Deposition History of Dust Particles and Its Impact on Glaciers

摘要

Ice core samples have been retrieved from glaciers located around the Taklimakan Desert, and dust particles in the samples have been analyzed. It was found that dust flux onto the glaciers have decreased gradually during the last 50 years. Examining the dust record found in Greenland, Canadian ice caps and glaciers in South America, the decreasing trend has been noted not in all the sites. The compiled data on dust deposition onto the earth's surface can be used for validating the GCM scale dust model constructed in the Aeolian Dust Experiment on Climate Impact Project. The impact of dust particles on mass balance of an Asian glacier has been also studied, showing the importance of dust fallout to the glacier mass balance, and hence the discharge from glaciers, which is of significance for the water resources in the arid and semi arid regions extending over the central part of the Eurasian Continent.