Ablation of Ice and Snow of Kara-Batkak Glacier and Its Impact on River Flow

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Satylkanov, R.

Affiliations: Tien Shan High Mountain Research Center of the Institute of Water Problems and Hydropower of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic, Bishkek, Kyrgyz and Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia (Bishkek), Kyrgyz

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding Author. r.satylkanov@gmail.com

Abstract: This paper considers the results of complex glaciological and hydro meteorological observations in the basin of Chon Kyzyl Suu river for the period of 2013–2017; the analysis of flow formation from the Kara Batkak glacier was carried out. The main and minor factors of ice and snow ablation of Kara Batkak glacier are shown. The analysis of the main climatic parameters (air temperature and precipitation), which are changing in concordance with global warming, has been carried out. In the last 70 years the area of the Kara Batkak glacier has decreased by 21.8%, showing a pronounced trend of diminishing the area of this glacier, which is a consequence of global warming. It is established that the trend of increasing ablation over the entire observation period on the Kara Batkak glacier is associated with an increase in air temperatures over the last few decades. There is a good synchronization of annual trends of rise in air temperature at the three meteo stations for the period from 1961 to 2015 with a maximum of 7.0 °C at Kara-Batkak. This suggests that the same trend happens in all the regions of Teskey Ala Too, which in recent years, increase the trend of daily melting of ice. The mass balance in these basins over 60 years is negative due to rise in temperature and add to river runoff due to degradation and the reduction in the area of its glaciation confirmed the water-ice balance of mountain-glacial basins of the “continental” type glaciers. The close connection between the changes in climatic parameters, state of glaciations and glacial runoff in these river basin were established in this study.

Keywords: Ablation, Kara Batkak glacier, Air temperature, Atmospheric precipitation, Mass balance, Water discharge, Water flow

DOI: 10.3233/JCC-180009

Journal: Journal of Climate Change, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 1-14, 2018