Glaciohydrology of the Himalaya-Karakoram

Azam, Mohd Farooq; Kargel, Jeffrey S.; Shea, J. M.; Nepal, Santosh; Haritashya, U. K.; Srivastava, Smriti; Maussion, Fabien; Qazi, Nuzhat Q.; Chevallier, Pierre; Dimri, A. P.; Kulkarni, Anil V.; Cogley, J. Graham; Bahuguna, I. M.

doi:10.1126/science.abf3668

Cited by 121 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 239 publications

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“…The glacier-melt component in the Himalayan water cycle buffers the river basins against drought (Pohl et al, 2017;Pritchard, 2019), but renders them susceptible to climate-change impacts (Azam et al, 2021). The ongoing changes in temperature and precipitation (Hugonnet et al, 2021) are causing Himalayan glaciers to shrink.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This 'peak water' is a typical characteristic of the long-term response glaciersied catchments to sustained warming (Hock et al, 2005). Due to a lack of long-term glacio-hydro-meteorological data from the region (Miller et al, 2012;Azam et al, 2021), and uncertain climate projections (Joseph et al, 2018), a satisfactory understanding of the future changes in the runoff from Himalayan catchments may still be lacking. In this context, an understanding of the climate sensitivity of runoff from these catchments may provide useful clues about the future change in catchment runoff and its variability in the high Himalaya, and may also helpful in understanding the nature of climate response of glacierised catchments in general.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The control of climate sensitivity on variability and change of summer runoff from two glacierised Himalayan catchments

Laha

Banerjee

Singh

et al. 2021

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Abstract. The response of catchment runoff to climate forcing is determined by its climate sensitivity. We investigate the sensitivity of summer runoff to precipitation and temperature changes in winter-snow dominated Chandra (western Himalaya), and summer-rain dominated upper Dudhkoshi (eastern Himalaya) catchments in order to understand the nature of climate-change impact on the mean summer runoff and its variability. The runoff over the period 1980–2018 is simulated with a semi-distribute hydrologic model, which is calibrated using available discharge and glacier mass loss data. An analysis of the interannual variability of the simulated summer runoff reveals that the runoff from the glacierised parts of the catchments is sensitive to temperature changes, but is insensitive to precipitation changes. The behaviour of the summer runoff from the non-glacierised parts is exactly opposite. Such precipitation-independent runoff from the glacierised parts stabilises the catchment runoff against precipitation variability to some degree. With shrinking glacier cover over the coming decades, the summer runoff from the two catchments is expected become more sensitive to the precipitation forcing and less sensitive to the temperature forcing. Because of these competing effects, the impact of the glacier loss on the interannual variability of summer runoff may not be significant. However, the characteristic ‘peak water’ in the long-term mean summer runoff, which is caused by the excess meltwater released by the shrinking ice reserve, may lead to a detectable signal over the background interannual variability of runoff in these two catchments.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The control of climate sensitivity on variability and change of summer runoff from two glacierised Himalayan catchments

Laha

Banerjee

Singh

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Sublimation is a substantial component of the surface mass balance in the HK glaciers (Azam et al, 2021). Wagnon et al (1999) discussed that sublimation supports the existence of high-altitude glaciers because sublimation limits Fsurface for melting by counterbalancing it through high negative LE.…”

Section: Sublimation Fraction To Winter Snowfall and Its Importancementioning

confidence: 99%

11-year record of wintertime snow surface energy balance and sublimation at 4863 m a.s.l. on Chhota Shigri Glacier moraine (western Himalaya, India)

