Articles | Volume 28, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2023-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2023-2024
Research article
 | 
07 May 2024
Research article |  | 07 May 2024

Debris cover effects on energy and mass balance of Batura Glacier in the Karakoram over the past 20 years

Yu Zhu, Shiyin Liu, Ben W. Brock, Lide Tian, Ying Yi, Fuming Xie, Donghui Shangguan, and Yiyuan Shen

Data sets

Interdecadal glacier inventories in the Karakoram since the 1990s F. Xie et al. https://doi.org/10.12072/ncdc.glacier.db2386.2022

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Short summary
This modeling-based study focused on Batura Glacier from 2000 to 2020, revealing that debris alters its energy budget, affecting mass balance. We propose that the presence of debris on the glacier surface effectively reduces the amount of latent heat available for ablation, which creates a favorable condition for Batura Glacier's relatively low negative mass balance. Batura Glacier shows a trend toward a less negative mass balance due to reduced ablation.