Abstract:
Himalayan glaciers and their mass balance
are poorly sampled through direct mass balance mea-
surements. Thus, based on Landsat datasets of ETM+
(2000), ETM+ (2006) and TM (2011), mass balance
19 studies of 32 glaciers was carried out using accumulation
area ratio (AAR) method in the Tirungkhad river basin, a
tributary of Satluj River, located in western Himalayan
region. The overall specific mass balance was negative
varying from −27 cm (2000) to −41 cm (2011). Out of
24 32 glaciers, 27 glaciers (81.2 %) showed negative mean
mass balance and 5 glaciers (18.7 %) showed positive
mean mass balance. Mean of specific mass balance for
the year 2000, 2006 and 2011 was found to be −48 cm,
−55 cm and −0.61 cm respectively, in case of glaciers
with negative mass balance while in case of glaciers
with positive mass balance, it varied from 0.67 cm
(2000), 0.56 cm (2006) and 0.47 cm (2011). The inves-
tigations suggested a loss of −0.034 km3 of glacial ice
for 2000, 0.036 km3 for 2006 and 0.038 km3 for 2011
respectively. The negative mass balance of the glaciers
since 2000 correlates well with the increasing trend of
annual mean temperature and decreasing trend of precipitation
(snow water equivalent (SWE) and rainfall). 37
Based on Mann Kendall test the temperature and SWE 38
trends were significant at 95 % confidence level, how- 39
ever, the rainfall trend was insignificant.
