Monitoring of Glaciers and Glacial Lakes in Afghanistan

Maharjan, Sudan Bikash; Shrestha, Finu; Azizi, Fayezurahman; Joya, Esmatullah; Bajracharya, Birendra; Bromand, Mohammad Tayib; Rahimi, Mehdi

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-73569-2_11

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…In contrast, both the number and area of glaciers larger than 0.5 km 2 have decreased. This pattern has also been observed in other parts of the region [5,12,13,24,25], indicating that the number of smaller glaciers will increase in the future with the shrinking and fragmentation of larger glaciers.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

“…The changes vary spatially depending on size, shape, morphological and topographical characteristics, and local and regional climatic conditions. The studies at the country level show a drastic retreat of glaciers -in Nepal, it has retreated by 24% and in Bhutan by 23% during the 1980-2010 period, and in Afghanistan by 13.8% between 1990 and 2015 [12,13,24,25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial Distribution and Shrinkage of Glaciers since the 1990s in the Transboundary Kailash Sacred Landscape

Bikash Maharjan,

Choyal Sherpa,

Shrestha

et al. 2024

Glaciers - Recent Research, Importance to Humanity and the Effects of Climate Change [Working Title]

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Glaciers are an inherent component of the landscape, culture, and environment in the high mountain areas of the Himalayas. Glacier distribution and its impacts are diverse in various landforms and landscape scales. Past studies on glaciers have focused on the individual, river basins, or at the country level, but none have been analyzed at the transboundary landscape level. This study investigates the spatial distribution of glaciers in the transboundary Kailash sacred landscape (KSL) at multiple time scales. The study revealed that 3.8% of the total landscape area is covered by glaciers. Altogether, 1941 glaciers were identified, covering 1169.04 ± 27.71 km2 area in 2020, most of which are highly concentrated in the southern part of the landscape in the Kali and West Seti basins. From 1990 to 2020, these glaciers have retreated significantly by 25.5% of their area. Oppositely, due to the shrinkage and fragmentation of individual glaciers, the number of glaciers has increased by 7.8%. The glacier retreat rate is higher at elevations below 5500 masl, and glaciers below 3500 masl have disappeared completely after 2010. Systematic long-term glacier monitoring is required, and the data can be utilized to project water resource availability based on various climatic and glacio-hydrological models.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Distribution and Shrinkage of Glaciers since the 1990s in the Transboundary Kailash Sacred Landscape

Bikash Maharjan,

Choyal Sherpa,

Shrestha

et al. 2024

Glaciers - Recent Research, Importance to Humanity and the Effects of Climate Change [Working Title]

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“…The population living in this basin was reported to be about 4.5 million people in 2015. According to the division of the Ministry of Energy and Water, it is divided into 7 sub-basins: Upper Five, Lower Five, Kokcheh, Taloqan, Upper Kunduz, Lower Kunduz, and Lower Amu [28,33].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kabul Basin is the second largest basin in Afghanistan after the Amu Darya and is divided into 13 sub-basins: Upper Panjshir, Lower Panjshir, Ghorband, Central Kabul, Maidan, Logar, Laghman, Lower Kabul, Kunar, Parun, North, Khorram, and Gomel. The population living in this catchment area is estimated to be about 12.1 million in 2015 [33][34][35].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

A Remotely Sensed Study of the Impact of Meteorological Parameters on Vegetation for the Eastern Basins of Afghanistan

Nabizada¹,

Rousta²,

Dalvi³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The vulnerability of vegetation in the Middle East to meteorological conditions and climate change, especially those leading to drought, is high. Despite the importance of the Amu Darya and Kabul River Basins (ADB and KRB) as a region in which more than 15 million people live, and its vulnerability to global warming, only several studies addressed the issue of the linkage of meteorological parameters on vegetation for the eastern basins of Afghanistan. In this study, data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM), and Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) to examine the impact of meteorological parameters on vegetation for the eastern basins of Afghanistan for the period from 2000 to 2021. The study utilized several indices, such as Precipitation Condition Index (PCI), Temperature Condition Index (TCI), Soil Moisture Condition Index (SMCI), and Microwave Integrated Drought Index (MIDI). The relationships between meteorological quantities, drought conditions, and vegetation variations were examined by analyzing the anomalies and using regression methods. The results showed that the years 2000, 2001, and 2008 had the lowest vegetation coverage (VC) (56, 56, and 55% of the study area, respectively). On the other hand, the years 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2020 had the highest VC (71, 71, 72, and 72% of the study area, respectively). The trend of the VC for the eastern basins of Afghanistan for the period from 2000 to 2021 was upward. High correlations between VC and soil moisture (R = 0.70, p = 0.0004), and precipitation (R = 0.5, p = 0.008) were found, whereas no significant correlation was found between VC and drought index MIDI. It was revealed that soil moisture, precipitation, land surface temperature, and area under meteorological drought conditions explained 45% of annual VC variability.

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Estimation of glacier depth and ice volume of Kabul Basin, Afghanistan

Asharaf,

Kulkarni

2023

J Earth Syst Sci

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Monitoring of Glaciers and Glacial Lakes in Afghanistan

Cited by 6 publications

References 18 publications

Spatial Distribution and Shrinkage of Glaciers since the 1990s in the Transboundary Kailash Sacred Landscape

Spatial Distribution and Shrinkage of Glaciers since the 1990s in the Transboundary Kailash Sacred Landscape

A Remotely Sensed Study of the Impact of Meteorological Parameters on Vegetation for the Eastern Basins of Afghanistan

Estimation of glacier depth and ice volume of Kabul Basin, Afghanistan

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