Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Slight mass gain of Karakoram glaciers in the early twenty-first century

Nature Geoscience volume 5, pages 322–325 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Assessments of the state of health of Hindu-Kush–Karakoram–Himalaya glaciers and their contribution to regional hydrology and global sea-level rise suffer from a severe lack of observations1. The globally averaged mass balance of glaciers and ice caps is negative1,2,3. An anomalous gain of mass has been suggested for the Karakoram glaciers2,4,5,6, but was not confirmed by recent estimates of mass balance. Furthermore, numerous glacier surges in the region that lead to changes in glacier length and velocity7,8,9,10,11 complicate the interpretation of the available observations. Here, we calculate the regional mass balance of glaciers in the central Karakoram between 1999 and 2008, based on the difference between two digital elevation models. We find a highly heterogeneous spatial pattern of changes in glacier elevation, which shows that ice thinning and ablation at high rates can occur on debris-covered glacier tongues. The regional mass balance is just positive at +0.11±0.22 m yr−1 water equivalent and in agreement with the observed reduction of river runoff that originates in this area12. Our measurements confirm an anomalous mass balance in the Karakoram region and indicate that the contribution of Karakoram glaciers to sea-level rise was −0.01 mm yr−1 for the period from 1999 to 2008, 0.05 mm yr−1 lower than suggested before13.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Study area in central Karakoram.
Figure 2: Map of glacier elevation changes between February 2000 and December 2008.
Figure 3: Elevation changes with altitude between February 2000 and December 2008 for selected surge-type and non-surging glaciers.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Kaser, G., Cogley, J. G., Dyurgerov, M. B., Meier, M. F. & Ohmura, A. Mass balance of glaciers and ice caps: consensus estimates for 1961–2004. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L19501 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Zemp, M., Hoelzle, M. & Haeberli, W. Six decades of glacier mass-balance observations: A review of the worldwide monitoring network. Ann. Glaciol. 50 (50), 101–111 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Cogley, J. G. Geodetic and direct mass-balance measurements: Comparison and joint analysis. Ann. Glaciol. 50 (50), 96–100 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Cogley, J. G. Present and future states of Himalaya and Karakoram glaciers. Ann. Glaciol. 52 (59), 69–73 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Hewitt, K. The Karakoram anomaly? Glacier expansion and the ‘elevation effect’, Karakoram Himalaya. Mt. Res. Dev. 25, 332–340 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Scherler, D., Bookhagen, B. & Strecker, M. R. Spatially variable response of Himalayan glaciers to climate change affected by debris cover. Nature Geosci. 4, 156–159 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Hewitt, K. Tributary glacier surges: An exceptional concentration at Panmah Glacier, Karakoram Himalaya. J. Glaciol. 53, 181–188 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Barrand, N. E. & Murray, T. Multivariate controls on the incidence of glacier surging in the Karakoram Himalaya. Arct. Antarct. Alp. Res. 38, 489–498 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Copland, L. et al. Glacier velocities across the central Karakoram. Ann. Glaciol. 50 (52), 41–49 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Quincey, D. J. et al. Karakoram glacier surge dynamics. Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, L18504 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Copland, L. et al. Expanded and recently increased glacier surging in the Karakoram. Arct. Antarct. Alp. Res. 43, 503–516 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Fowler, H. J. & Archer, D. R. Conflicting signals of climatic change in the Upper Indus Basin. J. Clim. 19, 4276–4293 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Church, J. A. et al. Revisiting the Earth’s sea-level and energy budget from 1961 to 2008. Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, L18601 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Fujita, K. & Nuimura, T. Spatially heterogeneous wastage of Himalayan glaciers. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 14011–14014 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Quincey, D. J. et al. Ice velocity and climate variations for Baltoro Glacier, Pakistan. J. Glaciol. 55, 1061–1071 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Hewitt, K. Glacier change, concentration, and elevation effects in the Karakoram Himalaya, Upper Indus Basin. Mt. Res. Dev. 31, 188–200 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Bader, H. Sorge’s law of densification of snow on high polar glaciers. J. Glaciol. 2, 319–323 (1954).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Mattson, L. E., Gardner, J. S. & Young, G. J. in Snow and Glacier Hydrology (ed. Young, G. J.) 289–296 (IAHS Publ. 218, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Sakai, A., Takeuchi, N., Fujita, K. & Nakawo, M. in Debris-Covered Glaciers (eds Nakawo, M., Raymond, C. F. & Fountain, A.) 119–130 (IAHS Publ. 264, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  20. Berthier, E. et al. Remote sensing estimates of glacier mass balances in the Himachal Pradesh (Western Himalaya, India). Remote Sens. Environ. 108, 327–338 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Bhutiyani, M. R. Mass-balance studies on Siachen Glacier in the Nubra valley, Karakoram Himalaya, India. J. Glaciol. 45, 112–118 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Bolch, T., Pieczonka, T. & Benn, D. I. Multi-decadal mass loss of glaciers in the Everest area (Nepal Himalaya) derived from stereo imagery. Cryosphere 5, 349–358 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Azam, M. F. et al. From balance to imbalance: A shift in the dynamic behaviour of Chhota Shigri Glacier (Western Himalaya, India). J. Glaciol. 58, 315–324 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Heid, T. & Kääb, K. Worldwide widespread decadal-scale decrease of glaciers speed revealed using repeat optical satellite images. Cryosphere Discuss. 5, 3025–3051 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Tahir, A. A., Chevallier, P., Arnaud, Y. & Ahmad, B. Snow cover dynamics and hydrological regime of the Hunza River Basin, Karakoram Range, Nothern Pakistan. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 15, 2275–2290 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Archer, D. R. & Fowler, H. J. Spatial and temporal variations in precipitation in the Upper Indus Basin, global teleconnections and hydrological implications. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 8, 47–61 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Nuth, C. & Kääb, A. Co-registration and bias corrections of satellite elevation data sets for quantifying glacier thickness change. Cryosphere 5, 271–290 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Gardelle, J., Berthier, E. & Arnaud, Y. Impact of resolution and radar penetration on glacier elevation changes computed from DEM differencing. J. Glaciol. 58, 419–422 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Berthier, E., Arnaud, Y., Baratoux, D, Vincent, C. & Rémy, F. Recent rapid thinning of the ‘Mer de Glace’ glacier derived from satellite optical images. Geophys. Res. Lett. 31, L17401 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Wake, C.P. Glaciochemical investigations as a tool for determining the spatial and seasonal variation of snow accumulation in the central Karakoram, northern Pakistan. Ann. Glaciol. 13, 279–284 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

