Abstract:
Discharge was calculated from a mountainous area, including discharge from glaciers, in the Qilian Shan (Qilian Mountains) of
northwest China. The studied Yingluoxia basin is 9983 km2 in area, with glaciers making up 0Ð3% of the basin. The calculation
method was based on the heat balance, requiring only daily temperature and precipitation. Calculated annual discharge from
the basin corresponded well with the observed data. Calculated annual discharge from glaciers was 3Ð6% of the total discharge
from the basin.
The temporal trend of the calculated equilibrium line altitude (ELA) at the July 1st Glacier (western side of the Yingluoxia
basin) was similar to that of the observed ELA. The calculated annual mass balance of glaciers within the Yingluoxia basin
has a larger negative value than the other glaciers in China, as the ratio of accumulation area to the total glacier area in the
Yingluoxia basin is much lower than in neighbouring basins to the west. Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
discharge from a glacier in the Qilian Shan using only (a) E70° E80° E90° E100° E110° E120° E130°
Ν50°
daily temperature and precipitation, on the basis of the
RUSSIA
heat balance calculation.
KAZAKHSTAN
The final objective of this research project, to be Altai Mts.
addressed in a subsequent article, is to reconstruct the MONGOLIA
annual discharge from the Yingluoxia basin over the Tianshan Ν40°
Mts. Terminus Lake
past two millennia. As a preliminary study, we applied Qilian Mts.
the above method (Sakai et al., 2009) in this article Heihe River
as validation data.
(b)
LOCATIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE N40°
STUDIED BASINS
The Hei River basin, located in northwest China
(Figure 1a), can be divided into upper, middle and
lower reaches (Figure 1b). The upper reaches consist of
three sub-basins (Yingluoxia, Tuolaihe and Hongshuihe N39°
basins). The upper reaches are located in the Qilian
Shan, which is glaciated. The oasis cities of Zhangye and
Jiuquan are located in the middle reaches, at the northern N
foot of the Qilian Shan. The lower reaches are located 100 km
in the vast Gobi Desert, where the Hei River enters a
N38°
terminal lake. Grid that contains glaciers
The Hei River basin receives relatively large amounts Grid that contains no glaciers
of precipitation (300–500 mm year1 ) in the moun-
tainous zone to the south, but little precipitation (30– E97° E98° E99° E100° E101°
50 mm year1 ) in the downstream desert area to the north Figure 1. (a) Locations of the Hei River and the Qilian Shan. Thick solid
(Wang and Cheng, 1999). Most of the precipitation in lines represent mountain ranges. The grey area indicates the location
the desert zone rapidly evaporates, preventing the accu- of the map shown in (b). (b) Map of the Yingluoxia, Hongshuihe and
Tuolaihe basins, located in the upper reaches of the Hei River basin
mulation of groundwater and river water; consequently,
precipitation stored in mountain glaciers represents an
important water resource in such zones (Wang and Cheng, River basin (i.e. the Houngshuihe and Tuolaihe basins)
1999). The Qilian Mountains, including the upper reaches (Figure 1b).
of the Hei River basin, are oriented east–west, with
annual precipitation decreasing to the west (Xie et al.,
1982; Ding and Kang, 1985). The July 1st Glacier is
located within the Tuolaihe basin, about 50 km west DATA FOR CALCULATIONS
of the western edge of the Yingluoxia basin. The aver- Distribution of glacier and glacier-free zones
age annual precipitation and temperature near the glacier
terminus (4295 m a.s.l.) are about 350 mm and 6 ° C, We subdivided the Yingluoxia, Tuolaihe and Hong-
respectively (Sakai et al., 2006b). shuihe basins into two zones (glacier and glacier-free
From ancient times, the meltwater from glaciers and zones) and established a method for calculating the dis-
snow on these mountains has provided water for both charge from each zone.
