Abstract:
Glaciers are widely recognized as key indicators of climate change, and melt water
obtained from them is an important source of fresh water and for hydropower generation.
Regular monitoring of a large number of Himalayan glaciers is important for
improving our knowledge of glacier response to climate change. In the present study,
Survey of India topographical maps (1966) and Landsat datasets as ETM+ (2000,
2006) and TM (2011) have been used to study glacier fluctuations in Tirungkhad
basin. A deglaciation of 26.1% (29.1 km2) in terms of area from 1966 to 2011 was
observed. Lower altitude small glaciers (area < 1 km2) lost more ice (34%), while
glaciers with an area <10 km2 lost less (20%). The percentage of change in glacier
length was 26% (31.9 km) from 1966 to 2011. The south-facing glaciers showed
high percentages of loss. From 2000 to 2011, debris cover has increased by 1.34%.
The analysis of the trend in meteorological data collected from Kalpa and Purbani
stations was carried out by Mann Kendall non-parametric method. During the last
two decades, the mean annual temperature (Tmax and Tmin) has increased significantly,
accompanied with a fall in snow water equivalent (SWE) and rainfall. The
increasing trend in temperature and decreasing trend in SWE were significant at
95% confidence level. This observation shows that the warming of the climate is
probably one of the major reasons for the glacier change in the basin.
