EAGER: Collaborative Research: Climate and Glacier change in Bhutan: the last millennia, present and future

EAGER：合作研究：不丹的气候和冰川变化：过去的千年、现在和未来

• 批准号: 1256540
• 负责人: Joerg Schaefer
• 金额: $ 8.28万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1256540&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Collaborative; Research; Climate; Glacier

Environmental Change in the Himalayas impacts societies in the most densely populated area on Earth. Rapid glacier retreat in the monsoonal Himalayas affects river discharge, energy production, and agriculture. A serious threat is posed by outburst floods from glacial lakes in the Himalayan country of Bhutan. Bhutan's welfare is directly linked to glacier dynamics because the country's primary source of income, exported hydropower, as well as the national agricultural irrigation infrastructure, are fueled by glacier melt. Melting glaciers and the steep relief have made outburst floods a prime hazard for Bhutan and their Himalayan neighbors, and the hazard potential depends on current and future glacier melt. Determining the rate of glacier retreat in response to climate change is fundamental for predicting future flood probabilities and for designing adaption and mitigation strategies for Bhutanese society. Currently the rate of glacier retreat is very poorly constrained. This EAGER proposal seeks funds to take the first step towards providing robust information about past, present and future glacier and climate change in Bhutan, and in turn contribute to a more robust scientific data for decision makers and mitigation strategists. The identified target area for this EAGER project is Rhapstreng Glacier, in the Lunana area of Bhutan. Over the last decade the PIs have established connections to the scientific and political leadership in Bhutan, in particular with the Department of Energy/Ministry of Economical Affairs and the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment (UWICE), and have also identified excellent climate and environmental records: (i) Outstanding past glacier records, consisting of well-preserved moraine sequences; (ii) Conifer tree species which will allow the PIs to reconstruct climate, especially summer temperature, back through the Little Ice Age and into late-Medieval times; (iii) Bhutanese glaciers that are, according to preliminary mass balance modeling in the Himalaya, particularly sensitive to changes in temperature as compared to precipitation, making them excellent targets for more refined glaciological modeling, and making the tree-ring reconstructions particularly useful to the glacier reconstructions. The grant supports a concerted field campaign, including geomorphology, geochronology, paleothermometry, and glaciology in order to lay the foundation for reconstructing glacier histories and climate change over the last millennia, and to better predict Himalayan glacier change over the next centuries. The PIs have assembled a multidisciplinary team of experts with broad experience in Himalayan glacier and climate problems, including a female junior faculty at a primarily undergraduate university. This EAGER proposal is the first step towards a bilateral educational program, including bilateral student exchange between CU and UWICE and integration of Bhutanese students in annual field campaigns.

喜马拉雅山的环境变化影响着地球上人口最稠密地区的社会。季风喜马拉雅山脉的冰川快速退缩影响河流流量、能源生产和农业。喜马拉雅山国家不丹的冰川湖爆发的洪水构成了严重的威胁。不丹的福利与冰川动态直接相关，因为该国的主要收入来源、出口水电以及国家农业灌溉基础设施都是由冰川融化提供动力的。冰川融化和陡峭的地形使洪水成为不丹及其喜马拉雅邻国的主要危险，而危险的可能性取决于当前和未来的冰川融化。确定冰川因气候变化而退缩的速度对于预测未来洪水概率以及为不丹社会设计适应和缓解战略至关重要。目前，冰川退缩的速度受到的限制非常有限。这项 EAGER 提案寻求资金，迈出第一步，提供有关不丹过去、现在和未来冰川和气候变化的可靠信息，进而为决策者和缓解战略家提供更可靠的科学数据。 该 EAGER 项目确定的目标区域是不丹 Lunana 地区的 Rhapstreng 冰川。在过去的十年中，PI 与不丹的科学和政治领导层建立了联系，特别是与能源部/经济事务部和乌金旺楚克保护与环境研究所 (UWICE)，并且还发现了良好的气候和环境。环境记录： (i) 杰出的过去冰川记录，包括保存完好的冰碛序列； (ii) 针叶树种，使 PI 能够重建从小冰河时代到中世纪晚期的气候，特别是夏季气温； (iii) 根据喜马拉雅山的初步质量平衡模型，与降水相比，不丹冰川对温度变化特别敏感，使其成为更精细的冰川模型的绝佳目标，并使树木年轮重建对冰川重建。 该赠款支持协调一致的实地活动，包括地貌学、地质年代学、古测温学和冰川学，以便为重建过去千年的冰川历史和气候变化奠定基础，并更好地预测未来几个世纪喜马拉雅冰川的变化。 PI 组建了一支多学科专家团队，在喜马拉雅冰川和气候问题方面拥有丰富的经验，其中包括一所主要本科大学的女性初级教师。这项 EAGER 提案是双边教育计划的第一步，包括 CU 和 UWICE 之间的双边学生交流以及不丹学生融入年度实地活动。