EverDrill: Accessing the interior and bed of a Himalayan debris-covered glacier to forecast future mass loss

EverDrill：进入喜马拉雅山碎片覆盖的冰川内部和河床以预测未来的质量损失

• 批准号: NE/P00265X/1
• 负责人: Duncan Quincey
• 金额: $ 57.49万
• 依托单位: University of Leeds
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2016 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FP00265X%2F1
• 关键词: EverDrill; Accessing; interior; bed; Himalayan

The Hindu-Kush Himalaya is a region that is commonly known as the 'third pole' given the volume of glacier ice that is stored in the mountains - more than anywhere on earth outside the Arctic and Antarctic. Crucially, many millions of people living in the foothills and further downstream rely on the meltwater from these glaciers for their daily drinking, sanitation and irrigation needs. The region as a whole is known to be extremely sensitive to climate change, and the speed at which warming is taking place is greatest at high-elevation - where the glacier ice is located. It is still largely unknown, however, how climate is likely to change across the region in the future, and the impact this will have on melting glacier ice and those that rely on it in their everyday lives.It is difficult to predict the impacts of future climate change in the region, because we know so little about the glaciers other than what we can measure at the surface. Many glacier models that are designed to predict glacier evolution therefore assume many of the parameters that are unknown, but these parameters are also very important to their functioning - for example the temperature of the ice, the thickness of the ice, and the existence or otherwise of sediment at the ice-bedrock interface. In this project we aim to collect real measurements of these subsurface properties and thus make much more robust predictions of how these glaciers may chance with climate. We will drill six boreholes at four locations into the Khumbu Glacier, Nepal, which descends from Mount Everest and is one of the largest in the Himalayan region. It is debris-covered for its lowermost eight kilometres but pocked with clean-ice exposures that we can exploit with a hot-water drill. We will gather visual footage of each borehole interior and install a multi-sensor array at the bed at each of the four locations. The arrays will log water pressure, temperature, electrical conductivity and turbidity and how each of these parameters changes through the seasons. At two additional boreholes we will install englacial temperature and tilt strings to determine the thermal and deformation profiles of the glacier.Existing glacier models are poorly tested to their sensitivity of variability in the input data. It is important to know how the model responds to small changes in the predicted climate for example, compared with small changes in basal water pressure or temperature. These sensitivity tests tell us about the uncertainty in our predictions as well as how the whole climate-glacier system works. We aim to test the sensitivity of the glacier model that we are using to a range of different parameters by adjusting them individually and analysing the change in prediction in each case. Ultimately, we will include our real-world data in the model and make robust predictions of debris-covered glacier evolution under a warming climate.This work will inform regional policy makers concerned with future water supply, local humanitarian aid agencies who will work with foothill dwellers in periods of flood and drought, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which will inform future climate summits on the world stage, and local people who are dependent on glacier runoff for irrigation, hydro-electric power production and sanitation.

兴都库什-喜马拉雅山脉是一个通常被称为“第三极”的地区，因为山脉中储存的冰川冰量超过了地球上除北极和南极以外的任何地方。至关重要的是，数百万生活在山麓和下游的人依赖这些冰川的融水来满足日常饮用、卫生和灌溉需求。众所周知，该地区作为一个整体对气候变化极其敏感，而且变暖的速度在冰川所在的高海拔地区最快。然而，该地区未来的气候变化，以及这一变化对冰川融化和日常生活中依赖冰川的人们的影响，在很大程度上仍然是未知的。很难预测该地区未来气候变化的影响，因为除了在地表测量之外，我们对冰川知之甚少。因此，许多设计用于预测冰川演化的冰川模型假设了许多未知的参数，但这些参数对它们的功能也非常重要-例如冰的温度，冰的厚度，以及冰-基岩界面处是否存在沉积物。在这个项目中，我们的目标是收集这些地下特性的真实的测量结果，从而对这些冰川如何与气候发生变化做出更可靠的预测。我们将在尼泊尔昆布冰川的四个地点钻六个钻孔，昆布冰川从珠峰峰下降，是喜马拉雅地区最大的冰川之一。它最深处的8公里处都被碎片覆盖，但有一些干净的冰，我们可以用热水钻开采。我们将收集每个钻孔内部的视觉镜头，并在四个位置的每个位置的床上安装多传感器阵列。这些阵列将记录水压、温度、电导率和浊度，以及这些参数在季节中的变化。在另外两个钻孔，我们将安装冰内温度和倾斜字符串，以确定冰川的热和变形的配置文件。现有的冰川模型是很差的测试，其输入数据的变化的敏感性。重要的是要知道模型如何响应预测气候的微小变化，例如，与基础水压或温度的微小变化相比。这些敏感性测试告诉我们预测的不确定性，以及整个气候-冰川系统如何运作。我们的目标是测试冰川模型的敏感性，我们正在使用的一系列不同的参数，通过调整他们单独和分析在每种情况下的预测变化。最终，我们将把我们的真实世界数据纳入模型，并对气候变暖下碎片覆盖的冰川演变做出强有力的预测。这项工作将为关注未来供水的地区政策制定者、在洪水和干旱期间与山麓居民合作的当地人道主义援助机构、为未来世界舞台上的气候峰会提供信息的政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）、以及依赖冰川径流进行灌溉、水力发电和卫生的当地居民。

项目成果

Glacial and geomorphic effects of a supraglacial lake drainage and outburst event, Everest region, Nepal Himalaya

• DOI: 10.5194/tc-12-3891-2018
• 发表时间: 2018-12
• 期刊: The Cryosphere
• 作者: Evan S. Miles

Ice temperature time-series from sensors installed in boreholes drilled into Khumbu Glacier, Nepal, in 2017 and 2018 as part of EverDrill research project

作为 EverDrill 研究项目的一部分，2017 年和 2018 年尼泊尔昆布冰川钻孔中安装的传感器的冰温时间序列

• DOI: 10.5285/6be7d300-b42c-42f4-af59-2138e2a4dfe4
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation
• 作者: Bryn Hubbard

Locations and lengths of boreholes drilled into Khumbu Glacier, Nepal, in 2017 and 2018 as part of EverDrill research project

作为 EverDrill 研究项目的一部分，2017 年和 2018 年在尼泊尔昆布冰川钻探的钻孔位置和长度

• DOI: 10.5285/65140444-b5fa-4a5e-9ab4-e86c106051e2
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation
• 作者: Bryn Hubbard

Structure and englacial debris content of a Himalayan debris-covered glacier revealed by an optical televiewer

光学电视观众揭示的喜马拉雅碎片覆盖冰川的结构和冰川碎片含量

• DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-976
• 发表时间: 2020
• 作者: Miles K

Summary of instrumentation installed in boreholes drilled into Khumbu Glacier, Nepal, in 2017 and 2018 as part of EverDrill research project

作为 EverDrill 研究项目的一部分，2017 年和 2018 年在尼泊尔昆布冰川钻孔中安装的仪器汇总

• DOI: 10.5285/a7f28dea-64f7-43b5-bc39-a6cfcdeefbda
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation
• 作者: Bryn Hubbard