Microclimate measurements related to glacier cooling effect at No.1 glacier,headwater of Urumqi River,Tianshan Mountains

Glacier microclimate comes into being when there exist mountain glaciers in temperate latitudes and they interact with surrounding environment through the glacier cooling effect.Little studies focused on the glacier cooling effect.To study the characteristics of glacier microclimates related to glacier cooling effect,especially effects on local precipitation,five Automatic Weather Stations(AWS) were established at the surface of No.1 glacier,the headwater of the Urumqi River,the Tianshan Mountains in July,2007,and basic meteorological data were collected for 30 days.The temperature and humidity characteristics and glacier cooling effect related phenomena are described and analyzed based on these data.One month observation data indicate that the existence of glacier surface has a distinct impact on local microclimate of the surrounding region,including local temperature,humidity,wind direction and convective precipitation.Temperature jump exists between glacier and non-glacier surface and the vertical temperature descending rate is-1.37 ℃/100 m from the glacial valley to the glacier tongue,which is much larger than that in free atmosphere(about 0.67 ℃/100 m).The temperature jump graduates away on the connatural surface such as glacier surface and alpine meadow.There is a distinct inversion layer between the heights of 1.5 m and 0.5 m on the glacier surface at most observation times,the average temperate at 0.5 m height is 0.67 ℃ lower than that at 1.5 m height.The inversion layer was influenced strongly by cloud covers and wind speed.Generally,it is more distinct on clear days than on cloudy or snowing days and so forth on nighttime than on daytime.The relative humidity at 1.5 m height is smaller than that at 0.5 m height above the glacier surface and it varies in different weather conditions.Wind direction statistical analyses indicate that all AWS's wind directions were influenced by glacier breeze and topography during the observation period,and the glacier breeze dominates on the glacier surface with two-AWS for whole day.In the glacial valley with two-AWS,the valley wind and glacier breeze dominate alternately in the daytime and nighttime.The glacier cooling effect has a potential influences on local convective precipitation.A cursory partition method was applied to the precipitation data of the research region and the result indicates that the more closer to the glacier,the more convective precipitation occurs.But it's a complicated phenomenon,and the influence of topography is not excluded.More meticulous and precise observation and research work is necessary to discuss this topic in depth.