Status and change of the cryosphere in the extended Hindu Kush Himalaya region

• Main Authors: Bolch, Tobias, Shea, Joseph M., Liu, Shiyin, Azam, Farooq M., Gao, Yang, Gruber, Stephan, Immerzeel, Walter W., Kulkarni, Anil, Li, Huilin, Tahir, Adnan A., Zhang, Guoqing, Zhang, Yinsheng
• Other Authors: Wester, Philippus, Mishra, Arabinda, Mukherji, Aditi, Shrestha, Arun Bhakta, University of St Andrews. School of Geography & Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews. Bell-Edwards Geographic Data Institute
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2019
• Subjects: GE Environmental Sciences; BDC; R2C; GE; Ice; permafrost; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10023/17268; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92288-1_7; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92288-1

The cryosphere is defined by the presence of frozen water in its many forms: glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, snow, permafrost, and river and lake ice. In the extended Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, including the Pamirs, Tien Shan and Alatua, the cryosphere is a key freshwater resource, playing a vital and significant role in local and regional hydrology and ecology. Industry, agriculture, and hydroelectric power generation rely on timely and sufficient delivery of water in major river systems; changes in the cryospheric system may thus pose challenges for disaster risk reduction in the extended HKH region.