The Improved SBAS-InSAR Technique Reveals Three-Dimensional Glacier Collapse: A Case Study in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Xinyao Wang, Jiayi Yao (), Yanbo Cao and Jiaming Yao
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Xinyao Wang: School of Geological Engineering and Geomatics, Chang’an University, Weiyang District, Xi’an 710000, China
Jiayi Yao: School of Geological Engineering and Geomatics, Chang’an University, Weiyang District, Xi’an 710000, China
Yanbo Cao: School of Geological Engineering and Geomatics, Chang’an University, Weiyang District, Xi’an 710000, China
Jiaming Yao: School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: Many debris-covered glaciers are widely distributed on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Glaciers are important freshwater resources and cause disasters such as glacier collapse and landslides. Therefore, it is of great significance to monitor the movement characteristics of large active glaciers and analyze the process of mass migration, which may cause serious threats and damage to roads and people living in surrounding areas. In this study, we chose a glacier with strong activity in Lulang County, Tibet, as the study area. The complete 4-year time series deformation of the glacier was estimated by using an improved small-baseline subset InSAR (SBAS-InSAR) technique based on the ascending and descending Sentinel-1 datasets. Then, the three-dimensional time series deformation field of the glacier was obtained by using the 3D decomposition technique. Furthermore, the three-dimensional movement of the glacier and its material migration process were analyzed. The results showed that the velocities of the Lulang glacier in horizontal and vertical directions were up to 8.0 m/year and 0.45 m/year, and these were basically consistent with the movement rate calculated from the historical optical images. Debris on both sides of the slope accumulated in the channel after slipping, and the material loss of the three provenances reached 6–9 × 10 3 m 3 /year, while the volume of the glacier also decreased by about 76 × 10 3 m 3 /year due to snow melting and evaporation. The correlation between the precipitation, temperature, and surface velocity suggests that glacier velocity has a clear association with them, and the activity of glaciers is linked to climate change. Therefore, in the context of global warming, the glacier movement speed will gradually increase with the annual increase in temperature, resulting in debris flow disasters in the future summer high-temperature period.

Keywords: climate change; displacement; glacier deformation; Lulang glacier; SBAS-InSAR; sentinel data; three-dimensional time series displacement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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