in days with extreme air temperatures (respectively +14.1C and +22.7C recorded at Askole; Fig. The reference modeled melt is given by M Regarding the Landsat surface temperatures, a single image covering the whole CKNP was not available; therefore, we used two images acquired on 10 August 2011 05:18 GMT and on 17 August 2011 5:24 GMT (Table 1). View all Google Scholar citations The spectral range considered was 0.3 3 m. (i.e. Anderson, Leif S. DC mod, Table 5. Gibson, Morgan J. Modeled melt rates over debris-covered (DC) and debris-free (DF) areas, and the total ablation in the period 23 July9 August 2011. via Godwin Austen Glacier, and terminates approximately 63 km down-valley at an elevation of 3500 m. It is fed by one other major tributary, Baltoro South Glacier, which itself descends from the Gasherbrum group of peaks (maximum elevation 8080 m) via Abruzzi Glacier . Melting factors estimated from field data are taken as constant in time and space (Reference HockHock, 1999). Altitudes and Elevations of Cities and Towns. Gondogoro La Trek - K2 Base Camp Trek 4), with RMSE values of 39 and 125 W m2 for Urdukas and Concordia, respectively. Vuillermoz, Elisa Consequently, our assumption of a constant albedo equal to 0.30 may have led to a slight underestimation of the amount of meltwater, i.e. 3. In the period under study, refreezing during the night can be considered negligible in the debris-covered areas, because hourly air temperatures at Urdukas were always positive. Scatter plot showing DT values derived from 2004 ASTER (using equation reported in Mihalcea and others, 2008a), and the ones from 2004 Landsat (applying Eqn (5)); 8700 pixels were considered. It extends in the eastwest direction on the south side of the Karakoram Range, lying in the region 35353556 N, 7604 7646 E. The Baltoro glacier elevation ranges between 3370 m a.s.l. Homer, Rachel This agrees with the well-known nonlinear relation between debris-covered ice melt and DT (see also fig. In the absence of direct measurements, albedo is often estimated from typical published values for snow or ice (Reference Cutler and MunroCutler and Munro, 1996): a clean ice surface generally features an albedo of 0.300.46, while a debris-rich ice surface is characterized by an albedo of 0.060.30 (Reference Cuffey and PatersonCuffey and Paterson, 2010). S-point), we considered both daily incoming solar radiation (SWin-point) and debris thickness (DTpoint), because higher radiation and thicker debris lead to higher surface temperatures (Reference Mihalcea, Mayer, Diolaiuti, Lambrecht, Smiraglia and TartariMihalcea and others, 2006, Reference Mihalcea2008a,Reference Mihalceab; Reference MayerMayer and others, 2010). Baltoro Glacier topographic map, elevation, terrain Ambrosini, Roberto Here, we characterize the spatial-temporal variations in glacier velocity over the Central Karakoram from 1999-2003. 2 = 0.75) obtained from the image taken on 10 August 2011 (which covers the whole Baltoro glacier area) was, while the one (R It drains an area of about 1500 km2 and is >60 km long. The largest glacierized region outside the Arctic and the Antarctic is High Mountain Asia (HMA), which covers an area of 118 200 km2 (Reference GardnerGardner and others, 2013). The total fresh water from the ablation areas of CKNP glaciers during the same period was therefore 1.963 km3 (on average, 0.109 km3 d1), corresponding, for example, to 14% of the water contained in a large strategic dam along the Indus River, of which all CKNP glaciers are tributaries. S-point; C) in each pixel of the DTpoint map and for each day in our period were computed by considering both daily incoming solar radiation data (SWin-point; W m2) and debris thickness values (DTpoint; m); and (c) the debris effective thermal resistance (DRpoint; m2 C W1) was evaluated from debris thickness values by applying an empirical relation developed by Reference MihalceaMihalcea and others (2008a). In 2004 an Italian/German expedition carried out a glaciological field program on the ablation zone of the glacier, focusing on the ablation conditions and the dynamic state of the glacier. Table 4. The lowest point of a state that borders an ocean is almost always sea level. These include: Jerzy Wala, Orographical Sketch Map of the Karakoram, Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research, Zurich, 1990. . Bestetti, Giuseppina Diolaiuti, Guglielmina DC by modifying the incoming shortwave radiation and debris thickness. Table 1. Hence, these preliminary tests support the suitability of Landsat-derived surface temperatures to describe supraglacial debris thickness. Table 5 shows the model responses at field survey points (C-DF1 to C-DF3). 