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Zhadang Glacier

Zhadang

From 04/2011


The research area at Zhadang Glacier (~ 5.500 m a.s.l.) is located about 50 km southwest of Nam Co Station in the Nyainqentanglha Mountains. In April 2009 two automatic weather stations (AWS) have been installed on the glacier, complementing an AWS operated by the ITP. The setup provides one of the most elaborately equipped "laboratory glaciers" in. Both AWS are inspected (and repaired, if required) every six months and will record meteorological data during at least two years. The data is used to set up and calibrate atmospheric and mass balance models. In October 2010 one AWS had to be moved and reinstalled on the terminal moraine due to rapid changes in surface elevation and slope near the glacier front. In addition to the AWS, two cameras were installed on a lateral moraine in October 2009 and May 2010. They each take one picture a day simultaneously to record glacier area and volume changes. The position of the glacier tongue was measured at every campaign. An animation of the full image time series of summer 2010 can be accessed online . In May 2010 a hydrological sensor was installed in one of the glacier melt water channels to investigate the contribution of permafrost thawing to the runoff through conductivity measurements. In addition, conductivity measurements have been carried out in the different melt water channels manually. In April 2009 a laser precipitation sensor w as installed at Nam Co Station. These highly accurate measurements of precipitation amount, intensity and type complement the Chinese atmospheric measurements at Nam Co Research Station. WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model validation studies using existing data sets, both from weather stations and remote sensing systems have been carried out. The data demonstrate the large-scale influences of monsoonal and westerly winds and the strong seasonal course of near-surface air temperature. Monthly values are aggregated and the full time series can be viewed online

 

Zhadang_panorama



List of publications of this Field site

Maussion, F; Yang, W; Huintjes, E; Pieczonka, T; Scherer, D; Yao, T; Kang, S; Bolch, T; Buchroithner, M; Schneider, C: Glaciological field studies at Zhadang Glacier (5500-6095m), Tibetan Plateau in Tijm-Reijmer, CH and Oerlemans, J: IASC Workshop on the use of automated measuring systems on glaciers - Extended abstracts and recommendations, 23-26 (2011) [Link]
Bolch, T; Yao, T; Kang, S; Buchroithner, M; Scherer, D; Huintjes, E; Schneider, C: A glacier inventory for the western Nyainqentanglha Range and Nam Co Basin, Tibet, and glacier changes 1976-2009, The Cryosphere, 4, 419-433 (2010)


Related links:
  • Experiment: Nam Co and Zhadang Glacier 2009-2014: Dynamic response of glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau to climate change (DynRG-TiP)

last modified 2014-01-09