drinking and irrigation for those living in oasis cities A digital elevation model (DEM) was used to analyse
and desert regions; however, by the latter part of the the altitudinal distribution of each basin and the extent
19th century, runoff from major tributaries within the of the glacier zone in each basin. The DEM was com-
Hei River basin had diminished (Wang and Cheng, 1999) piled mainly from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
because of water extraction for irrigation, thereby altering (SRTM) data, with missing data retrieved from Advanced
the environment in the lower reaches of the Hei River Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer
basin. (ASTER) DEM data. The maximum difference in eleva-
In this article, we focus on the largest drainage area in tion at the boundary between the two DEMs was 5 m.
the upper reaches of the Hei River basin: the Yingluoxia The boundary of the drainage area was evaluated by
basin. To validate the calculations of glacier mass balance superimposing a topographical map (scale of 1 : 100 000)
and discharge, we discuss the ELA with reference to the over the ASTER DEM data. The altitudinal distribution
other drainage areas within the upper reaches of the Hei of the basin was derived at intervals of 50 m, as shown
Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Hydrol. Process. (2010)
RECONSTRUCTIONS OF DISCHARGE AND ELA IN CHINA FROM 1978 TO 2002
in Figure 2a. The drainage area is 9983 km2 , and 90% Hongshuihe and Tuolaihe basins contain a glacier zone
of the basin is located at elevations above 3000 m a.s.l. (Figure 1b).
The glacier zone was extracted by superimposing
visible-wavelength LANDSAT5 TM satellite images Meteorological data
taken on 3 August 2006 and 13 August 2007, and a
DEM produced from an ASTER satellite image. Where Temperature data at each altitude were estimated from
possible, we selected LANDSAT satellite images with the temperature at 500 hPa [National Centers for Envi-
no clouds or seasonal snow. The altitudinal distribution ronmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric
of the glacier area is shown in Figure 2b. This area Research (NCEP/NCAR)] assuming a uniform temper-
accounted for ¾0Ð3% (33 km2 ) of the entire basin, and ature lapse rate. The daily temperature lapse rate was
corresponded to elevations between 4200 and 5150 m. deduced from temperatures between 500 and 600 hPa
Glaciers with an area less than 0Ð001 km2 could not be with geopotential heights. Daily temperatures within
detected from the satellite images. the region 37Ð5–39Ð5 ° N, 98Ð5–101Ð5 ° E for each 0Ð5°
The altitudinal distributions of glacier and glacier-free grid were estimated from the daily temperature at
areas in the basin were divided into 0Ð5° grids, as we 40° N, 100 ° E and 37Ð5 ° N, 100 ° E, assuming a linear
used daily precipitation created on a 0Ð5° grid (Xie et al., change in temperature from south to north and assum-
2007), as described below. Eight of the grids within ing that the temperature was uniform from east to west
the Yingluoxia basin and nine of the grids within the (98Ð5–101Ð5 ° E). Daily temperatures within the region
38Ð5–40Ð0 ° N, 97Ð0–98Ð5 ° E for each 0Ð5° grid were esti-
mated from the temperature data at 40° N97Ð5 ° E and
(a) (b) 37Ð5 ° N97Ð5 ° E.
5500 Basin 5500 Glacier
For the discharge calculation, we used the gauge-
based dataset of daily precipitation produced by Xie et al.
5300 5300
(2007). The dataset was created on 0Ð5° grids over East
5100 5100 Asia for the period from 1978 to 2002. Itano (1997)
reported that annual precipitation has a near-linear rela-
4900 4900 tion with elevation, but is less dependent on the horizontal
location, on the basis of an analysis of observed precipita-
4700 4700 tion from 1988 to 1991 in the mountainous region of the
4500
Yingluoxia basin (38° 040 N–39° 490 N, 99° 120 E–101° 100 E;
4500
altitude: 1310–3200 m).
4300 4300 Figure 3 shows the relation between (1) the difference
in annual precipitation reported by Itano (1997) and Xie
4100 4100 et al. (2007) and (2) the difference in altitude between
that observed by Itano (1997) and the average altitude
3900
Altitude (m a.s.l.)
