Monitoring glacier terminus and surface velocity changes over different time scales using massive imagery analysis and offset tracking at the Hoh Xil World Heritage Site, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Glaciers at the Qinghai Hoh Xil World Heritage Site exhibit asynchronous changes over decadal and annual scales, posing significant threats due to climate change. This study reveals distinct glacier behavior patterns: general degradation with one rapidly advancing glacier in XinQing Feng (XQF), slow recession in Malan (ML), and complex seasonal degradation in Galadandong (GLDD). Using advanced techniques like Google Earth Engine (GEE) for large-scale geomorphic change detection and offset tracking (OT) for high-accuracy, continuous displacement monitoring, researchers demonstrated that GEE is effective for detecting substantial changes with an uncertainty error of ~8 m/yr, while OT excels in precision up to 1 m/yr. The integration of these methods highlights their complementary roles in monitoring glacier dynamics, crucial for sustainable conservation and hazard mitigation strategies at UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Meng, Q., Chen, X., Huang, X., Huang, Y., Peng, Y., Zhang, Y., & Zhen, J. (2022). Monitoring glacier terminus and surface velocity changes over different time scales using massive imagery analysis and offset tracking at the Hoh Xil World Heritage Site, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 112, 102913. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2022.102913