Dynamic Response of Glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau to Climate Change

DynRG-TiP Project

The project took part within the DFG (Deutsche Forschung Gemeinschaft) Priority Programme 1372: "Tibetan Plateau: Formation-Climate-Ecosystems" (TiP) .

Fig.1: One day on Zhadang Glacier,
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© T.P. - TU Dresden, F.M. - Chair of Climatology

Like Antarctica and the Arctic, the Tibetan Plateau (TiP) is a key area of the globe. It is a determining factor for the Asian Monsoon system, and its glaciers are characteristic elements of the natural environment, forming water resources of cardinal importance for both ecosystems and millions of people living in the surrounding regions.

Within a large consortium of Chinese and German research teams, the TU Berlin, in association with the TU Dresden and the RWTH Aachen focused on the Glaciers evolution and response in the last decades.

Because of their remoteness, relatively few is known about Tibetan glacier's response to climate change: this encouraged further studies of high relevance. The central goal of the project was to improve our understanding of atmosphere-cryosphere interactions on the TiP by adding new data and improved methods combining field studies (meteorology and climatology, glaciology and glacial hydrology), remote sensing and numerical modelling.

Field studies and remote sensing analyses were focused on glaciers in the Nyainqentanglha Mountains near Nam Co, where the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) operates a research station.

Events and Activities:

• 14.-18. January 2013, Oberjoch: 2nd BMBF-TiP Central Asia Young Scientists Meeting
• 16.-20. January 2012, Oberjoch: BMBF-TiP Central Asia Young Scientists Meeting
• 2.-6. March 2011, Hamburg, Germany: 7th Sino-German Workshop on Tibetan Plateau Research

Research Activities:

Field Investigations Three field campaigns where carried out in close cooperation with the ITP, they ended successfully with the installation of two Automatic Weather Stations on the Zhadang Glacier.	© TU Berlin
Remote Sensing Remote sensing techniques are essential for all research activities within the project. A glacier inventory for the whole Nyainqentanglha range was generated using automated remote sensing and GIS.	© T.B. - TU Dresden
Numerical Modelling Regional Atmospheric Modelling Glaciological Modelling A framework combining glaciological and atmospherical models is currently in development. The system is based on the state-of-the-art Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) modeling system.	© F.M. - Chair of Climatology

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