Recent glacier changes in the Kashmir Alpine Himalayas, India

Abstract

Using Landsat data at decadal interval (1980–2013), the glacier fluctuations (glacier area, equilibrium line altitude and specific mass balance) of nine benchmark glaciers in Kashmir Himalaya were estimated. The observed changes were related to topographic and climatic variables in order to understand their influence. From the data analysis, it was observed that the glaciers have shrunk by 17%, ELA has shifted upwards (80–300 m) and SMB shows variation in glacier mass loss from −0.77 to −0.16 m.w.e. Annual air temperature showed a significant increasing trend, and a slight but insignificant decrease in precipitation was observed during the period. It is evident that in the same climatic regime, varying topography plays a key role in determining the glacier changes. It is believed that the observed changes in the glacier geometry and dynamics, if continued, shall have adverse effect on the streamflows, water supplies and other dependent sectors in the region.

Keywords:

• Glaciers
• mass balance
• equilibrium line altitude
• accumulation area ratio
• climate change

Acknowledgements

The financial assistance received from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the project titled "Himalayan Cryosphere: Science and Society" to accomplish this research is thankfully acknowledged. The authors express gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions on the earlier versions of the manuscript that greatly improved the content and structure of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.