Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T21:30:11.781Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Air temperature variability in a high-elevation Himalayan catchment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2016

Martin Heynen ,
Evan Miles ,
Silvan Ragettli ,
Pascal Buri ,
Walter W. Immerzeel  and
Francesca Pellicciotti
Martin Heynen*
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Evan Miles
Affiliation:
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Silvan Ragettli
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Pascal Buri
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Walter W. Immerzeel
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Francesca Pellicciotti
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland Department of Geography, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
*
Correspondence: Martin Heynen <martinheynen@gmx.net>
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Air temperature is a key control of processes affecting snow and glaciers in high-elevation catchments, including melt, snowfall and sublimation. It is therefore a key input variable to models of land–surface–atmosphere interaction. Despite this importance, its spatial variability is poorly understood and simple assumptions are made to extrapolate it from point observations to the catchment scale. We use a dataset of 2.75 years of air temperature measurements (from May 2012 to November 2014) at a network of up to 27 locations in the Langtang River, Nepal, catchment to investigate air temperature seasonality and consistency between years. We use observations from high elevations and from the easternmost section of the basin to corroborate previous findings of shallow lapse rates. Seasonal variability is strong, with shallowest lapse rates during the monsoon season. Diurnal variability is also strong and should be taken into account since processes such as melt have a pronounced diurnal variability. Use of seasonal lapse rates seems crucial for glacio-hydrological modelling, but seasonal lapse rates seem stable over the 2–3 years investigated. Lateral variability at transects across valley is high and dominated by aspect, with south-facing sites being warmer than north-facing sites and deviations from the fitted lapse rates of up to several degrees. Local factors (e.g. topographic shading) can reduce or enhance this effect. The interplay of radiation, aspect and elevation should be further investigated with high-elevation transects.

Keywords

debris-covered glaciersglacier mass balanceglacier meteorologyglaciological instruments and methodsmountain glacierssurface melt
Type
Paper
Information
Annals of Glaciology , Volume 57 , Issue 71 , March 2016 , pp. 212 - 222
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016

