The Response of Glacier Velocity to Climate Change: A Case Study of Urumqi Glacier No. 1
冰川运动速度对气候变化的响应—以天山乌鲁木齐河源1号冰川为例

Valley glacier is most sensitive to climate change under the background of global warming, and hence glaciers and ice caps of the world have changed significantly. Glacier movement is one of the results of climate variation. No. 1 Glacier at the headwater of the Urumqi River is the representative of valley glaciers in western China. In this paper, based on 27 years' (1981-2007) velocity data and seasonal velocity data in combination with glacier mass balance as well as temperature and precipitation data, the authors analyzed the response of the glacier movement to climate change. Researches show that in the 27 years the velocity tended to decrease obviously, seasonal velocity fluctuated considerably, and the velocity was higher in the summer than in the winter. Climate change acted on glacier movement by mass balance variation, and the uninterrupted loss of mass balance led to the continuous decrease of glacier velocity. It is also found that high temperature and high precipitation accelerated the glacier movement.