Cooling Effects of Glaciers in the Southeast Tibetan Plateau Based on In Situ Observations and WRF‐LES Simulation

Abstract Near‐surface air temperature (Tair) is an important factor in determining the exchange of water and heat energy at the atmosphere‐glacier interface. The presence of 0 melting surface cools Tair and generates a unique boundary layer on glacierized regions, known as the cooling effect (CE). Ignoring the CE leads to inaccurate predictions of glacier melting and glacier response to future climate change. Based on in situ observations and large eddy simulation using the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF‐LES), we investigated the meteorological conditions of Yanong Glacier (165.4 ), Parlung No. 4 Glacier (10.5 ) and Parlung No. 94 Glacier (2.5 ), aiming a better understanding of the CE pattern on the three glaciers of different sizes. Our study shows that Yanong Glacier has a favorable topography for the formation of strong and stable katabatic winds and exhibits a significant CE of during the 2023 ablation season. The medium‐sized P4 Glacier and the small P94 Glacier, by contrast, show a weaker CE of and , respectively. The WRF‐LES model with 240 m resolution effectively simulates boundary layer processes for larger glaciers. The model results highlight a strong correlation between Tair and katabatic wind speed, with significant CE observed below 4,700 m elevation for Yanong Glacier. The glacier CE does not increase uniformly along the flow line, especially for larger glaciers. Our finding suggested that future methods for estimating on‐glacier Tair should consider various factors such as glacier slope, area, geometry, flow line distance, and wind fields.