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The satellite observed glacier mass changes over the Upper Indus Basin during 2000-2012.

ABSTRACT: Decadal glacier thickness changes over the Upper Indus Basin in the Jammu and Kashmir Himalaya were estimated using the TanDEM-X and SRTM-C Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) from 2000 to 2012. In the study area 12,243 glaciers having 19,727?±?1,054 km2 area have thinned on an average of - 0.35?±?0.33 m a-1 during the observation period. The highest thinning of - 1.69?±?0.60 m a-1 was observed in the Pir Panjal while as the marginal thinning of - 0.11?±?0.32 m a-1 was observed for the glaciers in the Karakoram. The observed glacier thickness changes indicated a strong influence of the topographic parameters. Higher thickness reduction was observed on the glaciers situated at lower altitudes (- 1.40?±?0.53 m a-1) and with shallower slopes (- 1.52?±?0.40 m a-1). Significantly higher negative thickness changes were observed from the glaciers situated on the southern slopes (- 0.55?±?0.37 m a-1). The thickness loss was higher on the debris-covered glaciers (- 0.50?±?0.38 m a-1) than on the clean glaciers (- 0.32?±?0.33 m a-1). The cumulative glacier mass loss of - 70.32?±?66.69 Gt was observed during the observation period, which, if continued, would significantly affect the sustainability of water resources in the basin.

SUBMITTER: Abdullah T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7459122 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The satellite observed glacier mass changes over the Upper Indus Basin during 2000-2012.

Abdullah Tariq T Romshoo Shakil Ahmad SA Rashid Irfan I

Scientific reports 20200831 1

Decadal glacier thickness changes over the Upper Indus Basin in the Jammu and Kashmir Himalaya were estimated using the TanDEM-X and SRTM-C Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) from 2000 to 2012. In the study area 12,243 glaciers having 19,727 ± 1,054 km2 area have thinned on an average of - 0.35 ± 0.33 m a-1 during the observation period. The highest thinning of - 1.69 ± 0.60 m a-1 was observed in the Pir Panjal while as the marginal thinning of - 0.11 ± 0.32 m a<sup ...[more]

PMID: 32868866

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Project description:The Upper Indus Basin (UIB) is a major source of supplying water to different areas because of snow and glaciers melt and is also enduring the regional impacts of global climate change. The expected changes in temperature, precipitation and snowmelt could be reasons for further escalation of the problem. Therefore, estimation of hydrological processes is critical for UIB. The objectives of this paper were to estimate the impacts of climate change on water resources and future projection for surface water under different climatic scenarios using soil and water assessment tool (SWAT). The methodology includes: (i) development of SWAT model using land cover, soil and meteorological data; (ii) calibration of the model using daily flow data from 1978 to 1993; (iii) model validation for the time 1994-2003; (iv) bias correction of regional climate model (RCM), and (v) utilization of bias-corrected RCM for future assessment under representative concentration pathways RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 for mid (2041-2070) and late century (2071-2100). The results of the study revealed a strong correlation between simulated and observed flow with R 2 and Nash-Sutcliff efficiency (NSE) equal to 0.85 each for daily flow. For validation, R 2 and NSE were found to be 0.84 and 0.80, respectively. Compared to baseline period (1976-2005), the result of RCM showed an increase in temperature ranging from 2.36°C to 3.50°C and 2.92°C to 5.23°C for RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 respectively, till the end of the twenty-first century. Likewise, the increase in annual average precipitation is 2.4% to 2.5% and 6.0% to 4.6% (mid to late century) under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. The model simulation results for RCP4.5 showed increase in flow by 19.24% and 16.78% for mid and late century, respectively. For RCP8.5, the increase in flow is 20.13% and 15.86% during mid and late century, respectively. The model was more sensitive towards available moisture and snowmelt parameters. Thus, SWAT model could be used as effective tool for climate change valuation and for sustainable management of water resources in future.

Dataset Information

The satellite observed glacier mass changes over the Upper Indus Basin during 2000-2012.

Publications

The satellite observed glacier mass changes over the Upper Indus Basin during 2000-2012.

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