Mountain glaciers are important freshwater resources in Western China and its surrounding areas. It is at the drainage basin scale that mountain glaciers provide meltwater that humans exploit and utilize. Therefore, the determination of glacierized river basins is the basis for the research on glacier meltwater provisioning functions and their services. Based on the Randolph glacier inventory 6.0, Chinese Glacier Inventories, China's river basin classifications (collected from the Data Centre for Resources and Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences), and global-scale HydroBASINS (www.hydrosheds.org), the following dataset was generated by the intersection between river basins and glacier inventory: (1) Chinese glacierized macroscale and microscale river basins; (2) International glacierized macroscale river basin fed by China’s glaciers; (3) Glacierized macroscale river basin data across High Mountain Asia. This data takes the common river basin boundaries in China and the globe into account, which is poised to provide basic data for the study of historical and future glacier water resources in China and its surrounding areas.
SU Bo
This dataset contains the glacier outlines in Qilian Mountain Area in 2015. The dataset was produced based on classical band ratio criterion and manual editing. Chinese GF series images collected in 2018 were used as basic data for glacier extraction. Sentinel-2 images, 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 2018, 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
This dataset contains the glacier outlines in Qilian Mountain Area in 2019. The dataset was produced based on classical band ratio criterion and manual editing. Chinese GF series images collected in 2019 were used as basic data for glacier extraction. Sentinel-2 images, 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 2019, 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
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. Sentinel-2 images, 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
This dataset contains the glacier outlines in Qilian Mountain Area in 2021. The dataset was produced based on classical band ratio criterion and manual editing. Chinese GF series images collected in 2021 were used as basic data for glacier extraction. Sentinel-2 images, 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 2021, 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 dataset includes three high-resolution DSM data as well as Orthophoto Maps of Kuqionggangri Glacier, which were measured in September 2020, June 2021 and September 2021. The dataset is generated using the image data taken by Dajiang Phantom 4 RTK UAV, and the products are generated through tilt photogrammetry technology. The spatial resolution of the data reaches 0.15 m. This dataset is a supplement to the current low-resolution open-source topographic data, and can reflect the surface morphological changes of Kuoqionggangri Glacier from 2020 to 2021. The dataset helps to accurately study the melting process of Kuoqionggangri Glacier under climate change.
LIU Jintao
This dataset includes the glacier elevation change data in the High Mountain Asia (HMA) region from 2018 to 2020 derived from Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat-2) data. The glacial elevation changes in the High Mountain Asia region were calculated using ICESat-2 data (2018-2020) and SRTM DEM data in 2000, taking into account the inhomogeneity of glacier changes and area distribution at different elevations and slopes (weighted average of glacier area of elevation and slope bins in 1°×1° grid ). The dataset can provide the annual change information of glacier elevation in the High Mountain Asia region from 2018 to 2020 relative to 2000. These data can be used for studies of climate change in the High Mountain Asia.
SHEN Cong , JIA Li
This dataset includes the glacier elevation change data in the High Mountain Asia (HMA) region from 2003 to 2008 derived from Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat-1) data. The glacial elevation changes in the High Mountain Asia region were calculated using ICESat-1 data (2003-2008) and SRTM DEM data in 2000, taking into account the inhomogeneity of glacier changes and area distribution at different elevations and slopes (weighted average of glacier area of elevation and slope bins in 1°×1° grid ). The dataset can provide the annual change information of glacier elevation in the High Mountain Asia region from 2003 to 2008 relative to 2000. These data can be used for studies of climate change in the High Mountain Asia.
SHEN Cong , JIA Li
1) The data included the thickness, coordinates and elevation of Xiaodongkemadi glacier and was measured from July 26 to 28, 2021; 2) The data was measured by the ground penetrating radar with working frequency of 100MHz developed by China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research. The thickness of the glacier was obtained through the processing and analysis of the radar echo image. The dielectric constant of the ice was 3.2, and the coordinates and elevation of the measuring points were measured by the RTK system; 3) The data can be used to study the changes of glacier thickness, mass balance , runoff and so on.
