The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of temperature trend on glacier-mass balance, snow density, snowmelt, snow depth and runoff by using observations of nine glacier stations that covered most of the China over the period of 1979-2013. Trend analysis showed an increasing trend of temperature on all of the selected stations. On an average, temperature was increasing at the rate of 0.46/10a. The increasing trend of temperature showed a negative relationship with annual glacier-mass balance on most of the stations and caused a decrease in annual balance. Results of Pearson’s correlation analysis showed a highly significant negative correlation between temperature and snow density (correlation coefficient (CC = -0.661 at 0.01 significance level). There was a significant positive correlation between temperature and snowmelt (CC = 0.532 at 0.01 significance level). There was a significant negative correlation between temperature and snow depth (correlation coefficient (CC = -0.342 at 0.05 significance level). Moreover, there was a significant positive correlation between temperature and runoff (CC = 0.586 at 0.01 significance level). Increasing trend of temperature caused an increasing trend of annual snowmelt and runoff anomaly% at the rate of 24.82/10a and 9.87/10a, respectively. On the other hand, a declining trend in annual snow density and snow depth anomaly% was found at a rate of -5.32/10a and -1.93/10a, respectively. We concluded that the snow density, snowmelt and runoff are significantly sensitive to temperature in China. This contribution has provided information for further understanding of glacier variation and its influencing factors.
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