Glaciers in the Tien Shan mountains contribute considerably to the fresh water used for irrigation, households and energy supply in the dry lowland areas of Kyrgyzstan and its neighbouring countries. To date, reconstructions of the current ice volume and ice thickness distribution remain scarce, and accurate data are largely lacking at the local scale. Here, we present a detailed ice thickness distribution of Ashu-Tor, Bordu, Golubin and Kara-Batkak glaciers derived from radio-echo sounding measurements and modelling. All the ice thickness measurements are used to calibrate three individual models to estimate the ice thickness in inaccessible areas. A cross-validation between modelled and measured ice thickness for a subset of the data is performed to attribute a weight to every model and to assemble a final composite ice thickness distribution for every glacier. Results reveal the thickest ice on Ashu-Tor glacier with values up to 201 ± 12 m. The ice thickness measurements and distributions are also compared with estimates composed without the use of in situ data. These estimates approach the total ice volume well, but local ice thicknesses vary substantially.

中文翻译：

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吉尔吉斯斯坦天山4座冰川冰厚分布测量与推断

天山山脉的冰川为吉尔吉斯斯坦及其邻国干旱低地地区用于灌溉、家庭和能源供应的淡水做出了很大贡献。迄今为止，对当前冰量和冰厚度分布的重建仍然很少，并且在当地范围内很大程度上缺乏准确的数据。在这里，我们展示了来自无线电回波探测测量和建模的 Ashu-Tor、Bordu、Golubin 和 Kara-Batkak 冰川的详细冰厚度分布。所有冰厚度测量值都用于校准三个单独的模型，以估计难以接近区域的冰厚度。对数据子集的建模和测量冰厚度之间进行交叉验证，以将权重分配给每个模型，并为每个冰川组装最终的复合冰厚度分布。结果显示，Ashu-Tor 冰川上最厚的冰层厚度高达 201 ± 12 m。冰厚度测量值和分布也与不使用现场数据的估计值进行了比较。这些估计值很好地接近了总冰量，但当地的冰厚度差异很大。