Can ice-cliffs explain the debris-cover anomaly? New insights from Changri Nup Glacier, Nepal, Central Himalaya

Abstract. Ice cliff backwasting on debris-covered glaciers is recognized as an important process, potentially responsible for the so-called debris-cover anomaly, i.e. the fact that debris-covered and debris-free glacier tongues appear to have similar thinning rates in Himalaya. In this study, we assess the total contribution of ice cliff backwasting to the net ablation of the tongue of the Changri Nup Glacier over two years. Detailed terrestrial photogrammetry surveys were conducted on select ice cliffs in November 2015 and 2016, and the entire glacier tongue was surveyed with unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) and Pléiades tri-stereo imagery in November 2015, November 2016, and November 2017. The total difference between the volume loss from ice cliffs measured with the terrestrial photogrammetry, considered as the reference data, and the UAV and Pléiades was less than 3 % and 7 %, respectively, demonstrating the ability of these datasets to measure volume loss from ice cliffs. For the period November 2015–November 2016 (resp. November 2016–November 2017), using UAV and Pléiades over the entire glacier tongue, we found that ice cliffs, which cover 7 % (resp. 8 %) of the planar area, contribute to 23 ± 5 % (resp. 24 ± 5 %) of the total net ablation of Changri Nup Glacier. Ice cliffs have a net ablation rate 3.1 ± 0.6 (resp. 3.0 ± 0.6) times higher than the average glacier tongue surface. However, on Changri Nup Glacier, ice cliffs cannot compensate for the reduction of ablation due to debris-cover. Reduced ablation and lower emergence velocities on debris-covered glacier tongues could be responsible for the debris-cover anomaly.