Cold-Season Surface Energy Balance on East Rongbuk Glacier, Northern Slope of Mt. Qomolangma (Everest)

Abstract

As the highest peak on the earth, Mt. Qomolangma provides an unparalleled platform to study glacier-atmosphere interaction. Although glacier surface energy balance (SEB) on Mt. Qomolangma was examined during warm season, relevant knowledge during cold season is still unknown, which prevents a complete understanding of all-season glacier SEB on it. Based on an in-situ observation from October 2007 to January 2008, this study presents a cold-season glacier SEB result at 6,523 m above sea level on Mt. Qomolangma and identifies its atmospheric control. Our results show that the observational period experienced strong winds and deficient clouds. Near-surface wind speeds usually exceeded 10 m s−1, resulting in a substantial sensible heat transport toward glacier and thus enhancing outgoing longwave radiation, which, under the combined effect of deficient clouds, eventually caused an increase in longwave radiative loss. The large solar zenith angle and relatively high albedo of the glacier surface led to a small absorption of solar irradiance, which, in combination with the strong longwave radiation loss, resulted in a semi-permanent surface radiative loss. Uncommon over the highly reflective glacier surface, clouds decreased the incident solar radiation more than increased the longwave radiation, demonstrating that the clouds' shading effect surpassed its greenhouse effect. As a vital heat sink, the turbulent latent heat induced an average sublimation rate of 0.8 mm water equivalent per day. This study provides valuable insights into the atmospheric control on the cold-season glacier-atmosphere interaction at high altitudes on Mt. Qomolangma when meteorological variables are subject to the westerlies.