The Himalayan glaciers, as unique reservoirs of freshwater for densely populated Asian countries, have been receiving considerable attention in public and scientific research. However, little is known about their long‐term fluctuations as related to climate variability. Herein, we reconstructed glacier fluctuation events by tree ring‐based moraine dating and repeated photographs. We assessed these fluctuations over the past 200 years in the Gangapurna and Annapurna III glaciers, located in the central Himalayas. We detected five major glacier fluctuation events in the 1790s, 1920s, 1930s, 1960s, and 1970s. A higher rate of glacier recession was observed from the 1980s onward, coinciding with climate warming. As shown by repeated photographs, the retreating rate of the Gangapurna glacier from 1979 to 2016 (up to 24.4 m yr⁻¹) is much higher than the Annapurna III glacier (7.54 m yr⁻¹) from 1950 to 2016. Their different frontal retreat rates were likely related to microtopography and glacier sizes. Older moraines developed during and after the Little Ice Age (LIA) were already covered by dense forest, presenting the evidence for retreating glaciers and advancing forests in the central Himalayas. Ongoing warming tends to speed up such ecological processes by resetting biophysical environment of the deglaciated forefields. In general, glaciers have shown retreating trends over the last 200 years, presenting a risk for preserving water resources in the Himalayas and nearby regions. Alternatively, advancing forest tends to amplify warming rate by reducing albedo, which is a new issue for investigating ecohydrological feedbacks between mountain forests, climate, and water resources.

中文翻译：

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喜马拉雅中部近200年的冰川退缩与森林发展

喜马拉雅冰川作为亚洲人口稠密国家独特的淡水蓄水池，在公共和科学研究中受到了相当大的关注。但是，人们对它们与气候多变性相关的长期波动知之甚少。在此，我们通过基于树环的冰ora测年和重复的照片重建了冰川波动事件。我们评估了过去200年中位于喜马拉雅山中部的Gangapurna和Annapurna III冰川的这些波动。在1790年代，1920年代，1930年代，1960年代和1970年代，我们发现了五次主要的冰川波动事件。从1980年代开始，冰川退缩的速度加快，这与气候变暖相吻合。如重复的照片所示，Gangapurna冰川从1979年到2016年的退缩速率（高达2440 m yr ^-1）远高于安纳布尔纳河（Annapurna III）冰川（7.54 m yr ^-1）从1950年到2016年。它们的额叶退缩率不同可能与微观地形和冰川大小有关。在小冰河时代（LIA）期间和之后发展的较早的mo子已经被茂密的森林覆盖，为喜马拉雅山中部的冰川退缩和森林发展提供了证据。持续的变暖趋向于通过重置冰川前场的生物物理环境来加速这种生态过程。总体而言，冰川在过去200年中呈现出退缩趋势，存在着在喜马拉雅山及附近地区保存水资源的风险。另外，先进的森林往往会通过减少反照率来增加升温速率，这是研究山区森林，气候和水资源之间的生态水文学反馈的新问题。