543 bands) (Table 1). The period considered is from the end of July to mid-August. MAYER, CHRISTOPH 2. 13,780 feet). 1). This approach has also been used by Reference Zhang, Fujita, Liu, Liu and NuimuraZhang and others (2011) who applied it on Hailuogou glacier, southeastern Tibetan Plateau, and more recently by Reference Fujita and SakaiFujita and Sakai (2014) on the Tsho Rolpa glacial lakeTrambau glacier basin in the Nepal Himalaya. Moreover, these error tests were made considering the worst cases (maximum RMSE). Has data issue: false Soncini, Andrea The results are shown in Figure 7. Thus, it will be important to monitor debris cover variations in time to update these crucial input data. To model the ice melting amount in the whole CKNP glacier ablation area, we considered the following input data: 1. presence or absence of debris on the glacier surface) was known (Reference Brown, Lusch and DudaBrown and others, 1998). With an elevation of 8,611 meters, K2 is among the highest mountains in the world, second only to Mount Everest. 2 are constant values (607.76 W m2 sr1 m1 and 1260.56 K, respectively; Reference NASANASA, 2011), and " is the sky emissivity including atmospheric scatter (set to 0.95; Reference Barsi, Barker, Schott and SteinBarsi and others, 2003, Reference Barsi, Schott, Palluconi and Hook2005). Some studies have used remote-sensing data to analyze the spatial distribution of surface temperatures and calculate the energy available for melting (Reference Nakawo, Moroboshi and UeharaNakawo and others, 1993; Reference Rana, Nakawo, Fukushima and AgetaRana and others, 1997; Reference Nakawo and RanaNakawo and Rana, 1999). from 23 July to 7 August 2011 (Table 2). Diolaiuti, Guglielmina A Baltoro Glacier - Noon Academy DC-point; m w.e.) Irvine-Fynn, Tristram D.L. (more than twice as much) with respect to that obtained on actual debris-free areas (Table 6). Bocchiola, Daniele The model results without input variation are shown in line 2 (, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Fig. Names of the widest glaciers are shown, with the area of Baltoro glacier highlighted by a box with blue dashed line. The data in (a), (b) and (c) are the main inputs in the debris-covered ice melt model because they allowed estimation of the conductive heat flux through the debris layer and, consequently, of the ablation rate. point corresponds to the conductive heat flux (W m2), t is the time step, i is the ice density (917 kg m3) and L HEIL, MATTHIAS Above, the terrain becomes much easier for 300 meters (scrambling and sections of 5.3) and leads to the upper section of the wall, where difficulties steadily increase. The hydrometeorological regime is barely influenced by monsoons, while a major contribution results from snow and ice melt. in the ablation zone. 2016. 2018. The first climb recorded in this group was most likely that by Jim Beyer, who in 1989 soloed a huge, 54-pitch line off the Dunge Glacier to the summit of Thunmo (5866m), which lies south of the ca. Diolaiuti, Guglielmina Adele 5. Site displayed by each image is also reported, Table 2. In 2004 an Italian/German expedition carried. 5. Overall, the greatest ablation occurred on 5 August, when incoming solar radiation was high, but not the highest, while the minima occurred on days (2831 July) with minimum radiative input. During 23 July9 August 2011, the mean model-estimated ablation in the CKNP was 0.024 m w.e. We then focused on the peak ablation season, from 23 July to 9 August 2011, when meltwater is largely derived from ice melt, with snow thaw playing a minor role (Reference SonciniSoncini and others, 2015). The data analysis was performed in the framework of the PRIN project 2010/11 (2010AYKTAB_006). DF by varying the air temperature, the incoming shortwave radiation and the albedo. Glaciers of Colorado | Glaciers of the American West d1. Pelfini, Manuela Corridor of Ice at Baltoro by Xi Jin. Fig. DF) is more sensitive to air temperature. The debris coverage within glacierized areas below 5200 m a.s.l. Born in 1952, Cadiach is perhaps Catalonia's best-known Himalayan climber. - Source, acquisition date and code scene of each satellite image used for the assessment of debris thickness distribution. This relation was based on field data of debris thickness and surface temperature sampled on Baltoro glacier during summer 2011 and incoming solar radiation estimated in the same gridpoints. Mayer, Christoph