3900
of each 0Ð5° grid, as deduced from the ETOPO5 dataset
3700 3700
0 5 10
precipitation data reported by Xie et al. (2007) (m)
1988
3300 500 1989
3100 1990
0 1991
2900
-500
2700
-1000
2500
2300 -1500
2100
-2000
-600 -400 -200 0 200
1900 Difference in annual precipitation between the data
observed by Itano (1997) and precipitation data (0.5°grid)
1700 reported by Xie et al. (2007) (mm yr-1)
0
100
200
300
400
500
Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Hydrol. Process. (2010)
A. SAKAI ET AL.
Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Hydrol. Process. (2010)
RECONSTRUCTIONS OF DISCHARGE AND ELA IN CHINA FROM 1978 TO 2002
20
0
0.001-0.049 0.050-0.099 0.100-0.499 0.500-0.999 1.000+
Glacier area (km2)
Figure 5. Total glacier area for each size class of glacier area throughout the Yingluoxia basin
Glacier zone
The positive degree-day (PDD) method is commonly
used to estimate the melt rates of glaciers around the
world (e.g. Braithwate, 1995; Johannesson et al., 1995;
Singh et al., 2000; Hock, 2003). This method is based
on the supposition that rates of ice and snow melt are
proportional to air temperature. However, the value of the
PDD factor varies widely, depending on the ratio of heat
Figure 6. Method employed in calculating the altitudinal change in balance elements (i.e. depending not only on latitude and
glacier area based on the glacier terminus retreat. AH and AL indicate longitude but also on altitude) to total incoming heat, as
the highest and lowest altitudes of the glacier area, respectively. AMAX
indicates the altitude at which the glacier area is greatest. SMAX indicates
demonstrated previously (Braithwate, 1995; Johannesson
the maximum glacier area at the altitude of AMAX . DG indicates the et al., 1995; Singh et al., 2000; Hock, 2003; Kayastha
terminus retreat rate et al., 2003). Subsequently, Sakai et al. (2009) developed
a method of calculating the glacier mass balance and
CALCULATION METHOD runoff using only temperature and precipitation data. This
method, based on the heat balance calculation, can be
Separation of precipitation used to estimate solar radiation and long-wave radiation
The phase of precipitation, whether solid (snow) or from precipitation. Discharge calculated using the PDD
liquid (rain), depends on air temperature. The following method disagrees with observed data, whereas discharge
relation between the probability of snowfall and air calculated using the method established by Sakai et al.
temperature was obtained from data observed by Ueno (2009) is consistent with observed data.
et al. (1994) upon the Tibetan Plateau: Mass balance was calculated at intervals of 50 m in
altitude. The value of ELA was calculated for the altitude
Ps D P [Ta 0]° C where the total annual mass balance is zero, assuming
that the altitudinal profile of annual mass balance shows
Ta
D 1 Pe [0 < Ta < 6]° C a linear change.
6 The following calculations were carried out for each
D0 [Ta ½ 6]° C 3 0Ð5° grid that contains a glacier zone. Discharge from
glaciers and ELA values were calculated for the Yinglu-
and oxia basin, whereas only glacier ELAs were calculated
Pr D Pe Ps . 4 for the Tuolaihe and Hongshuihe basins.
Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Hydrol. Process. (2010)
A. SAKAI ET AL.
Snow Evaporation
Evaporation
Rain Snow layer
Discharge
Melt
water
Wa: maximum
Soil W: water storage at water storage
ground surface
Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Hydrol. Process. (2010)
RECONSTRUCTIONS OF DISCHARGE AND ELA IN CHINA FROM 1978 TO 2002
Downward long-wave radiation can be estimated from Discharge from glacier and glacier-free zones was
the dew-point temperature at the screen height and calculated for each 0Ð5° grid and at 50-m intervals in
a coefficient related to the sunshine ratio (ratio of altitude; the time interval was 1 day.
