sakai_2004.htm
Bulletin of Glaciological Research 21 (2004)
9-16
©Japanese Society of Snow and Ice
Evaporation and percolation effect on melting at debris -covered Lirung Glacier, Nepal Himalayas, 1996
Akiko SAKAI1, Koji FUJITA1 and Jumpei KUBOTA2
1 Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
2 Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, 335 Takashima-cho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 602-0878, Japan
Abstract
Heat flux with rain has not been taken into account in estimating melt amounts of debris-covered ice, although there was a lot of rain during the melting season in the Nepal Himalayas. Some of the rain falling on the debris-covered glacier will evaporate, and the rest will percolate through the debris layer and will supply heat to melt the ice beneath it. Evaporation amounts during a melting season from the 15 July to the 29 August in 1996 were measured using a lysimeter on a debris-covered area of Lirung Glacier, Nepal Himalayas. Observational results indicated that 25% of the total rainfall evaporated at that debris-covered glacier. The heat flux with percolated water has no effect on the heat needed to melt ice under the debris, although percolated water accounts for as much as 75% of the total rain amount.