This wall finishes at around 5500 meters, from where 300 meters of scrambling lead to the summit at ca. Altitudes and Elevations of Cities and Towns - WorldAtlas We therefore modified the approach of Mihalcea and others (Reference Mihalcea2008a,Reference Mihalceab) to use Landsat TM images covering the entire CKNP area. Asif Khan, Mohammed where n and m are the total number of pixels (each pixel is 30 m 30 m in size) of the digital image corresponding, respectively, to debris-covered and debris-free glacier areas, k is the length of the study period (days) and M In order to remain free and to keep improving, this site uses cookies created by Google to compile visit statistics and display personalized advertisements. "coreDisableEcommerceForBookPurchase": false, A digital elevation model (DEM) describing the CKNP area (derived from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, SRTM3). 7. Shrestha, Dibas Smiraglia, Claudio The sensitivity tests suggest that melting will increase largely if summer air temperature increases. Date format is mm/dd. Fig. Bocchiola, D Baltoro glacier. a-Askole; C) and the daily mean incoming solar radiation (SWin-Askole;W m2) were obtained from hourly data measured during summer 2011 by the permanent AWS installed at Askole (Fig. The various measurement positions on Baltoro glacier. All stake "coreDisableEcommerceForElementPurchase": false, While quite a few energy- and mass-balance studies have been performed on debris-free glaciers, studies including debris-covered ice are not numerous. This study provides an estimate of fresh water derived from ice melt for the ablation areas of glaciers in the Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP), Pakistan. A large Spanish-Catalan team comprising Antonio Bayones, Oscar Cadiach, Ramon Canyellas, Elias Coll, Pilar Rossinyol, Albert Segura and Toti Vales climbed a big new rock route on the Baltoro Cathedrals, a complex collection of rocky tops overlooking the Baltoro Glacier in Pakistan's Karakoram and rising above the east bank of the lower Dunge Glacier opposite the Trango Group. Azzoni, Roberto Sergio Vales, who is in charge of the Spanish Federation Sport Climbing, last year made the first ascent of a 1000-meter wall in Norway via an all-free route with a crux of 5.13c. Also, any increase in the extent of debris coverage (which will likely occur due to augmented macrogelivation processes and rockfall events) will affect melt depending on new debris thickness. 3.2.2 Baltoro Glacier. Compostella, Chiara Baltoro Glacier topographic map, elevation, terrain We applied the model to four points where actual ablation data were collected in the field (the calibration points in Table 2) and calculated melt anomalies (M) with respect to M Estimates from snow pits above 4000 m a.s.l. Reference FyffeFyffe and others (2014) developed a melt model, which calculates sub-debris melt rates using an existing debris energy-balance model (DEB-Model introduced by Reference Reid and BrockReid and Brock, 2010) and melt rates for clean ice, snow and partially debris-covered ice using standard energy-balance equations. This map allowed the separation of the debris-free and debris-covered zones of each glacier. Dataset indicates whether ablation recorded at that site was used to calibrate (C) or to validate (V) the models; the site was debris-covered (DC) or debris-free (DF); Elev: elevation (m a.s.l. It will therefore be our focus here for calibrating and validating the melt models. IGARSS 2003, International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2125 July 2003, Toulouse, France. It lies in Hunza river basin some 15 km from Gulmit, in the . DF-point are the melting rates over debris-covered and debris-free areas, respectively. It drains an area of about 1500 km2 and is >60 km long. At 63 kilometers (39 miles) in length, the Baltoro Glacier is one of the longest non-polar glaciers in the world. 'Bone breaker'; [1] Urdu: ), at 63 km (39 mi) in length, is one of the longest glaciers outside the polar regions. hasContentIssue false, Copyright The Author(s) 2015 This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license. We applied the model to three points where actual ablation data were collected in the field (the calibration points in Table 2) and calculated melt anomalies (, Sensitivity test performed by applying different input data to both the debris-free and debris-covered ice melt models. 