The application of remote sensing technology in the glacier change monitoring of Yulong Mountain

This study, based on remote sensing and GIS technologies, the glacier distribution map and related parameters in 1999 are obtained with some spatial data including remote sensing images, DEM, and so on. Compared to data in 1957, in 1999, there are only 15 glaciers in this area and 4 glaciers disappeared; the glacier area is 8.5, with the total reduction of 26.78% and the annual reduction of 0.64%; the average terminus altitude is 4649m, with the annual raise of 3.2m. In the period of 42 years, the glaciers in Mt. Yulong region have been retreated greatly. This mainly results from the temperature increasing in the background of global warming. Furthermore, there are some differences of glacier change in the spatial scale, and those are controlled by some topographical factors like aspect, terminus altitude. In addition, according to the observation data on Baishui Glacier No.1, it can be predicted that the glaciers in Mt. Yulong region will be further shrink with the enhanced global warming.