Jones D B, Harrison S, Anderson K, Betts R A
College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, UK.
Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, UK.
Sci Rep. 2018 Feb 12;8(1):2834. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-21244-w.
Glacier- and snowpack-derived meltwaters are threatened by climate change. Features such as rock glaciers (RGs) are climatically more resilient than glaciers and potentially contain hydrologically valuable ice volumes. However, while the distribution and hydrological significance of glaciers is well studied, RGs have received comparatively little attention. Here, we present the first near-global RG database (RGDB) through an analysis of current inventories and this contains >73,000 RGs. Using the RGDB, we identify key data-deficient regions as research priorities (e.g., Central Asia). We provide the first approximation of near-global RG water volume equivalent and this is 83.72 ± 16.74 Gt. Excluding the Antarctic and Subantarctic, Greenland Periphery, and regions lacking data, we estimate a near-global RG to glacier water volume equivalent ratio of 1:456. Significant RG water stores occur in arid and semi-arid regions (e.g., South Asia East, 1:57). These results represent a first-order approximation. Uncertainty in the water storage estimates includes errors within the RGDB, inherent flaws in the meta-analysis methodology, and RG thickness estimation. Here, only errors associated with the assumption of RG ice content are quantified and overall uncertainty is likely larger than that quantified. We suggest that RG water stores will become increasingly important under future climate warming.
源自冰川和积雪的融水受到气候变化的威胁。诸如石冰川（RGs）等地貌在气候方面比冰川更具韧性，并且可能含有具有水文价值的冰量。然而，虽然冰川的分布和水文意义已得到充分研究，但石冰川受到的关注相对较少。在此，我们通过对现有清单的分析，呈现了首个近乎全球范围的石冰川数据库（RGDB），该数据库包含超过73,000个石冰川。利用RGDB，我们将关键数据匮乏地区确定为研究重点（例如中亚）。我们首次估算了近乎全球范围的石冰川水当量，为83.72±16.74吉吨。排除南极和亚南极地区、格陵兰周边地区以及缺乏数据的区域，我们估算出近乎全球范围的石冰川与冰川水当量之比为1:456。显著的石冰川蓄水区出现在干旱和半干旱地区（例如东亚，1:57）。这些结果代表了一阶近似值。蓄水量估算中的不确定性包括RGDB内的误差、荟萃分析方法的固有缺陷以及石冰川厚度估算。在此，仅对与石冰川冰含量假设相关的误差进行了量化，总体不确定性可能大于所量化的数值。我们认为，在未来气候变暖的情况下，石冰川蓄水量将变得越来越重要。
