Glacier mass balance and its impacts on streamflow in a typical inland river basin in the Tianshan Mountains, northwestern China

doi:10.1007/s40333-022-0012-1

Journal of Arid Land

2022, Vol. 14

Issue (4): 455-472 DOI: 10.1007/s40333-022-0012-1

Research article

Glacier mass balance and its impacts on streamflow in a typical inland river basin in the Tianshan Mountains, northwestern China

PENG Jiajia¹^,², LI Zhongqin¹^,³^,⁴^,^*(

), XU Liping¹^,²^,^*(

), MA Yuqing¹^,², LI Hongliang³, ZHAO Weibo³, FAN Shuang⁴

¹College of Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
²Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Key Laboratory of Oasis Town and Mountain-basin System Ecology, Shihezi 832003, China
³State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences/Tianshan Glaciological Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
⁴College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China

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Abstract

Glaciers are known as natural ''solid reservoirs'', and they play a dual role between the composition of water resources and the river runoff regulation in arid and semi-arid areas of China. In this study, we used in situ observation data from Urumqi Glacier No. 1, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in combination with meteorological data from stations and a digital elevation model, to develop a distributed degree-day model for glaciers in the Urumqi River Basin to simulate glacier mass balance processes and quantify their effect on streamflow during 1980-2020. The results indicate that the mass loss and the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of glaciers in the last 41 years had an increasing trend, with the average mass balance and ELA being -0.85 (±0.32) m w.e./a (meter water-equivalent per year) and 4188 m a.s.l., respectively. The glacier mass loss has increased significantly during 1999-2020, mostly due to the increase in temperature and the extension of ablation season. During 1980-2011, the average annual glacier meltwater runoff in the Urumqi River Basin was 0.48×10⁸ m³, accounting for 18.56% of the total streamflow. We found that the annual streamflow in different catchments in the Urumqi River Basin had a strong response to the changes in glacier mass balance, especially from July to August, and the glacier meltwater runoff increased significantly. In summary, it is quite possible that the results of this research can provide a reference for the study of glacier water resources in glacier-recharged basins in arid and semi-arid areas.

Key words： glacier mass balance glacier meltwater runoff glacier modelling Urumqi River Basin Tianshan Mountains

Received: 06 January 2022 Published: 30 April 2022

Corresponding Authors: *LI Zhongqin (E-mail: lizq@lzb.ac.cn);XU Liping (E-mail: xlpalw@163.com)

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	PENG Jiajia
	LI Zhongqin
	XU Liping
	MA Yuqing
	LI Hongliang
	ZHAO Weibo
	FAN Shuang

Cite this article:

PENG Jiajia, LI Zhongqin, XU Liping, MA Yuqing, LI Hongliang, ZHAO Weibo, FAN Shuang. Glacier mass balance and its impacts on streamflow in a typical inland river basin in the Tianshan Mountains, northwestern China. Journal of Arid Land, 2022, 14(4): 455-472.

URL:

http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-022-0012-1 OR http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2022/V14/I4/455

Fig. 1 (a), distribution of glaciers, and their meteorological and hydrological stations in the Urumqi River Basin; (b), area-elevation distribution of the glaciers. (c), profile map of the Urumqi River Basin and the distribution of the outlet location of each catchment. AWS, automatic weather station; UG1, Urumqi Glacier No. 1; DEM, digital elevation model.

Fig. 2 Annual average temperature and average annual precipitation in the Urumqi River Basin

Table 1 Meteorological and hydrological stations in this study

Table 2 Selected values of parameters used in the glacier mass balance model and the range of parameters used to estimate the errors

Fig. 3 Observed and simulated daily average temperature (a) and monthly precipitation (b) at the automatic weather station during 2018-2019

Fig. 4 (a), observed and simulated annual mass balance of Urumqi Glacier No. 1 (UG1); (b), monthly mass balance of UG1.

Fig. 5 Model calibration of observed and simulated monthly mass balance. (a), May; (b), June; (c), July; (d), August.

Fig. 6 (a)-(d), annual mass balance of the Urumqi River Basin during 1980-2020; (e)-(h), summer mass balance of the Urumqi River Basin during 1980-2020; (i)-(l), winter mass balance of the Urumqi River Basin during 1980-2020.

Fig. 7 (a), monthly glacier mass balance in the Urumqi River Basin; (b), monthly mean air temperature and precipitation at the Daxigou weather station.

Fig. 8 Monthly changes in glacier mass balance in the Urumqi River Basin during 1980-2020. (a), January; (b), February; (c), March; (d), April; (e), May; (f), June; (g), July; (h), August; (i), September; (j), October; (k), November; (j), December.

Fig. 9 (a), glacier mass balance changes with elevations in the Urumqi River Basin; (b), simulated equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of glaciers in the Urumqi River Basin during 1980-2020.

Fig. 10 (a), variation in cumulative positive temperature; (b), variation in solid precipitation.

Fig. 11 (a), number of cumulative positive temperature days (CPTD) during 1980-2020; (b), mean daily temperatures (>0°C) for two periods (1980-1998 and 1999-2020).

Fig. 12 Mean monthly streamflow and glacier meltwater runoff in the Urumqi River Basin. (a), Yingxiongqiao; (b), Houxia; (c), Zhongkong; (d), Urumqi Glacier No. 1 (UG1).

Fig. 13 (a), annual streamflow, glacier meltwater runoff and its contribution in the Urumqi River Basin during 1980-2011; (b), regression relationship between percentage of glacier cover and percentage of glacier meltwater.

Table 3 Areas of glacier and catchment, average annual streamflow, and glacier meltwater runoff in the Urumqi River Basin


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