References

Ayala, A, Pellicciotti, F and Shea, J (2015) A new model of air temperature over melting glaciers: common patterns revealed by observations on three alpine glaciers. J. Geophys. Res., 120, 3139–3157 (doi: 10.1002/2015JD023137)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blandford, TR, Humes, KS, Harshburger, BJ, Moore, BC and Walden, VP (2008) Seasonal and synoptic variations in near-surface air temperatures in a mountainous basin. J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., 47, 249–261 (doi: 10.1175/2007JAMC1565.1)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buri, P, Pellicciotti, F, Steiner, J, Miles, E, Reid, T and Immerzeel, W (2016) A grid-based model of backwasting of supraglacial ice cliffs over debris-covered glaciers. Ann. Glaciol. (doi: 10.3189/2016AoG71A059) (see paper in this issue)Google Scholar
Fujita, K and Sakai, A (2000) Air temperature environment on the debris-covered area of Lirung Glacier, Langtang Valley, Nepal Himalayas. IAHS Publ. 264 (Workshop at Seattle 2000 – Debris-Covered Glaciers), 83–88 Google Scholar
Gardner, AS and 7 others (2009) Near-surface temperature lapse rates over arctic glaciers and their implications for temperature downscaling. J. Climate, 22, 4281–4298 (doi: 10.1175/2009JCLI2845.1)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GreuellWand Böhm, R (1998) 2m temperatures along melting midlatitude glaciers, and implications for the sensitivity of the mass balance to variations in temperature. J. Glaciol., 44(146), 9–20 Google Scholar
Immerzeel, W, Petersen, L, Ragettli, S and Pellicciotti, F (2014) The importance of observed gradients of air temperature and precipitation for modeling runoff from a glacierised watershed in the Nepalese Himalayas. Water Resour. Res., 50(3), 2212–2226 (doi: 10.1002/2013WR014506)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iqbal, M (1983) An introduction to solar radiation. Academic Press, London Google Scholar
Kattel, D, Yao, T, Yang, K, Tian, L, Yang, G and Joswiak, D (2012) Temperature lapse rate in complex mountain terrain on the southern slope of the central Himalayas. Theor. Appl. Climatol., 113(3–4), 671–682 (doi: 10.1007/s00704-012-0816-6)Google Scholar
Lundquist, J, Pepin, N and Rochoford, C (2008) Automated a lgorithm for mapping regions of cold air pooling in complex terrain. J. Geophys. Res., 113(D22), D22107 (doi: 10.1029/2008JD009879)Google Scholar
Marshall, SJ and Sharp, MJ (2008) Temperature and melt modeling on the Prince of Wales ice field, Canadian High Arctic. J. Climate, 22, 1454–1468 (doi: 10.1175/2008JCLI2560.1)Google Scholar
Marshall, SJ, Sharp, MJ, Burgess, DO and Anslow, FS (2007) Nearsurface- temperature lapse rates on the Prince of Wales icefield, Ellesmere Island, Canada: implications for regional downscaling of temperature. Int. J. Climatol., 27, 385–398 (doi: 10.1002/joc.1396)Google Scholar
Miles, E, Pellicciotti, F, Willis, I, Steiner, J, Buri, P and Arnold, N (2016) Refined energy-balance modelling of a supraglacial pond, Langtang Khola, Nepal. Ann. Glaciol., 57(71), 29–40 (doi: 10.3189/2016AoG71A421) (see paper in this issue)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minder, JR, Mote, P and Lundquist, J (2010) Surface temperature lapse rates over complex terrain: lessons from the Cascade Mountains. J. Geophys. Res., 115(D14), D14122 (doi: 10.1029/2009JD013493)Google Scholar
Pellicciotti, F, Raschle, T, Huerlimann, T, Carenzo, M and Burlando, P (2011) Transmission of solar radiation through clouds on melting glaciers: a comparison of parameterizations and their impact on melt modelling. J. Glaciol., 57(202), 367–381 (doi: 10.3189/002214311796406013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pepin, N (2001) Lapse rate changes in Northern England. Theor. Appl. Climatol., 68(1–2), 1–16 (doi: 10.1007/s007040170049)Google Scholar
Pepin, N and Losleben, M (2002) Climate change in the Colorado Rocky Mountains: free air versus surface temperature trends. Int. J. Climatol., 22, 311–329 (doi: 10.1002/joc.740)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petersen, L and Pellicciotti, F (2011) Spatial and temporal variability of air temperature on melting glaciers: a comparison of different extrapolation methods and their effect on melt modelling, Juncal Norte Glacier, Chile. J. Geophys. Res., 116(D23), D23109 (doi: 10.1029/2011JD015842)Google Scholar
Petersen, L, Pellicciotti, F, Juszak, I, Carenzo, M and Brock, B (2013) Suitability of a constant air temperature lapse rate over an alpine glacier: testing the Greuell and Böhm model as an alternative. Ann. Glaciol., 54(63), 120–130 (doi: 10.3189/2013AoG63A477)Google Scholar
Ragettli, S and 9 others (2015) Unraveling the hydrology of a Himalayan watershed through systematic integration of high resolution in-situ ground data and remote sensing with an advanced simulation model. Adv. Wat. Resour., 78, 94–111 (doi: 10.1016/j.advwatres.2015.01.013)Google Scholar
Richner, H and Phillips, P (1984) A comparison of temperatures from mountaintops and the free atmosphere – their diurnal variation and mean difference. Mon. Weather Rev., 112(7), 1328–1340 Google Scholar
Rolland, C (2002) Spatial and seasonal variations of air temperature lapse rates in Alpine regions. J. Climate, 16(7), 1032–1046 (doi: 10.1175/1520-0442(2003)016<3C1032:SASVOA>3E2.0.CO;2)Google Scholar
Steiner J, and Pellicciotti, F (2016) On the variability of air temperature over a debris-covered glacier, Nepalese Himalaya. Ann. Glaciol., 57(71), (doi: 10.3189/2016AoG71A066) (see paper in this issue)Google Scholar
Steiner, J, Pellicciotti, F, Buri, P, Miles, E, Reid, T and Immerzeel, W (2015) Modeling ice-cliff backwasting on a debris-covered glacier in the Nepalese Himalaya. J. Glaciol. 61(229), 889–907 (doi: 10.3189/2015JoG14J194)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thayyen, R and Dimri, A (2014) Factors controlling slope environmental lapse rate (SELR) of temperature in monsoon and coldarid glacio-hydrological regimes of the Himalaya. Cryosphere Discuss., 8, 5645–5686 (doi: 10.5194/tcd-8-5645-2014)Google Scholar