Journal
GLOBAL AND PLANETARY CHANGE
Volume 142, Issue -, Pages 14-27Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2016.04.008
Keywords
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Funding
- School of Geography at the University of Leeds
- Royal Geographical Society
- IBG
- British Society for Geomorphology
- water@leeds
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The dynamics of supraglacial pond development in the Everest region are not well constrained at a glacier scale, despite their known importance for meltwater storage, promoting ablation, and transmitting thermal energy englacially during drainage events. Here, we use fine-resolution (similar to 0.5-2 m) satellite imagery to reveal the spatiotemporal dynamics of 9340 supraglacial ponds across nine glaciers in the Everest region, similar to 2000-2015. Six of our nine study glaciers displayed a net increase in ponded area over their observation periods. However, large inter- and intra-annual changes in ponded area were observed of up to 17% (Khumbu Glacier), and 52% (Ama Dablam) respectively. Additionally, two of the fastest expanding lakes (Spillway and Rongbuk) partially drained over our study period. The Khumbu Glacier is developing a chain of connected ponds in the lower ablation area, which is indicative of a trajectory towards large lake development. We show that use of medium-resolution imagery (e.g. 30 m Landsat) is likely to lead to large classification omissions of supraglacial ponds, on the order of 15-88% of ponded area, and 77-99% of the total number of ponds. Fine-resolution imagery is therefore required if the full spectrum of ponds that exist on the surface of debris-covered glaciers are to be analysed. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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