FU Hui
Glacier thickness variation is a key parameter for glacier change monitoring. Historical high-resolution KH-9 images (1974), SRTM DEM data products (2000), TanDEM-X dual-station interferometric SAR data (2011-2014) and SPOT-7 images (2015) data were used to generate multi-temporal digital elevation models of the Yanong Glacier in southeastern Tibet based on optical photogrammetry and radar interferometry techniques, respectively. For the TanDEM-X radar data, the geometric positioning errors in the glacier area were removed during the data processing, and the outliers in the snow cover area in the KH-9 DEM were removed. Subsequently, the inter-decadal and inter-annual thickness variation datasets of Yalong glacier during 1975-2015 were finally generated after X-band and C-band radar wave penetration depth corrections. The spatial resolution of this data set is 30m, which can be further used for calibration of glacier evolution model parameters and analysis of glacier future changes.
ZHOU Yushan , LI Xin, ZHENG Donghai, LI Zhiwei
1) Data content: Glacier elevation change in the Southeastern Tibetan Plateau in the past two decades, including time series during 2000 and 2020 and glacier elevation change from 2000 to 2019 at 0.5° grid scale. 2) Data sources and processing methods: Time series during 2000 and 2020 were generated from glacier monitoring methods integrating satellite altimetry (ICESat, CryOSat-2, ICESAT-2), topographic data (DEM derived from ASTER L1A images in 2014), and satellite gravity (GRACE and GLDAS). The grid-scale glacier elevation changes were calculated by ICESAT-2 and NASADEM. 3) Description of data quality: This data is consistent with UAV derived DSM results, GPS observations, and reported results. The temporal resolution and spatial resolution of this data have been significantly improved. 4) Data application results and prospects: This data can be used to calibrate glacial / hydrological model. The data can also be compared with future studies.
ZHAO Fanyu, LONG Di, LI Xingdong, HUANG Qi, HAN Pengfei
Glacial mass balance is one of the most important glaciological parameters to characterize the accumulation and ablation of glaciers. Glacier mass balance is the link between climate and glacier change, and it is the direct reflection of glacier to the regional climate. Climate change leads to the corresponding changes in the material budget of glaciers, which in turn can lead to changes in the movement characteristics and thermal conditions of glaciers, and then lead to changes in the location, area and ice storage of glaciers. The monitoring method is to set a fixed mark flower pole on the glacier surface and regularly monitor the distance between the glacier surface and the top of the flower pole to calculate the amount of ice and snow melting; In the accumulation area, the snow pits or boreholes are excavated regularly to measure the snow density, analyze the characteristics of snow granular snow additional ice layer, and calculate the snow accumulation; Then, the single point monitoring results are drawn on the large-scale glacier topographic map, and the instantaneous, seasonal (such as winter and summer) and annual mass balance components of the whole glacier are calculated according to the net equilibrium contour method or contour zoning method. The data set is the annual mass balance data of different representative glaciers in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau and Tianshan Mountains, in millimeter water equivalent.
WU Guangjian
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
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.
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
The data set of light absorbing impurities in snow and ice in and around the Qinghai Tibet Plateau include black carbon and dust concentration data and their mass absorption cross sections from 9 glaciers (Urumqi glacier No.1, Laohugou glacier No.12, xiaodongkemadi glacier, renlongba glacier, Baishui River glacier No.1, and golubin glacier, Abramov glacier, syekzapadniyi glacier and No. 354 glacier in Pamir region) . The black carbon data is obtained by DRI 2015 model thermo-optical carbon analyzer, and the dust data is obtained by weighing method. The sampling and experimental processes are carried out in strict accordance with the requirements. The data can be used for the study of snow ice albedo and climate effect.
KANG Shichang
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