J.G. acknowledges a PhD fellowship from the French Space Agency (CNES) and the French National Research Center (CNRS). E.B. acknowledges support from CNES through the TOSCA and ISIS proposal no. 397 and from the Programme National de Télédétection Spatiale. We thank the United States Geological Survey for allowing free access to their Landsat archive, CIAT for SRTM C-band data and DLR for SRTM X-band data. We thank A. Kääb for his comments on an earlier version of the manuscript and G. Cogley for a constructive review.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS—Université Grenoble 1, LGGE UMR 5183, 54 rue Molière, Domaine Universitaire, BP 96, 38402 Saint Martin d’Hères Cedex, France

    Julie Gardelle

  2. CNRS, Université de Toulouse, LEGOS, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, Toulouse 31400, France

    Etienne Berthier

  3. IRD—Université Grenoble 1, LTHE UMR 5564/LGGE UMR 5183, 54 rue Molière, Domaine Universitaire, BP 96, 38402 Saint Martin d’Hères Cedex, France

    Yves Arnaud

Authors
  1. Julie Gardelle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Etienne Berthier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yves Arnaud
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

J.G. led the development of this study, carried out all DEM analysis and led the writing of the manuscript. Y.A. and E.B. initiated the study and contributed to the development of the methodology, discussion of results and the writing of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julie Gardelle.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (PDF 2193 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gardelle, J., Berthier, E. & Arnaud, Y. Slight mass gain of Karakoram glaciers in the early twenty-first century. Nature Geosci 5, 322–325 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1450

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1450

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing