Spatial‑temporal variability of water balance components in the North area of the Zailiisky Alatau Range

• Main Authors: V. G. Konovalov, N. V. Pimankina
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Nauka 2016-12-01
• Series: Lëd i Sneg
• Subjects: evaporation; glaciation change; glaciers runoff; modeling; precipitation; water balance (wb); zailiisky alatau range
• Online Access: https://ice-snow.igras.ru/jour/article/view/334

Analysis of changes in WB components (precipitation, evaporation, glacier runoff, dynamical water resources) on the Northern slope of the Zailiisky Alatau was performed for the 1946–2005 time divided into two periods: 1946–1975 and 1976–2005. The territory under investigation included basins of the following rivers: Bolshaya Almatinka, Malaya Almatinka, Talgar, Turgen, Issyk, Chemolgan, Kaskelen, Kargalinka, Prohodnaya, and Uzunkargaly. Their total area down to the closing gauge points amounts to 2644 km2. Summarized glacier areas in these basins and annual runoff were equal, respectively, to: 306.6 km2 and 39.05 km3in 1946–1975, and 253.0 km2 and 38.35 km3 in 1975–2005. In 1946–2005, typical features of regional glaciation dynamics were increasing area of the moraine cover on glaciers and reducing area of bare ice that results in decreasing of the glacial runoff volume, all other factors being the same. The method to calculate the WB components consists of the following constituents: model of seasonal runoff from melted snow and ice in the areas of accumulation and ablation of glaciers; complex of formulas to calculate precipitation, air temperature and humidity, intensity of ice melting under the moraine, bare ice and evaporation within the height intervals corresponding to the main types of surfaces on the glaciers. On the basis of our method, we could reconstruct for the 1876–2015 period long‑term series of data on a runoff, separately annual values and sums for the vegetation periods. They can be used for regional scientific and applied analyses of the river stream discharges. The data on runoff in the Malaya Almatinka River basin and observational data on the meteorological station Almaty (Hydrometeorological Observatory) had been quantitatively substantiated as the representative information for modeling and calculation of water resources on the Northern slope of the Zailiisky Alatau Range.