EGU21-13641
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-13641
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

The influence of a supraglacial debris cover on the mass balance and dynamics of the Djankuat Glacier, Caucasus, Russian Federation

Yoni Verhaegen1, Oleg Rybak1,2,3, Victor V. Popovnin4, and Philippe Huybrechts1
Yoni Verhaegen et al.
  • 1Earth System Science and Department of Geography, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
  • 2Water Problems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Gubkina Str. 3, 119333 Moscow, Russia
  • 3FRC SSC RAS, Theatralnaya Str. 8a, 354000, Sochi, Russia
  • 4Department of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1 Leninskie Gory, 119991 Moscow, Russia

We have modelled the influence of a supraglacial debris cover on the behavior of the Djankuat Glacier, a northwest-facing and partly debris-covered temperate valley glacier near the border of the Russian Federation and Georgia, which has been selected as a ‘reference glacier’ for the Caucasus region by the WGMS. A calibrated 1D coupled ice flow-mass balance-supraglacial debris cover model is used to assess the impact of the melt-altering effect of various supraglacial debris profiles on the overall steady state characteristics of the glacier. Additional experiments are also carried out to simulate the behavior of this specific debris-covered glacier in a warming future climate. The main results show that, when compared to its clean-ice version, the debris-covered version of the Djankuat Glacier exhibits longer but thinner ablation zones, accompanied by lower ice flow velocities, lower runoff production, as well as a dampening of the mass balance-elevation profile near the terminus. Experiments for warming climatic conditions primarily point out towards a significant delay of glacier retreat, as the dominant process for ice mass loss encompasses thinning out of the ablation zone. The above-mentioned effects are modelled to be increasingly pronounced with an increasing thickness and extent of the superimposed supraglacial debris cover.

How to cite: Verhaegen, Y., Rybak, O., Popovnin, V. V., and Huybrechts, P.: The influence of a supraglacial debris cover on the mass balance and dynamics of the Djankuat Glacier, Caucasus, Russian Federation, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-13641, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-13641, 2021.

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