Changes in glaciers in Hidden Valley, Mukut Himal, Nepal Himalayas, from 1974 to 1994

Abstract Glaciological investigations were carried out in 1994 on the glaciers in Hidden Valley, Mukut Himal, Nepal Himalayas, in order to make a comparison with observations made in 1974. Most of the glaciers were found to have retreated by 30–60 m in terminus elevation over the 20 years between th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Glaciology
Main Authors: Fujita, Koji, Nakawo, Masayoshi, Fujii, Yoshiyuki, Paudyal, Prem
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1997
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s002214300003519x
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S002214300003519X
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Summary:Abstract Glaciological investigations were carried out in 1994 on the glaciers in Hidden Valley, Mukut Himal, Nepal Himalayas, in order to make a comparison with observations made in 1974. Most of the glaciers were found to have retreated by 30–60 m in terminus elevation over the 20 years between the two studies. Rikha Samba Glacier, the longest glacier in the valley, has retreated by about 200m. The areal average of the amount of surface lowering and the volume loss of the glacier was estimated to be 12.6 m ice equivalent and 13% of the total mass, respectively. The annual mass balance of −0.35 m a −1 water equivalent was obtained as an average for 20 years, which is one of the largest negative values amongst small glaciers of the world.