Spatiotemporal characteristics of glacier area and length changes in Xizang, China, from 2000 to 2022
Understanding glacier changes is critical for assessing climate impacts, water security, and regional sustainability. Using a visual interpretation method based on Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI imagery, we revised the Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) V7.0 dataset and mapped the 2022 glacier inventory of Xizan...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2025-08-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Digital Earth |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2513046 |
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| Summary: | Understanding glacier changes is critical for assessing climate impacts, water security, and regional sustainability. Using a visual interpretation method based on Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI imagery, we revised the Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) V7.0 dataset and mapped the 2022 glacier inventory of Xizang. Then, we derived glacier centerline data in RGI V7.0 and the 2022 glacier inventory, examined glacier terminus length changes in 2000–2022. Results showed a glacier-area reduction of 14.75% and an average glacier-length retraction of 201.62 ± 34 m in 2000–2022. Small glaciers (<0.5 km2) exhibited the highest area and length change rates. Glacier changes were spatially heterogeneous, showing an increase in retreat from northwest to southeast. Shrinkage was accelerated in the southeastern maritime glaciers, where area and length changes both reached −1.17%/a −1.6 and 1.3 times higher, respectively, than in sub-continental glaciers and 3.8 and 2.1 times higher, respectively, than in ultra-continental glaciers. Shrinkage rates of clean-ice and debris-covered glaciers were higher in southeastern Xizang than in the Himalayas. In both regions, clean-ice glaciers retreated twice as fast than the debris-covered glaciers. Glacier retreat was driven by atmospheric-circulation induced air-temperature and precipitation changes, with glacier albedo decline, size, and topography further influencing regional variations. |
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| ISSN: | 1753-8947 1753-8955 |