Glacier area change (1993–2019) and its relationship to debris cover, proglacial lakes, and morphological parameters in the Chandra-Bhaga Basin, Western Himalaya, India

Abstract

Glacier inventories serve as critical baseline data for understanding the impacts of climate change on glaciers. The present study maps the outlines of glaciers in the Chandra-Bhaga Basin (western Himalaya) for the years 1993, 2000, 2010, and 2019 using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM), and Operational Land Imager (OLI) datasets. A total of 251 glaciers, each having an area above 0.5 km2, were identified, which include 216 clean-ice and 35 debris-covered glaciers. Area changes are estimated for three periods: 1993–2000, 2000–2010, and 2010–2019. The total glacierized area was 996 ± 62 km2 in 1993, which decreased to 973 ± 70 km2 in 2019. The mean rate of glacier area loss was higher in the recent decade (2010–2019), at 0.036 km2, compared to previous decades (0.029 km2 in 2000–2010 and 0.025 km2 in 1993–2000). Supraglacial debris cover changes are also mapped over the period of 1993 and 2019. It is found that the supraglacial debris cover increased by 14.12 ± 2.54 km2 (15.2%) during 1993–2019. Extensive field surveys on Chhota Shigri, Panchi II, Patsio, Hamtah, Mulkila, and Yoche Lungpa glaciers were carried out to validate the glacier outlines and supraglacial debris cover estimated using satellite datasets. Controls of various morphological parameters on retreat were also analyzed. It is observed that small, clean ice, south oriented glaciers, and glaciers with proglacial lakes are losing area at faster rates than other glaciers in the basin. © Science Press, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024.