RAVEN - Rapid mass loss of debris-covered glaciers in High-Mountain Asia

RAVEN aims to provide a step-change in our understanding of the response of HMA glaciers to a warming climate by determining the role that debris-covered glaciers play in the water cycle of HMA and incorporating debris-covered glaciers into regional assessments of future runoff projections. It will establish the strength and regional extent of anomalous thinning patterns of debris-covered glaciers and bring this fundamental new understanding into models by integrating scales (from the point scale of single ponds and cliffs forming on the glacier surface to the scale of an entire glacier and then catchment) and methodological approaches (integrating numerical modelling and observational strategies).

The project is formulated as an in-depth catchment comparison to constrain the processes and rates of glacier melt in four study areas representing distinct climate zones along the Himalayan arc: the Karakoram (Shimshal catchment), Western and Eastern Himalaya (Alaknanda and Langtang catchments), and Tibetan Plateau (Parlung region). For each study area, we will leverage and expand upon existing hydro-meteorological networks; conduct novel, systematic field observations including GPS measurements, UAVs and time-lapse cameras; examine seasonal, annual, and decadal glacier changes using satellite imagery; and develop physically-based models for describing specific processes (e.g. cliffs and ponds energy balance). These diverse observations, spanning multiple scales, will be drawn together into the TOPKAPI-ETH glacio-hydrological model to understand current and future states for the catchments’ glaciers and hydrology.