Glaciological studies in Asian highland regions

本项目旨在比较研究亚洲高原地区干旱和湿润气候条件下冰川的分布、状态和变化特征，以及冰川对水资源的作用。本文分析了1987年在西昆仑山和尼泊尔喜马拉雅山的野外观测结果，西昆仑山位于西藏西北部，具有典型的干旱气候下的大陆型冰川。这些冰川主要由集中在山区的夏季降雪滋养。冰川主要由于蒸发而失去质量，融化的水由于寒冷的温度而重新冻结在冰川中。由于草坡上的降雪蒸发很快，因此认为降雪对河川径流的贡献较小。该地区有许多冰盖，其流动速度为每年几米，类似于极地冰盖，因为积累和消融都很小。对近百年来的环境变化和第四纪研究进行了雪冰芯分析。在西昆仑和尼泊尔喜马拉雅分别获得了全年的气象数据和长期的气象水文数据。

This Project aimed comparative studies on the characteristics of distribution, condition and variation of glaciers under dry and wet climates in the Asian highland regions, and also the role of glaciers for water resources was studied. For these purposes, results from field observations in the West Kunlun Mountains and the Nepal Himalaya in 1987 were analized.The West Kunlun Mountains lie in the north-western part of Tibet and have typical glaciers of continental-type under the dry climate. These glaciers are nourished mainly by summer snowfall which concentrates in the mountain area. The glaciers lose their mass mainly due to evaporation, and melt water refreezes in the glaciers due to their cold temperature. Contribution of snowfall to river runoff is considered to be samll, since snowfall on the grass slope evaporates soon. There are many ice caps in this area and their flow speed is a few meters per year, similar to that of the polar ice sheet, since accumulation and ablation are small. Snow/ice core analyses on environmental variation of recent 100 years and Quaternary studies were carried out. Meteorological data throughout a year and long-term meteo-hydrological data were obtained in the West Kunlun and the Nepal Himalaya, respectively.