December 23, 2015

Kanchenjunga Glacier, Nepal Volume Losses

Posted by Mauri Pelto

kanchenjunga compare
Figure 10-16. Kanchenjunga Glacier (K) from 1991 to 2015, green arrows indicate locations of enhanced supraglacial lakes since 1991. Purple arrow indicates areas of thinning at higher elevations in the region. Location 2 is the main junction area. 

Kanchenjunga Glacier is the main glacier draining west from Kanchenjunga Peak, also listed on maps as Kumbukarni. The glacier is similar to Zemu Glacier flowing east from the same mountain into Sikkim, in the heavy debris cover that dominates the glacier in the ablation zone extending from the terminus for 15 km and an altitude of 5600 m. Identifying the retreat is difficult due to the debris cover. Racoviteanu et al (2015) examined glaciers in this region using 1962 and 2000 imagery. They found area losses of 14% for debris covered glacier and 34% for clean glaciers. The debris covered glaciers terminus response is even more muted indicating why terminus change is an easy measure of glacier change but not always the best. For Kanchenjunga Glacier Racoviteanu et al (2015) indicate the glacier area declined by just 4-8% from 1962-2000.

What is apparent in the Landsat images at the green arrows is the increase from 1991 to 2015 of supraglacial lakes. Also features of thinning are evident in the mid reaches of the glacier, purple arrows, where tributaries have narrowed and detached from the main glacier. A closeup of the main glacier junction 12 km above the terminus indicates the number of large supraglacial lakes. These cannot form in a region where melting does not dominate over glacier motion. The Google Earth image from 2014 of the terminus area indicates a patchwork of moraine cored ice dotted with supraglacial lakes and dissected by the glacial outlet river in the lower 3 km of the glacier. This is clearly not an active portion of the glacier, it is thin not moving and does not fill even the valley floor. An overlay of images indicates the lack of motion. The heavy debris cover has slowed retreat and thinning, however, the lower glacier is poised for an increased rate of retreat with merging of supraglacial lakes, which will lead to further area losses. The Kanchenjunga Glacier is losing volume like all other 41 glaciers examined in detail and linked at the Himalayan Glacier Index page. 

kanchenjunga glacier jct

Google Earth image of the main glacier junction region (2) Supraglacial lakes in the area of at 5200 m. 

 

kanchenjunga glacier

Google Earth image of supraglacial lakes 2-5 km above the terminus and the region along the north margin of the glacier where the glacier is receding from the lateral moraine. 

kanchenjunga terminus

2014 Google Earth image of terminus reach.  Black arrows indicate ice cored moraine, blue arrow the lowest large supraglacial lake, 2.5 km above the terminus and red arrow the last remnant of ice.