2019. Although a near neighbour of Biafo, it has some very different characteristics. ), as well as in Askole (3029 m a.s.l. for this article. Published online by Cambridge University Press: Bianchi, Alberto The following is a table of the peaks in the Baltoro Muztagh which are over 7,000 metres (22,970ft) in elevation and have over 500 metres (1,640ft) of topographic prominence. In particular, in the 14 years after 1990, they found double the number of new surges (26) compared with those counted in the 14 years before (13 surges). Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Glacier mapping: a review with special reference to the Indian Himalayas, Prediction of future hydrological regimes in poorly gauged high altitude basins: the case study of the upper Indus, Pakistan, Supervised classification of types of glaciated landscapes using digital elevation data, Climbing and exploration in the Himalayas, Expanded and recently increased glacier surging in the Karakoram, La spedizione di S.A.R il Principe Luigi Amedeo di Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi nel Karakorum e nellHimalaya occidentale, Glaciological research of the Italian Karakorum Expedition, A distributed temperature-index ice- and snowmelt model including potential direct solar radiation, State of the knowledge and Workshop on Hindu Kush Himalayan Cryosphere Data Sharing Policy, International Conference on the Cryosphere of the Hindu Kush Himalayas, Contrasting patterns of early twenty-first-century glacier mass change in the Himalayas, Practical prediction of ice melting beneath various thickness of debris cover on Khumbu Glacier, Nepal using a positive degree day factor, Temporal and spatial variation of the surface albedo of Morteratschgletscher, Switzerland, as derived from 12 Landsat images, Monitoring surging glaciers of the Pamirs, central Asia, from space, A physically based model for the year-round surface energy and mass balance of debris-covered glaciers, Energy exchange and ablation rates on the debris-covered Rakhiot Glacier, Pakistan, Ablation on debris covered glaciers: an example from the Rakhiot Glacier, Punjab, Himalaya, Glaciological characteristics of the ablation zone of Baltoro glacier, Karakoram, Pakistan, Analysis of glacial meltwater in Bagrot Valley, Karakoram, Ice ablation and meteorological conditions on the debris-covered area of Baltoro glacier, Karakoram, Pakistan, Spatial distribution of debris thickness and melting from remote-sensing and meteorological data, at debris-covered Baltoro glacier, Karakoram, Pakistan, Using ASTER satellite and ground-based surface temperature measurements to derive supraglacial debris cover and thickness patterns on Miage Glacier (Mont Blanc Massif, Italy), 20012010 glacier changes in the Central Karakoram National Park: a contribution to evaluate the magnitude and rate of the Karakoram anomaly, Estimate of ablation rate of glacier ice under a supraglacial debris layer, A simplified model for estimating glacier ablation under a debris layer, IAHS Publ. 26 July 2017. NICHOLSON, LINDSEY d1, while on debris-free areas it was 0.037 m w.e. Baltoro glacier in the Karakoram, Pakistan, is one of the world's largest valley glaciers. point) was estimated by applying an enhanced T-index model (Reference Pellicciotti, Brock, Strasser, Burlando, Funk and CorripioPellicciotti and others, 2005): where T 2 = 0.99) is. Baltoro Glacier - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Maugeri, Maurizio d1. d1. Albedo was estimated by analyzing incoming and outgoing solar radiation data recorded during 2012 by a net radiometer (CNR1, Kipp & Zonen) installed at the Concordia supraglacial AWS. Using seven images from Landsat, the animation compresses 25 years of change into just 0.7 seconds to reveal the flow of the Baltoro glacier tongue and its surrounding tributaries in the Karakoram mountain range in Asia. The modeled ablation data were in strong agreement with measurements collected in the field during 2011 on Baltoro glacier, which can be considered representative of CKNP glaciers. Gandolfi, Isabella From the rock trails that ascend to the enormous Baltoro Glacier to the sights of the amazing 8,000-meter peaks that tower above your head, the K2 Concordia trek is one of the most epic journeys available. "coreDisableSocialShare": false, DF) was 1.740 km3, with an average of 0.097 km3 d1. MALLINSON, AMY Then we studied the effect of varying the debris thickness upon melt results (10%, 1 cm, 5cm and 10 cm with respect to the actual debris thickness values). Azzoni, RS Gibson, M. J. Quincey, Duncan J. where DT is debris thickness (m) and T 3). Changing T This approach involved training the classification algorithm with a number of sites where the classification output (i.e. ROIs are sample areas that we know were covered by supraglacial debris in 2011. Itdrains an area of about 1500 km2and is >60 km long. This method is based on the relationship between surface temperature and supraglacial debris thickness (Reference Taschner and RanziTaschner and Ranzi, 2002). Karakoram Glaciers: Types and Terrain | SpringerLink We divided this dataset into two subgroups: one for calibrating our melt models and the other for validating them. DF- a pixel was classified as supraglacial debris-covered when the probability of a pixel belonging to this class was >0.9). 