downward short-wave radiation to solar radiation at
the top of the atmosphere) according to the empirical
equations of Kondo and Xu (1997b). Their empirical RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
equation was established on the basis of field observations
in Japan. Thus, the calculated downward long-wave Figure 8 compares the calculated and observed annual
radiation according to Kondo and Xu (1997b) was discharge in the Yingluoxia basin. The correlation coeffi-
multiplied by 0Ð92 to fit observed data from 2002 to cient is 0Ð69, indicating the reliability of the reconstructed
2005 at the July 1st Glacier. Hence, downward long- annual discharge for the basin. The average annual dis-
wave radiation can be calculated from air temperature, charge from glaciers accounted for 3Ð6% of the total
relative humidity and downward short-wave radiation. discharge from 1978 to 2002. There was no clear increas-
Turbulent sensible- and latent-heat fluxes are calcu- ing (or decreasing) trend in the annual discharge from
lated by the bulk method, as follows: glaciers over the 23-year period. The proportion of dis-
charge from glaciers is relatively large given that glaciers
Hs D ca a CUTa Ts 11 occupy just 0Ð33% of the drainage area.
The ELA of glaciers provides validation data for the
rh
Hl D le a CU qTa qTs 12 above calculation, as we calculated not only discharge
100 from glaciers but also the glacier mass balance. Figure 9
shows fluctuations in observed and calculated ELA for
where ca is the specific heat of air [D 1006 (J kg1 K1 )],
the July 1st Glacier (see Figure 1b for the location of
a is the density of air (kg m3 ), C is the bulk coefficient
the glacier). Both the calculated and observed ELAs are
for sensible and latent heat (0Ð002), U is the wind speed
lower in the 1980s compared to 2000, although there are
(m s1 ), Ta,s is the temperature of air (a ) and the surface
a few observed ELA data.
(s ), rh is the relative humidity (0–100, saturated at 100),
There occurs an estimation error for precipitation when
q is the saturated specific humidity (kg kg1 ) and le
we calculate the glacier mass balance because there
is the latent heat for evaporation from the ice surface
(2Ð834 ð 106 J kg1 ).
m3yr-1) Ratio of discharge from glacier (%)
air temperature, then, Ts C 273Ð24 ¾ D Ta C 273Ð24 C Total discharge (Observation) Total discharge (Calculation)
dq 25
4Ta C 273Ð23 Ts Ta and qTs ¾ D qTa C dT Ts
a
Ta . 20
4 5
1 ˛Rs C εR l
εT a C 273Ð2
rh
le a CU 1 100 qTa 0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Ts D C Ta Year
dq
4εTa C 273Ð23 C le C ca a CU Figure 8. Calculated (white circles) and observed (black circles) annual
dTa
13 discharge from the Yingluoxia basin for the period 1978– 2002. Grey
diamonds show the ratio of calculated discharge from glaciers to the
In the case that positive surface temperature is obtained total calculated discharge
by Equation (13), it is replaced by zero.
Evaporation from the snow surface and snowmelt can
5200
then be calculated using the snow surface temperature.
In the case that the snow surface temperature is zero, 5000
snowmelt occurs and snow meltwater (in water equiva-
Altitude (m a.s.l.)
Hm
Wm D , 14 4600
w lf
Calculation
4400
where w is the density of water (1000 kg m3 ) and lf is Observation
the specific latent heat for ice melt (0Ð334 ð 106 J kg1 ). 4200
Change in the amount of snow (in water equivalent) 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Figure 9. Temporal trend of observed ELA (black circles) at the July 1st
dls Hl Glacier and calculated ELA (white circles) using precipitation data (Xie
D Ps Wm 15
dt w le et al., 2007) at the grid located over the July 1st Glacier
Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Hydrol. Process. (2010)
A. SAKAI ET AL.
Table I. Calculated elements for discharge at glacier and glacier-free zones, averaged from 1978 to 2002
are few data on the altitudinal trend of precipitation in shows that the east–west distribution of the accumula-
high mountainous regions in inland Asia. We overcame tion area ratio, calculated by glacier area, is higher than
this problem by using the relation between observed the calculated average ELA (1978–2002) relative to total
precipitation (Itano, 1997) and the grid data produced glacier area at each grid. This finding demonstrates that
by Xie et al. (2007) (Figure 3). glaciers within the Yingluoxia basin had a large negative
Table I lists the calculated elements for the dis- mass balance from 1978 to 2002, as the calculated ELA
charge calculation for the entire Yingluoxia basin. Glacier is high compared to the altitudinal distribution of glacier
mass loss represents about 80% of the total discharge area.
