Changes in glacier extent in the eastern Pamir, Central Asia, determined from historical data and ASTER imagery

doi:10.1016/j.rse.2006.01.019

Remote Sensing of Environment

Volume 102, Issues 1–2, 30 May 2006, Pages 24-32

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2006.01.019 Get rights and content

Abstract

Historical surveys and recent satellite imagery are used to map and assess glacier recession in the eastern Pamir over the last three decades. For this study we used topographic maps of 1 : 100 000 scales published in 1943 and 1970; air photos from 1978 and 1990; space images: from Russian satellites in 1972, 1978, 1980, and 1990 and ASTER data for 2001. Climatic records from the “Fedtchenko” glacier station (4156 m a.s.l., 38.83°N, 72.22°E) and “Murgab” meteorological station (3576 m a.s.l., 38.17°N, 73.97°E) are used for analysis of the climate conditions in the region.

Changes in the area of 5 glaciers and terminus positions of 44 glaciers in the eastern Pamir reveal an accelerating trend since the end of the 1970s through 2001, as a continuation of glacier wastage and retreat since, at least, the end of the Little Ice Age. The glacier area decreased 7.8% during 1978–1990, and 11.6% in 1990–2001. This corresponds with documented changes in other mountain and subpolar regions in the Northern Hemisphere and specifically in Central Asia. Glacier changes in the eastern Pamir are a response to increasing summer temperatures. We find decreases in glacier area and retreat of glacier fronts, increased debris-covered area and the appearance of new lakes.

Introduction

Recent evidence suggests an acceleration of glacier mass loss in several key mountain regions (Dyurgerov, 2005). On the territory of the former Soviet Union (fSU), for example, glaciers are retreating in all mountain regions. A more comprehensive evaluation of glacier changes is imperative to assess ice melt contributions to global sea level rise and the future of water resources from glacierized basins. The World Glacier Inventory now documents about 44% of the world's estimated 160,000 glaciers, but an immense task remains in order to complete and update the inventory entries. The recent availability of high-resolution Landsat-7 ETM+ and ASTER images, together with new digital inventories of glaciers in the fSU and China, in combination with GIS techniques, affords one avenue to a practical solution of these challenges.

The task of creating a new modern glacier inventory based on space data (ASTER and Landsat images) covering all glacier regions of the world, is being addressed through the Global Land Ice Measurement from Space (GLIMS) project supported by NASA and the US Geological Survey (http://www.glims.org/). The project is using these and other imagery and field survey data to map many of the world's glacierized areas and to assess changes in ice extent (Kieffer et al., 2000, Bishop et al., 2004).

Initial results have been obtained from analysis of images for some regions of the fSU, including the Caucasus, Kamchatka, Tien-Shan (Khromova et al., 2003, Kuzmichenok et al., 2004) and Russian Arctic (Glazovsky, 2003). The changes involve: a decrease in average size and volume of glaciers, glacier terminus retreat, the appearance of new glaciers after separation, the disappearance of former small glaciers, and moraine development on the glacier surface etc.

Here we present the first results of an examination of changes in glacier size in another key region of Central Asia. Historical data (topographic maps, space images from the fSU satellites and old airphotographs) are available for comparison with an ASTER image in order to estimate changes in some glaciers in the Saukdara Range and the Zulumart Range in the eastern Pamir (see Fig. 1).

Section snippets

Geographical setting

The Pamir forms part of the extensive high mountain system of Central Asia, comprising the Pamir–Karakoram–Hindu–Kush ranges with a glacier area of about 40 × 10³ km². The entire system is characterized by similar topography: high peaks, steep slopes and deep narrow valleys. The Saukdara and Zulumart Ranges are located in the high-mountain plateau of the eastern part of the Pamir (∼38°N, 72°E). The Saukdara Range rises to about 6000 m a.s.l., with the highest peak 6065 m. The Zulumart Range

Data sources

The first glacier inventory for Pamir was published in 1955 by R. Zabirov. A glacier inventory for the Pamir was published in the 1960s–1970s as a part of the USSR glacier inventory. There were about 6700 glaciers in the Pamir. This inventory was converted into digital format in the 1980s (http://nsidc.org/data/glacier_inventory/). Also in the 1980s Shchetinnikov made a new glacier inventory for this region and published results of its analysis (Shchetinnikov, 1998).

For this study we used

Methods

Deriving glacier outlines from space images is illustrated by Kieffer et al. (2000), Paul et al. (2004), Kuzmichenok et al. (2004), and others. The GLIMS project is using remote sensing data, primarily from the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection radiometer (ASTER) carried onboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Terra spacecraft (Raup et al., 2000). GLIMS will maintain a geospatial database of glacier information derived from the ASTER sensor. One of

Results

Analysis shows that during the last 30 years, glaciers of the area studied have continued their recession (Fig. 4 and Table 2, Table 3). All the glaciers we studied lost area. The biggest glacier in the group studied, Zulumart glacier, decreased 17.5% in area during 1978–2001, 8.3% during 1978–1990 and 10% in 1990–2001. Glacier area for the region analyzed decreased 7.8% over the interval 1978–1990 and 11.6% over 1990–2001. A new lake also appeared in 2001 near the Zulumart glacier terminus.

Discussion of climatic factors

In this study we discuss glacier changes due to regional climate using observations at two meteorological stations “Fedtchenko” glacier station (4169 m a.s.l.) and “Murgab” meteorological station (3576 m a.s.l.). Thus, uncertainty in our conclusions on climate-related changes in glacier regime may be substantial. Sharp contrasts in climate between the western and eastern parts of the Pamir are documented (Kotlyakov et al., 1993). The two meteorological station records demonstrate this well. An

Concluding remarks

Glaciers are among the most distinctive natural objects for studying changes from space related to climate. Analysis of repeated space images has been applied to 44 glaciers in the Saukdara and the Zulumart Ranges of High-Mountain Central Asia. These ranges are situated in transitional climatic conditions between the humid and arid parts of the western and the eastern Pamir.

Substantial reduction of surface area and retreat of glacier fronts have been observed since the 1970s. Given the

Acknowledgements

Supported through NASA Grant NNG04GM09G for the GLIMS Core Functions (R.L. Armstrong, Principal Investigator). We thank V. M. Konovalov for providing the climate data.

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Changes in glacier extent in the eastern Pamir, Central Asia, determined from historical data and ASTER imagery

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Geographical setting

Data sources

Methods

Results

Discussion of climatic factors

Concluding remarks

Acknowledgements

Global land ice measurements from space (GLIMS): Remote sensing and GIS investigations of the Earth's cryosphere

Geocarto International

Glacier mass balance and regime: Data of measurements and analysis

Glacier changes in the Russian Arctic

Sensitivity of mountain glacierization to climate changes in central Asia

Zeitschrift fuer Gletxcherkunde und. Glazialgeologie

Late-twentieth century changes in glacier extent in the Ak-shirak Range, Central Asia, determined from historical data and ASTER imagery

Geophysical Research Letters

New eyes in the sky measure glaciers and ice sheets

EOS