15,420 feet. The highest point in a particular state is usually a mountain, or at least a hill. Irvine-Fynn, T. D. To map the thickness of supraglacial debris over the whole glacierized area of the CKNP, we used the method developed by Reference MihalceaMihalcea and others (2008b) for Miage glacier, Mont Blanc massif, Italy, and already applied to Baltoro glacier by Reference MihalceaMihalcea and others (2008a). It's located in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, home to . Our model estimated 0.223 km3 (on average, 0.012 km3 d1; minmax 0.0060.016 km3 d1) of meltwater from the debris-covered parts, and 1.740 km3 (on average, 0.097 km3 d1; minmax 0.0410.139 km3 d1) from debris-free sectors of the CKNP glacier ablation zone from 23 July to 9 August 2011. The glacier is crossed and trekked-on at several points to reach Concordia and K2 basecamp. 1). Maragno, Davide Indeed, the minimum and maximum daily melt (0.005 and 0.089 m w.e., respectively) occurred during days with the lowest and highest incoming solar radiation (respectively, 112 and 371 W m2, in Askole; Fig. Regarding air temperature, the maxima have generally increased, while the minima appear to have decreased only during summer. The debris-covered and debris-free ice melt models were therefore applied to the whole glacierized area of the CKNP below the ELA. We varied the daily incoming solar radiation by 10%. We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. (, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). The Baltoro Muztagh is to the north and east of the glacier, while the Masherbrum Mountains lie to the south. Askole was also considered in the debris-covered ice melt model in order to estimate the surface debris temperature (T To model the daily mean debris surface temperature at each pixel (T We considered the whole CKNP ablation area the daily air temperature by 0.1, 1.0 and 2.5C with respect to the measured values. and - Landsat data used in this paper are distributed by the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC), located at the US Geological Survey (USGS) National Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS), Sioux Falls, SD. Modeled incoming solar radiation values resulted in a good match with the measured ones (Fig. The Shaksgam Tract controlled by China is located north of the Saltoro mountain range from the Apsarasas Kangri Range to 90km northwest of K2.[5]. Baltoro Glacier | glacier, Asia | Britannica The Baltoro Muztagh (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: B'rtulu Mshtg Shn, Urdu: ) is a subrange of the Karakoram mountain range, in Baltistan region of the Gilgit-Baltistan, northernmost political entity of Pakistan; and in Xinjiang, China. Baltoro is one of the highest relief basins spanning 5,210 m from K2 (8,611 m) to the snout (Dyhrenfurth et al. i is the ice temperature (set to the melting point, 0C; i.e. EVATT, GEOFFREY W. Subrange of the Karakoram located on the southwestern side of the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir, Awards and decorations of the Indian Armed Forces, How India realised it was at risk of losing the Siachen glacier to Pakistan, Securing the heights: The vertical dimension of the Siachen conflict between India and Pakistan in the Eastern Karakoram, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saltoro_Mountains&oldid=1161494457, Short description is different from Wikidata, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, This page was last edited on 23 June 2023, at 02:30. S-Landsat was calculated applying the inverted Planck function: where K 2017. (17%). Mapping of debris thickness is fundamental for estimating debris resistivity, and therefore debris-covered ice melt. 6. In addition to these model sensitivity tests, we considered the whole CKNP area totally debris-free, obtaining a total melt of 2.22 km3 w.e., with an increase of 0.48 