from glaciers. The average glacier mass balance was Figure 10b shows that AMGs in the eastern area
1388 mm year1 for the entire glacier zone, much (i.e. the Yingluoxia basin) are lower than those in the
larger than the values obtained for other glaciers in west (Hongshuihe and Tuolaihe basins), although the
China; e.g. Urumqi No. 1 (800 to C200 mm year1 calculated ELAs are similar in the eastern and western
for 1979–2000; Ye et al., 2005) and the Xiao (Lesser) areas. It is possible that the distribution of precipitation
Dongkemadi Glacier (700 to C500 mm year1 for has changed in recent decades.
1988–2001; Pu et al., 2008). In this study, the altitudinal distribution of precipitation
Figure 10a shows the east–west distribution of calcu- was assumed to be constant, using the relation between
lated ELA averaged for the period 1978–2002 for each observations (Itano, 1997) and the grid database (Xie
grid over the three basins (Yingluoxia, Houngshuihe and et al., 2007). In future studies, it would be necessary to
Tuolaihe). Also plotted in the figure is the altitude of the investigate annual variations in the altitudinal distribution
maximum glacier area (AMG) for each grid, which rep- of precipitation in the Yingluoxia basin.
resents the ELA at a time point several decades earlier. It
is clear that the calculated ELA is almost equal to AMG
for the Hongshuihe and Tuolaihe basins (west side of the CONCLUSION AND REMARKS
Yingluoxia basin), although the calculated ELA is much
higher than AMG for the Yingluoxia basin. Figure 10b We established a method for calculating annual discharge
from a glaciated mountainous area (the Yingluoxia basin)
using daily temperature and precipitation data. Temporal
5000
(a) fluctuations in the calculated ELA of glaciers are similar
4900 to those observed at the July 1st Glacier, located in the
Altitude (m a.s.l.)
4800
Tuolai basin.
The average calculated annual glacier mass balance
4700
within the Yingluoxia basin is more strongly negative
4600 than that measured for other glaciers in China. The
4500
value of ELA (1978–2002) calculated for each grid over
the Yingluoxia basin was much higher than the AMG,
100
Acumulation area ratio (%)
Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Hydrol. Process. (2010)
RECONSTRUCTIONS OF DISCHARGE AND ELA IN CHINA FROM 1978 TO 2002
of Science in Lanzhou, China, for their generous sup- Liu S, Sun W, Shen Y, Li G. 2003. Glacier changes since the Little
Ice Age maximum in the western Qilian Shan, northwest China,
port during field work. We are also grateful to Prof. Y. and consequences of glacier discharge for water supply. Journal of
Ageta for his valuable suggestions. The field research and Glaciology 49(164): 117– 124.
data analyses were funded by a Grant-in-Aid for Scien- Manabe S. 1969. Climate and the ocean circulation. 1. The atmospheric
circulation and the hydrology of the earth’s surface. Monthly Weather
tific Research (Project No. 18405002) from the Ministry Review 97(11): 739– 774.
of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Omar G, Takamura H. 2001. Changes in ancient oases and hydrological
of Japan (MEXT) and the Sumitomo Foundation. This environment in the southern part of the Taklimakan Desert. ‘Land
Degradation in the Oases on the South Side of the Taklimakan
study was conducted with the assistance of contributions Desert’. Result Reports of Research Project Grand-in-Aid for Scientific
from the Oasis Project (Historical Evolution of Adapt- Research (A)(2) 1998– 2000. Head Investigation: H. Takamura,
ability in an Oasis Region to Water Resource Changes) Faculty of Geo-Environmental Science, Rissho University.
Paterson WSB. 1994. The Physics of Glaciers, 3rd ed. Elsevier:
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a Semi-arid Region in Central Eurasia), promoted by the decrease of mass balance observed in the Xiao (Lesser) Dongkemadi
Glacier, in the central Tibetan Plateau. Hydrological Processes 22:
Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN). 2953– 2958.
Sakai A, Fujita K, Duan K, Pu J, Nakawo M, Yao T. 2006a. Five
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