Projects per year
Abstract
Runoff from high-elevation debris-covered glaciers represents a crucial water supply for millions of people in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region, where peak water has already passed in places. Knowledge of glacier thermal regime is essential for predicting dynamic and geometric responses to mass balance change and determining subsurface drainage pathways, which ultimately influence proglacial discharge and hence downstream water availability. Yet, deep internal ice temperatures of these glaciers are unknown, making projections of their future response to climate change highly uncertain. Here, we show that the lower part of the ablation area of Khumbu Glacier, a high-elevation debris-covered glacier in Nepal, may contain ~56% temperate ice, with much of the colder shallow ice near to the melting-point temperature (within 0.8°C). From boreholes drilled in the glacier’s ablation area, we measured a minimum ice temperature of -3.3°C, and even the coldest ice we measured was 2°C warmer than the mean annual air temperature. Our results indicate that high-elevation Himalayan glaciers are vulnerable to even minor atmospheric warming.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 16825 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Scientific Reports |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 14 Nov 2018 |
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Dive into the research topics of 'Polythermal structure of a Himalayan debris-covered glacier revealed by borehole thermometry'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Profiles
Datasets
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Ice tilt time-series from sensors installed in boreholes drilled into Khumbu Glacier, Nepal, in 2017 and 2018 as part of EverDrill research project - VERSION 2.0
Hubbard, B., Miles, K., Doyle, S., Quincey, D. J. & Miles, E. S., UK Polar Data Centre, 14 Jul 2021
DOI: 10.5285/FBEE7B3D-BF85-452A-B8C4-A83DCE4E14CE
Dataset
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Basal probe time-series from sensors installed at the base of boreholes drilled into Khumbu Glacier, Nepal, in 2017 and 2018 as part of EverDrill research project - VERSION 2.0
Hubbard, B., Miles, K., Doyle, S., Quincey, D. J. & Miles, E. S., UK Polar Data Centre, 14 Jul 2021
DOI: 10.5285/EB1C141A-6313-43DD-A93C-86BCACD80203
Dataset
Projects
- 1 Finished
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Everdrill: Accessing the interior and bed of a Himalayan debris-covered glacier to forecast future mass loss
Hubbard, B. (PI), Quincey, D. J. (PI) & Rowan, A. V. (PI)
Natural Environment Research Council
01 Oct 2016 → 31 Aug 2019
Project: Externally funded research