Assessment of precipitation typediscrimination methods on glacier of Qilian Mountains
Vol20 No.12: 3476-3487
【Title】Assessment of precipitation typediscrimination methods on glacier of Qilian Mountains
【Author】CHEN Ji-zu1,3,5; DU Wen-tao1,3,5*; KANG Shi-chang1; QIN Xiang1; SUN Wei-jun2; JIANG You-yan3,4; SUN Wen-xuan1
【Addresses】1 Qilian Shan Station of Glaciology and Eco-environment, State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China; 2 College of Geography and Environment, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, China; 3 Gansu Provincial Industry Technology Center of Intelligent Equipment and Big Data for Disaster Prevention, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), Lanzhou 730000, China; 4 Lanzhou Regional Climate Center, Lanzhou 730020, China; 5 Zhangye Meteorological Bureau, Zhangye 734000, China
【Corresponding author】DU Wen-tao
【Citation】Chen JZ, Du WT, Kang SC, et al. (2023) Assessment of precipitation type discrimination methods on glacier of Qilian Mountains. Journal of Mountain Science 20(12). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-023-8198-z
【DOI】https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-023-8198-z
【Abstract】Solid precipitation is not only the main supply for glacier mass, but also exerts an important influence on surface albedo and intensifies glacier melting. However, precipitation type observation is very scarce in the high alpine glaciers, which limits the precise simulation of glacier mass balance. This study assessed three discrimination methods of precipitation types including Ding method, Dai method and Froidurot methodbased on surface albedo observation data on the Laohugou Glacier No. 12 (LHG Glacier) in western Qilian Mountains. The results showed that Ding method had a best applicability on the LHG Glacier, the other twoneed to calibrate parameters when they are used in the high elevation glacier region. Then we fitted the relationship between snowfall probability and fresh snow albedo, and put forward a revised formula to simulate fresh snow albedo based on Ding method, which is expected to reduce the uncertainty in glacier mass and energy balance model. Finally, we found a best air temperature threshold of 4°Cfor discriminating monthly precipitation types. In order to accurately simulate the glacier melt, it is necessary to obtain the threshold temperature appropriately in different glacier region with different elevation and humidity.
【Keywords】Precipitation type; Surface albedo; Laohugou Glaicer No. 12; Glacier melting