier movement, glacier melt runoff, ice core and other related model simulation, which lays a foundation for exploring the relationship between climate change and glacier change. Automatic monitoring is mainly carried out by setting up Alpine weather stations on the glacier surface, and portable weather stations can also be used for short-term flow monitoring. In recent years, more than 20 glacier surfaces in Tianshan, West Kunlun, Qilian, Qiangtang inland, Tanggula, Nianqing Tanggula, southeastern Tibet, Hengduan and Himalayas have been monitored. The data set is monthly meteorological data of glacier area and glacier end.
YANG Wei
High resolution pollen records from ice cores can indicate the relationship between seasonal vegetation changes and climate indicators. High resolution sporopollen analysis was carried out on the 32 m ice core sediments of Zuopu ice core in Qinghai Tibet Plateau. 117 SPOROPOLLEN ASSEMBLAGES were obtained. All the data are sporopollen percentage data, which are arranged in order of depth.
LV Houyuan
Glacier thickness is the vertical distance between the glacier surface and the glacier bottom. The distribution of glacier thickness is not only controlled by glacier scale and subglacial topography, but also varies with different stages of glacier response to climate. The data include longitude and latitude, elevation, single point thickness, total ice reserves and instrument type of glacier survey line. The glacier thickness mainly comes from drilling and ground penetrating radar (GPR). The drilling method is to drill holes on the ice surface to the bedrock under the ice, so as to obtain the thickness of the glacier at a single point; Glacier radar thickness measurement technology can accurately measure the continuous distribution of glacier thickness on the survey line, and obtain the topographic characteristics of subglacial bedrock, so as to provide necessary parameters for the estimation of glacier reserves and the study of glacier dynamics The accuracy of glacier drilling data reaches decimeter level. The accuracy of thickness measurement by GPR radar is between 5% and 15% in theory due to the difference of glacier properties and radar signal strength of bottom interface. Glacier thickness is a prerequisite for obtaining information of subglacial topography and glacier reserves. In the numerical simulation and model study of glacier dynamics, glacier thickness is an important basic input parameter. At the same time, glacier reserve is the most direct parameter to characterize glacier scale and glacier water resources. It is not only very important for accurate assessment, reasonable planning and effective utilization of glacier water resources, but also has important and far-reaching significance for regional socio-economic development and ecological security.
WU Guangjian
The dataset of of potential glacial lakes (PGLs) distribution in the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding (TPS) are vector data (. SHP). The data set contains the ID, area, perimeter, volume and elevation of each PGL. The TPS region was divided into 17 subregions based on the river basins’ borders, including 8 outflow river basins, i.e., the Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Indus, and Ob river basins, and 9 exorheic river basins, i.e., the Qiangtang, Hexi, Tarim, Qiadam, Junggar, Yili, Syr Darya, Amu Darya, and Mongolia river basins. This data is processed from theGlacier ice thickness distribution dataset (provided by Farinotti et al. (2019)). The grid difference between the initial DEM and the glacier ice thickness distribution was used to produce the DEM without glaciers. The overdeepenings were detected via two steps. First, we filled the depressions of the DEM without glaciers using a hydrology tool in the ArcGIS software. Second, using the filled DEM to subtract the DEM without glaciers, we ascertained the PGLs’ locations, areas, depths, and volumes. The quality of this data set depends on the quality of the original glacier thickness data, and the quality of the ice thickness dataset is the best of all similar data at present. The dataset of of potential glacial lakes distribution in the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings can provide a new perspective from which to understand the future formation and evolution of glacial lakes in the TPS. It is anticipated that approximately 16,000 PGLs areas of greater than 0.02 km2 will be formed in the TPS, covering an area of 2253.95 ± 1291.29 km2 and holding a water volume of 60.49 ± 28.94 km3, which would contribute to a 0.16 ± 0.08 mm equivalent sea-level rise.
ZHANG Taigang, WANG Weicai, YAO Tandong, GAO Tanguang, AN Baosheng
Radar penetration correction is essential for accurately estimating glacier mass balance when using the geodetic methods based on the radar-derived Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Due to heterogeneous snow distribution and snowpack properties, the radar penetration depth varies by region and is basically dependent on the altitudes. Therefore, this data set gives the result of the penetration depth difference of SRTM C/X-band radar on 1°×1° grid of High Mountain Asia Glaciers. The data set contains 214 1°×1° grids SRTM X-band and C-band penetration depth difference in HMA, and a linear fitting expression for each grid. According to the geodetic method, the 30 m SRTM X-band and C-band DEM are used to obtain the results of the penetration depth difference between the SRTM X-band and C-band of the 1°×1° high grid in HMA, and obtain the relationship between the SRTM X-C-band penetration depth difference and the elevation in the glacier area (for specific methods, please refer to references). The data is stored in excel files. Observational data can provide important basic data for studying the glacier mass balance in HMA, and can be used by scientific researchers studying climate, hydrology and glaciers.
JIANG Liming JIANG Liming JIANG Liming
Mercury is a global pollutant.The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is adjacent to South Asia, which currently has the highest atmospheric mercury emissions, and could be affected by long-distance transport.The history of atmospheric mercury transport and deposition can be well reconstructed using ice cores and lake cores. The history of atmospheric mercury deposition since the industrial revolution was reconstructed based on 8 lake cores and 1 ice core from the Tibetan Plateau and the southern slope of the Himalayas.This data set contains 8 lake core data from Namtso, Bangongtso, Linggatso, Guanyong Lake, Tanggula Lake, Gosainkunda Lake, Gokyo Lake and Phewa Lake, and 1 ice core data .The resolution of ice core data is 1 year, lake core data is 2~20 years, and the data include mercury concentration and flux.
KANG Shichang
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