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Mass balance and runoff of the partially debris-covered Langtang Glacier, Nepal

2000; International Association of Hydrological Sciences; Linguagem: Inglês

0144-7815

Wendell V. Tangborn, Birbal Rana,

Landslides and related hazards

The mass balance and runoff of the Langtang Glacier is calculated using the PTAA (precipitation-temperature-area-altitude) model. Input are meteorological observations at Kathmandu and the area-altitude distribution of the glacier. The glacier area is 75 km 2 and its altitude range is from 4500 to 7000 m. The PTAA model converts daily precipitation and temperature observations at the Kathmandu airport to snow accumulation and snow and ice ablation at each of the twenty-five 100-m altitude intervals on the glacier. The simulated annual mass balance for the period of record is -0.11 m (water equivalent) and the ELA is 5280 m. Mean summer runoff (June-September), the sum of total simulated ablation and precipitation as rain, is 14 mm per day, which is a rate similar to runoff measured for the nearby Lirung Glacier basin. Simulated ablation also agrees with ablation measurements made on the Lirung Glacier over the same time period and at approximately the same altitude.