Glaciological characteristics of the ablation zone of Baltoro glacier, Karakoram, Pakistan

Baltoro glacier in the Karakoram, Pakistan, is one of the world’s largest valley glaciers. It drains an area of about 1500km2 and is >60km long. In 2004 an Italian/German expedition carried out a glaciological field program on the ablation zone of the glacier, focusing on the ablation conditions and the dynamic state of the glacier. As Baltoro glacier is a debris-covered glacier, ice ablation also depends on the debris properties. Stake measurements of ice ablation and debris cover in combination with meteorological data from automatic weather stations close by have been used to determine the local melt conditions. Results from these calculations have been combined with an analysis of different classes of surface cover and information about precipitation, using remote-sensing techniques, in order to calculate mass fluxes for the upper part of Baltoro glacier. The dynamic state of the glacier has been investigated by GPS-based surface velocity measurements along the stake network. A comparison of these short-term measurements during the melt season with surface velocities computed from feature tracking of satellite images shows a high seasonal variability of the ice motion. We have shown that this variability is up to 100% of the annual mean velocity. On the basis of these investigations, the mass fluxes at the Concordia cross-section have been quantified. This approach can now be used together with the ablation calculations to reconstruct the variability of glacier extent and volume in the past using available climate data from the central Karakoram. From the comparison of historical measurements and photographs it is shown that the snout of Baltoro glacier is oscillating back and forth a couple of hundred metres. Otherwise it seems not to react with the same magnitude as other glaciers to the climatic change. Elevation changes at Concordia are a few tens of metres at the most
 
Citation proposal
Christoph Mayer (Commission for Glaciology, Bavarian Academy of Sciences) - Guglielmina Diolaiuti (University of Milan) - Carlo Smiraglia (University of Milan) - Astrid Lambrech (Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Innsbruck) (2006) . Glaciological characteristics of the ablation zone of Baltoro glacier, Karakoram, Pakistan. https://geoportal.mountaingenius.org/geonetwork/srv/api/records/ac3a69be-0268-4fea-b835-7fd4af194bf7
 

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Date ( Publication )
2006-09-10T00:00:00
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Annals of Glaciology 43
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Volume 43, Number 1, September 2006 , pp. 123-131
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123-131
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Annals of Glaciology, Volume 43, Number 1, September 2006 , pp. 123-131
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0260-3055
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Keywords ( Theme )
  • glacier ablation , debris covered glacier , SHARE
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  • karakoram
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eng
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  • Elevation
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Glaciological characteristics of the ablation zone of Baltoro glacier, Karakoram, Pakistan

Authors: Mayer, C.; Lambrecht, A.; Belò, M.; Smiraglia, C.; Diolaiuti, G.

Source: Annals of Glaciology, Volume 43, Number 1, September 2006 , pp. 123-131

Publisher: International Glaciological Society

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ac3a69be-0268-4fea-b835-7fd4af194bf7   XML
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eng
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UTF8
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2014-07-22T17:46:13
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ISO 19115:2003/19139
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