Relationship between glacier retreat and climate change in eastern Nyainqentanglha in the past 40 years

Changes in mountain glaciers are generally considered one of the best indicators in climatic change.Most of the researches on glaciers in the Nyainqentanglha Mountain in the western region were concentrated.Based on the decision tree classification and visual interpretation methods,we investigated the changes in glaciers( the Cape glacier,the North cape glacier,and the Tributes glacier) during 1970-2011 over the eastern Nyainqentanglha mountain. Glacier changes analysis was based on Landsat ETM +( 1999,2011). These results showed the three glaciers had retreated rapidly from 1970 to 2011. The total area loss was ~ 81. 51km2. The average area retreat rates differed over different time intervals in three glaciers,and the first period( 1970-1999)was greater than the second period( 1999-2011). The smaller glaciers displayed a higher shrinkage rate than larger glaciers. Based on meteorological data( Dingqing and Bomi station),we analyzed the reason for the large change rate of glaciers,and the results indicated that glacier shrinkage in the study area could probably be attributed to the increase in air temperature. According to the theory of tag,the future glacier changes in our study area will remain highly affected by the climate warming.