Recent climate variability and glacier evolution in Central Asia - a case study at the accumulation zone of Fedchenko Glacier in the Pamir

帕米尔山脉中部的冰川似乎比许多其他山区的冰川受观测到的一般气候变化的影响要小得多。遥感调查表明，特别是在帕米尔高原中部，冰川可能在过去十年中增加了质量。然而，这些信号是模糊的，在整个区域也不统一。在“气候变率和高海拔冰芯古气候记录反演”国际项目框架下，提出了在帕米尔高原费琴科冰川主堆积盆地进行地球物理和冰川学调查的基础上，研究现代气候演变和堆积变率的项目。该盆地位于海拔5100米以上。构成了整个地区最大的堆积盆地之一。详细的探地雷达剖面图将揭示积雪的空间和时间变化。这些结果将与雪坑和浅雪芯的数据相结合，用于验证和检索其他气候参数，特别是温度信号。在此基础上，可以研究过去几十年的气候演变，并与过去的长期气象站观测相关联。将使用对冰厚度分布、表面变形和冰速度的额外测量来调查积聚区域的分布质量通量，并将其与积聚条件进行比较。此外，还将确定计划的深冰芯钻探活动的最佳地点。这些不同的测量和数据的结合构成了评估冰川反应对个别气候参数的敏感性的基础，并将大大提高对帕米尔山脉气候背景下观测到的冰川演变的理解。

The glaciers in the central Pamir Mountains seem to be much less affected by the observed general climatic changes than glaciers in many other mountain regions. Remote sensing investigations indicate that especially in the Central Pamir the glaciers might have gained mass during the last decade. However, these signals are ambiguous and also not uniform across the region. In the framework of an international program focusing on climate variability and retrieval of paleo-climate records from high-elevation ice cores, we propose a project to investigate the recent climate evolution and accumulation variability on the basis of geophysical and glaciological investigations in the main accumulation basin of Fedchenko Glacier in the Pamir. This basin is situated above 5100 m a.s.l. and constitutes one of the largest accumulation basins in the entire region. Detailed ground penetrating radar profiles will reveal the spatial as well as temporal variability of snow accumulation. These results will be combined with data from snow pits and shallow firn cores for validation and the retrieval of additional climate parameters, especially the temperature signal. On this basis the climatic evolution during the last decades can be investigated and correlated with long term weather station observations of the past. Additional measurements of the ice thickness distribution, the surface deformation and the ice velocities will be used investigate the distributed mass flux of the accumulation area and compare it to the accumulation conditions. In addition, the optimal location for the planned deep ice core drilling activities will be defined. The combination of these different measurements and data forms the basis to evaluate the sensitivity of the glacier reaction to individual climate parameters and will considerably improve the understanding of the observed glacier evolution in the climate context in the Pamir Mountains.