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Cryosphere Studies in Northwest Himalaya

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Remote Sensing of Northwest Himalayan Ecosystems

Abstract

Himalaya is also known as the “third pole” of the Earth due to the presence of the largest area and volume of seasonal snow and glacier ice outside the polar regions. Most visible effects of climate change are found in this region (Immerzeel et al. 2010; IPCC-5 2014 WGII AR5 Section 28.3). The Indian states of Uttarakhand (UK), Himachal Pradesh (HP) and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) together constitute a unique and rugged terrain of Northwest Himalaya (NWH). Cryosphere components of NWH mainly consist of snow cover (SC), glacier ice (GI), frozen lakes and rivers in winters and high-altitude water lakes and rivers in summer, glacier lakes (GL) and a few stretches of permafrost regions. These cryospheric components provide fresh water to Perennial Rivers of NWH such as the Beas, Ganges, Satluj and Indus by melting of seasonal snow cover and glacier ice. This area has significant variations in minimum to maximum elevation and temperature ranging from 74 m to 8611 m of K2 and −40° in cold glacier areas to +40 °C in low hills and Tarai area. The major accumulation of snow mass occurs in winter period during October to March due to precipitation from NW disturbances of winter monsoon, and main melting takes place during spring and late summer time during April to July. The last 2 weeks of August to first week of September, generally, represents end of ablation season, and during this time traditional snow line elevation (SLE), showing the minimum snow line, coincides with equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of major glaciers (Huang et al. 2011, 2013). The inaccessibility, high relief and remoteness of these mountainous regions make it very difficult to map and monitor cryospheric components using traditional ground-based field instruments and surveying and mapping techniques. In this scenario, remote sensing with its large area coverage, multi-resolution spatial and temporal scale, offers a unique opportunity to regularly map and monitor cryospheric components as shown by many studies (SAC 2010; National Remote Sensing Centre 2013). This chapter highlights remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS)-based studies of major components of NWH cryosphere such as seasonal SC, GI, GL and permafrost. This also includes subsections for mapping, monitoring and quantification of SC, GI in NWH along with retrieval and modelling of snowpack properties, snowmelt and glacier mass balance.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to NRSC, USGS, BBMB, CWC, IMD and SASE for providing satellite and hydrometeorological data required for this study. Funding for this work is provided by ISRO under various TDP and EOAM projects.

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  1. Water Resources Department, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Department of Space, Government of India, Dehradun, India

    Praveen K. Thakur, Vaibhav Garg, Bhaskar R. Nikam & S. P. Aggarwal

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  1. Praveen K. Thakur
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  2. Vaibhav Garg
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  3. Bhaskar R. Nikam
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  4. S. P. Aggarwal
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Correspondence to Praveen K. Thakur .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Space Research Organisation, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    R. R. Navalgund

  2. Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Indian Space Research Organisation, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

    A. Senthil Kumar

  3. Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Indian Space Research Organisation, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

    Subrata Nandy

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Thakur, P.K., Garg, V., Nikam, B.R., Aggarwal, S.P. (2019). Cryosphere Studies in Northwest Himalaya. In: Navalgund, R., Kumar, A., Nandy, S. (eds) Remote Sensing of Northwest Himalayan Ecosystems. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2128-3_5

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