Articles | Volume 18, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1633-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1633-2024
Research article
 | 
09 Apr 2024
Research article |  | 09 Apr 2024

Fifty years of firn evolution on Grigoriev ice cap, Tien Shan, Kyrgyzstan

Horst Machguth, Anja Eichler, Margit Schwikowski, Sabina Brütsch, Enrico Mattea, Stanislav Kutuzov, Martin Heule, Ryskul Usubaliev, Sultan Belekov, Vladimir N. Mikhalenko, Martin Hoelzle, and Marlene Kronenberg

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Cited articles

Arkhipov, S. M., Mikhalenko, V. N., and Thompson, L. G.: Structural, stratigraphic and geochemical characteristics of the active layer of the Gregoriev Ice Cap, Tien Shan, Materialy Glyatsiologicheskikh Issledovaniy (Data of Glaciological Studies), 82, 24–32, 1997. a
Arkhipov, S. M., Mikhalenko, V. N., Kunakhovich, M. G., Dikikh, A. N., and Nagornov, O. V.: Termicheskiy reshim, uslovija l'doobrazovanija i akkumulatsija na lednike Grigor'eva (Tyan'-Shan), v 1962–2001 gg. (Thermal regime, types of ice formation and accumulation on the Grigoriev glacier (Tien Shan), 1962–2001), Materialy Glyatsiologicheskikh Issledovaniy (Data of Glaciological Studies), 96, 77–83, 2004. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h
Avak, S. E., Trachsel, J. C., Edebeli, J., Brütsch, S., Bartels-Rausch, T., Schneebeli, M., Schwikowski, M., and Eichler, A.: Melt-Induced fractionation of major ions and trace elements in an Alpine snowpack, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth Surf., 124, 1647–1657, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019jf005026, 2019. a, b
Bohleber, P., Erhardt, T., Spaulding, N., Hoffmann, H., Fischer, H., and Mayewski, P.: Temperature and mineral dust variability recorded in two low-accumulation Alpine ice cores over the last millennium, Clim. Past, 14, 21–37, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-21-2018, 2018. a
Clerx, N., Machguth, H., Tedstone, A., Jullien, N., Wever, N., Weingartner, R., and Roessler, O.: In situ measurements of meltwater flow through snow and firn in the accumulation zone of the SW Greenland Ice Sheet, The Cryosphere, 16, 4379–4401, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4379-2022, 2022. a
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Short summary
In 2018 we drilled an 18 m ice core on the summit of Grigoriev ice cap, located in the Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan. The core analysis reveals strong melting since the early 2000s. Regardless of this, we find that the structure and temperature of the ice have changed little since the 1980s. The probable cause of this apparent stability is (i) an increase in snowfall and (ii) the fact that meltwater nowadays leaves the glacier and thereby removes so-called latent heat.
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