Glacier inventory and glacier changes (1994–2020) in the Upper Alaknanda Basin, Central Himalaya
Abstract Himalayan glaciers have been shrinking and losing mass rapidly since 1970s with an enhanced rate after 2000. The shrinkage is, however, quite heterogeneous and it is important to document individual glacier characteristics and their changes at the basin scale. We present an updated glacier...
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/jog.2022.87 2024-04-07T07:53:41+00:00 Glacier inventory and glacier changes (1994–2020) in the Upper Alaknanda Basin, Central Himalaya Mishra, Aditya Nainwal, H. C. Bolch, Tobias Shah, Sunil Singh Shankar, R. 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.87 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143022000879 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 Journal of Glaciology volume 69, issue 275, page 591-606 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 Earth-Surface Processes journal-article 2022 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.87 2024-03-08T00:36:18Z Abstract Himalayan glaciers have been shrinking and losing mass rapidly since 1970s with an enhanced rate after 2000. The shrinkage is, however, quite heterogeneous and it is important to document individual glacier characteristics and their changes at the basin scale. We present an updated glacier inventory of the Upper Alaknanda Basin (UAB), Central Himalaya for the year 2020 and report area, debris cover and length changes for the periods 1994–2006 and 2006–2020 based on remote-sensing data. We identified 198 glaciers, comprising an area of 354.6 ± 8.5 km 2 , and classified them according to their size and morphology. The glaciers of the basin lost 4.2 ± 2.9% (0.16 ± 0.11% a −1 ) of their frontal area (from 368.6 ± 9.2 to 353.0 ± 5.3 km 2 ) from 1994 to 2020. The average retreat rate was higher in the period 2006–2020 (13.3 ± 1.8 m a −1 ) in comparison to 1994–2006 (9.3 ± 1.9 m a −1 ). However, the area change rate was similar for the two periods (0.14 ± 0.27% a −1 for 1994–2006 and 0.16 ± 0.19% a −1 for 2006–2020). The debris-covered area has increased by 13.4 ± 4.4% from 1994 to 2020. A comparison with previous studies in UAB indicates consistent area loss of ~0.15% a −1 since the 1960s. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Cambridge University Press Journal of Glaciology 1 16 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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English |
topic |
Earth-Surface Processes |
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Earth-Surface Processes Mishra, Aditya Nainwal, H. C. Bolch, Tobias Shah, Sunil Singh Shankar, R. Glacier inventory and glacier changes (1994–2020) in the Upper Alaknanda Basin, Central Himalaya |
topic_facet |
Earth-Surface Processes |
description |
Abstract Himalayan glaciers have been shrinking and losing mass rapidly since 1970s with an enhanced rate after 2000. The shrinkage is, however, quite heterogeneous and it is important to document individual glacier characteristics and their changes at the basin scale. We present an updated glacier inventory of the Upper Alaknanda Basin (UAB), Central Himalaya for the year 2020 and report area, debris cover and length changes for the periods 1994–2006 and 2006–2020 based on remote-sensing data. We identified 198 glaciers, comprising an area of 354.6 ± 8.5 km 2 , and classified them according to their size and morphology. The glaciers of the basin lost 4.2 ± 2.9% (0.16 ± 0.11% a −1 ) of their frontal area (from 368.6 ± 9.2 to 353.0 ± 5.3 km 2 ) from 1994 to 2020. The average retreat rate was higher in the period 2006–2020 (13.3 ± 1.8 m a −1 ) in comparison to 1994–2006 (9.3 ± 1.9 m a −1 ). However, the area change rate was similar for the two periods (0.14 ± 0.27% a −1 for 1994–2006 and 0.16 ± 0.19% a −1 for 2006–2020). The debris-covered area has increased by 13.4 ± 4.4% from 1994 to 2020. A comparison with previous studies in UAB indicates consistent area loss of ~0.15% a −1 since the 1960s. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mishra, Aditya Nainwal, H. C. Bolch, Tobias Shah, Sunil Singh Shankar, R. |
author_facet |
Mishra, Aditya Nainwal, H. C. Bolch, Tobias Shah, Sunil Singh Shankar, R. |
author_sort |
Mishra, Aditya |
title |
Glacier inventory and glacier changes (1994–2020) in the Upper Alaknanda Basin, Central Himalaya |
title_short |
Glacier inventory and glacier changes (1994–2020) in the Upper Alaknanda Basin, Central Himalaya |
title_full |
Glacier inventory and glacier changes (1994–2020) in the Upper Alaknanda Basin, Central Himalaya |
title_fullStr |
Glacier inventory and glacier changes (1994–2020) in the Upper Alaknanda Basin, Central Himalaya |
title_full_unstemmed |
Glacier inventory and glacier changes (1994–2020) in the Upper Alaknanda Basin, Central Himalaya |
title_sort |
glacier inventory and glacier changes (1994–2020) in the upper alaknanda basin, central himalaya |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.87 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143022000879 |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology volume 69, issue 275, page 591-606 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.87 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
16 |
_version_ |
1795669768731099136 |