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A grid-based model of backwasting of supraglacial ice cliffs on debris-covered glaciers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2016

Pascal Buri ,
Francesca Pellicciotti ,
Jakob F. Steiner ,
Evan S. Miles  and
Walter W. Immerzeel
Pascal Buri*
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Francesca Pellicciotti
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland Department of Geography, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Jakob F. Steiner
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Evan S. Miles
Affiliation:
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Walter W. Immerzeel
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
*
Correspondence: Pascal Buri <buri@ifu.baug.ethz.ch>
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Abstract

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Ice cliffs might be partly responsible for the high mass losses of debris-covered glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalaya region. The few existing models of cliff backwasting are point-scale models applied at few locations or assume cliffs to be planes with constant slope and aspect, a major simplification given the complex surfaces of most cliffs. We develop the first grid-based model of cliff backwasting for two cliffs on debris-covered Lirung Glacier, Nepal. The model includes an improved representation of shortwave and longwave radiation, and their interplay with the glacier topography. Shortwave radiation varies considerably across the two cliffs, mostly due to direct radiation. Diffuse radiation is the major shortwave component, as the direct component is strongly reduced by the cliffs’ aspect and slope through self-shading. Incoming longwave radiation is higher than the total incoming shortwave flux, due to radiation emitted by the surrounding terrain, which is 25% of the incoming flux. Melt is highly variable in space, suggesting that simple models provide inaccurate estimates of total melt volumes. Although only representing 0.09% of the glacier tongue area, the total melt at the two cliffs over the measurement period is 2313 and 8282 m3, 1.23% of the total melt simulated by a glacio-hydrological model for the glacier’s tongue.

Keywords

debris-covered glaciersenergy balanceglacier mass balancemountain glacierssurface melt
Type
Paper
Information
Annals of Glaciology , Volume 57 , Issue 71 , March 2016 , pp. 199 - 211
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016

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