Groos, Alexander Raphael; Mayer, Christoph; Smiraglia, Claudio; Diolaiuti, Guglielmina; Lambrecht, Astrid (2017): A first attempt to model region-wide glacier surface mass balances in the Karakoram: findings and future challenges, supplementary material [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.880279,

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Supplement to: Groos, AR et al. (2017): A first attempt to model region-wide glacier surface mass balances in the Karakoram: findings and future challenges. Geografia Fisica E Dinamica Quaternaria, 40(2), 137-159, https://doi.org/10.4461/GFDQ.2017.40.10

In contrast to the central and eastern part of High Mountain Asia (HMA), no extensive glacier mass loss has been observed in the Karakoram during previous decades. However, the potential meteorological and glaciological causes of the so-called Karakoram Anomaly are manifold and still under debate. This paper introduces and presents a novel glacier Surface Mass Balance Model (glacierSMBM) to test whether the characteristic regional mass balance pattern can be reproduced using recent field, remote-sensing and reanalysis data as input. A major advantage of the model setup is the implementation of the non-linear effect of supra-glacial debris on the sub-surface ice melt. In addition to a first assessment of the annual surface mass balance from 1st August 2010 until 31st July 2011, a sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the response of Karakoram glaciers to recent climate change and to identify meteorological and glaciological processes that promote stable mass balances. The mean glacier mass balance for the Karakoram during the observation period is -0.92 m w.e. a-1 and corresponds to an annual melt water contribution of ~12.66 km3. Data inaccuracies and the neglected process of snow redistribution from adjacent slopes in the accumulation area are probably responsible for the negative bias in the model output. Despite the general offset between mass gain and mass loss, the model captures the characteristic features of the anomaly and indicates that positive glacier mass balances are mainly restricted to the central and northeastern part of the mountain range. From the evaluation of the sensitivity analysis it can be concluded that the complex glacier response in the Karakoram is not the result of a single driver, but related to a variety of regional peculiarities such as the favourable meteorological conditions, the extensive supra-glacial debris and the timing of the main precipitation season.

The supplementary material comprises the following six ZIP archives:

1. Figures

File type: PNG

Content: Figures 1 - 9 of the publication.

2. Animation

File type: GIF

Content: An animated version of Figure 7 (spatial and temporal evolution of the surface mass balance of the Baltoro glacier from 1st August 2010 until 31st July 2011).

3. Tables

File type: TXT (tab delimiter)

Content: Tables 1 - 8 of the publication.

4. glacierSMBM Output

File type: TXT (tab delimiter)

Content: Mean daily accumulation, ablation, bare ice melt, sub-debris ice melt, firn melt, snow melt, snow height and surface mass balance (in m d-1) for the Baltoro glacier and all Karakoram glaciers from 1st August until 31st July 2011 as output of the glacier Surface Mass Balance Model (glacierSMBM).

5. Glacier Inventory

File type: ESRI Polygon Shapefile

Projection: UTM Zone 43N

Date: 23rd August 2010

Content: Outlines of 834 glaciers in the Karakoram

6. Karakoram Boundary

File type: ESRI Polygon Shapefile

Projection: UTM Zone 43N

Content: Boundary of the Karakoram mountain range as defined by the "Karakoram Conference" in 1936/1937.