km3 w.e. Frontiers | Seasonal Evolution of Supraglacial Lakes on Baltoro Glacier He was the first Spanish mountaineer to summit Everest from both north and south sides, climbed new routes on Broad Peak Central (from China) and Cho Oyu, and in 2004 retreated from high on K2 in an attempt to make the second ascent of the Magic Line. The temperatures estimated using the two different images showed a good correlation (R Unfortunately, the ASTER images were not available for the whole CKNP area on the same date. Minora, Umberto Baltoro glacier in the Karakoram, Pakistan, is one of the world's largest valley glaciers. The results (Fig. The mountains lie in the Karakoram Range of the Himalaya . 8b). A further improvement of our approach will be the spatial distribution of debris-free ice albedo by applying methods based on remote-sensing investigations (see Reference Klok, Greuell and OerlemansKlok and others, 2003). and Mayer, Christoph It is located in the Shigar District of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan, home to some of the world's highest mountains. Table 5 shows the model responses at field survey points (C-DF1 to C-DF3). Overview of the Baltoro drainage basin and the location of Baltoro 2017. First, we considered the debris-covered areas. Reference SonciniSoncini and others, 2015). Quatern Int 371:67-75. Trek to Concordia. and Salerno, Franco Tateishi, Ryutaro DAgata, Carlo Glasser, Neil F. Article contents Abstract References A simple model to evaluate ice melt over the ablation area of glaciers in the Central Karakoram National Park, Pakistan Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 July 2017 U. Minora , A. Senese , D. Bocchiola , A. Soncini , C. D'agata , R. Ambrosini , C. Mayer , A. Lambrecht , E. Vuillermoz and 6), a mean value of 0.23 m was found, with maxima of ~3 m. During the 2011 ablation season, we collected 29 measurements on Baltoro glacier (both debris-covered and debris-free conditions). Lambrecht, Astrid at each pixel of the CKNP debris-covered glacier area was modeled as. (a) Landsat TM image with RGB = 543 of portion of Panmah glacier. The total melting (M The results could, however, be acceptable given the extent of the analyzed debris-covered area (518 km2). DAgata, Carlo The distribution of the meteorological parameters is reported in Section 3.1 and the evaluation of debris features is discussed in Section 3.2. "coreDisableEcommerce": false, We performed several sensitivity tests and evaluated model responses to varying input data at field survey sites (Tables 4 and 5) as well as over the whole CKNP ablation area (Table 6). Frano, Ghanche, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, Pakistan> Gilgit-Baltistan> Baltistn District, K2, Baltistn District, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, Pakistan> Gilgit-Baltistan> Nazimabad-Pyeen, Attabad lake, Nazimabad-Pyeen, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, Shigar River, Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, Pakistan> Gilgit-Baltistan> Minapin Nagar, Hunza River, Minapin Nagar, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, Masherbrum (K1), Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, Sultanabad, Gilgit District, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Baltistn District, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. range from 1000 to >3000 mm w.e. We varied the daily incoming solar radiation by 10% and 20%. Anderson, Robert S. This in turn flows into the Indus River. Soncini, Andrea The remaining pixels within glacierized areas and below the ELA were considered debris-free areas. Supraglacial debris of diverse lithology (Reference Desio, Marussi and CaputoDesio and others, 1961) occurs below 5000 m a.s.l., and covers ~38% of the glacier area. Bocchiola, Daniele A simple model to evaluate ice melt over the ablation area of glaciers 2018. In 2004 an Italian/German expedition carried. Finally, we investigated the effect of changing the albedo values by 10%. Table 4. Considering both debris-free and debris-covered areas in the whole CKNP and the entire analyzed period, we estimated a total melt of 0.63 m w.e., corresponding to an average ablation of 0.035 m w.e. Debris data: (a) a map describing the supraglacial debris thicknesses (DTpoint; m) was derived from Landsat TM thermal band imagery from August 2011 (T a, T For this purpose, we calculated the melt amount at selected debris-free (C-DF1, C-DF2, C-DF3) and debris-covered (C-DC1, C-DC2, C-DC3, C-DC4) ice field points varying the meteorological model inputs (T