Mandal

Angchuk

Azam

et al. 2022

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Abstract. Analysis of surface energy balance (SEB) at the glacier surface is the most comprehensive way to explain the atmosphere-glacier interactions but that requires extensive data. In this study, we analyse an 11-year (2009–2020) record of the meteorological dataset from an automatic weather station installed at 4863 m a.s.l., on a lateral moraine of the Chhota Shigri Glacier in the western Himalaya. The study was carried out over the winter months (December to April) to understand SEB drivers and snow sublimation. Further, we examine the role of cloud cover on SEB and turbulent heat fluxes. The turbulent heat fluxes were calculated using the bulk-aerodynamic method, including stability corrections. The net short-wave radiation was the primary energy source. However, the turbulent heat fluxes dissipated a significant amount of energy. The cloud cover plays an important role in limiting the incoming short-wave radiation by 70 %. It also restricts the turbulent heat fluxes by around 50 %, consequently less snow sublimation. During the winter period, turbulent latent heat flux contributed the largest (63 %) in the total SEB, followed by net all-wave radiation (29 %) and sensible heat flux (8 %). Sublimation rates were three times higher in clear-sky conditions than overcast, indicating a strong control of cloud cover in turbulent latent heat flux. Dry air, along with the high snow surface temperature and wind speed, favours sublimation. We also observed that strong and cold winds, possibly through mid-latitude western disturbances, impede sublimation by bringing high moisture content in the region and cooling the snow surface. The estimated snow sublimation fraction was 16–42 % of the total winter snowfall at the study site. This indicates snow sublimation is an essential parameter to be considered in the glaciohydrological modelling at the high mountain Himalayan catchments.

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“…Most glaciers in the western Himalaya and eastern Hindu Kush are losing mass in the context of climate change (Kääb et al, 2012;Yao et al, 2012;Shean et al, 2020;Brun et al, 2017;Hugonnet et al, 2021), whereas the glaciers in the eastern Karakoram and Pamir have shown unusually little changes, including unchanged, retreated, advanced and surged glaciers (Nie et al, 2021;Brun et al, 2017;Shean et al, 2020;Kääb et al, 2012;Hewitt, 2005;Bolch et al, 2017). The spatially heterogeneous distribution and changes of glaciers are primarily explained as a result of differences in the dominant precipitation-bearing atmospheric circulation patterns that include the winter westerlies the Indian summer monsoon, their changing trends and their interactions with local extreme topography (Azam et al, 2021;Nie et al, 2021;Yao et al, 2012).…”

Section: Studmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landsat and Sentinel-derived glacial lake dataset in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor from 1990 to 2020

Lesi

Nie

Shugar

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Abstract. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is one of flagship projects of the One Belt One Road Initiative, which faces threats from mountain disasters in the high altitude region, such as glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). An up-to-date high-quality glacial lake dataset with critical parameters (e.g. lake types), which is fundamental to flood risk assessments and predicting glacier-lake evolutions, is still largely absent for the entire CPEC. This study describes a glacial lake dataset in 2020 for CPEC at 10–30 m resolution, which was produced from both Landsat and Sentinel optical images as well as glacial lake inventories in 1990 and 2000 from Landsat observation, using an advanced object-oriented mapping method associated with rigorous visual inspection workflows. The results show that Landsat derived 2234 glacial lakes in 2020, covering a total area of 86.31 ± 14.98 km2 with a minimum mapping unit of 5 pixels (4500 m2), whereas Sentinel derived 7560 glacial lakes in 2020 with a total area of 103.70 ± 8.45 km2 with a minimum mapping unit of 5 pixels (500 m2). The discrepancy implies that there is a significant quantity of small glacier lakes not recognized in existing glacial lake inventories and a more thorough inclusion of them require future efforts using higher resolution data. The total number and area of glacial lakes from consistent 30 m resolution Landsat images remain relatively stable despite a slight increase from 1990 to 2020. A range of critical attributes have been generated in the dataset, including lake types of two classification systems and mapping uncertainty estimated by an improved equation. This comprehensive glacial lake dataset has potentials to be widely applied in studies on glacial lake-related hazards and glacier-lake interactions, and is freely available at https://doi.org/10.12380/Glaci.msdc.000001 (Lesi et al., 2022).

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Glaciohydrology of the Himalaya-Karakoram

Cited by 121 publications

References 239 publications

The control of climate sensitivity on variability and change of summer runoff from two glacierised Himalayan catchments

The control of climate sensitivity on variability and change of summer runoff from two glacierised Himalayan catchments

11-year record of wintertime snow surface energy balance and sublimation at 4863 m a.s.l. on Chhota Shigri Glacier moraine (western Himalaya, India)

Landsat and Sentinel-derived glacial lake dataset in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor from 1990 to 2020

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