Heterogeneity in glacier response in the upper Shyok valley, northeast Karakoram

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Abstract

Glaciers in the Karakoram show long-term irregular behaviour with comparatively frequent and sudden advances. A glacier inventory of the upper Shyok valley situated in northeast Karakoram has been generated for the year 2002 using Landsat ETM+ and SRTM3 DEM as baseline data for the investigations and subsequent change analysis. The upper Shyok valley contained 2123 glaciers (larger than 0.02 km2 in size) with an area of 2977.9 ± 95.3 km2 in 2002. Out of these, 18 glaciers with an area of 1004.1 ± 32.1 km2 showed surge-type behaviour. Change analysis based on Hexagon KH-9 (years 1973 and 1974) and Landsat TM/ETM+ (years 1989, 2002 and 2011) images had to be restricted to a subset of 136 glaciers (covering an area of 1609.7 ± 51.5 km2 in 2002) due to adverse snow conditions. The area of the investigated glaciers, including the 18 surge-type glaciers identified, showed no significant changes during all studied periods. However, the analysis provides a hint that the overall glacier area slightly decreased until about 1989 (area 1973: 1613.6 ± 43.6 km2; area 1989: 1602.0 ± 33.6 km2) followed by an increase (area 2002: 1609.7 ± 51.5; area 2011: 1615.8 ± 35.5 km2). Although the overall change in area is insignificant, advances in glacier tongues since the end of the 1980s are clearly visible. Detailed estimations of length changes for individual glaciers since the 1970s and for Central Rimo Glacier since the 1930s confirm the irregular retreat and advance. © 2013 Author(s).

Figures

  • Fig. 1. Location of upper Shyok valley, northeast Karakoram with four glaciers studied in detail. Glacier outlines are based on 2002 August Landsat ETM+ imagery. The colour-coded elevation is based on SRTM3 data.
  • Table 1. Details of the USGS satellite data used in the present study.
  • Fig. 2. Rimo Glacier, northeast Karakoram on different time spans; (A) 1930 extent based on Dainelli (1932) map and (B) 2002 situation based on Landsat ETM+ (2 August 2002). Map published with the permission of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). See Fig. 1 for location in study area.
  • Fig. 3. Diagram showing the glacier size class vs. number of glaciers in upper Shyok valley.
  • Table 2. Area (km2) and number changes of surging and non-surging glaciers in upper Shyok valley during 1973–2011.
  • Table 3. Changes in glacier area in the study area between 1973, 1989, 2002 and 2011 based on Hexagon and Landsat images.
  • Fig. 4. Chong Kumdan, Kichik Kumdan and Aktash glaciers fluctuation during study period (A) Hexagon (1974-11-16), (B) Landsat TM (1989-10-09), (C) Landsat TM (1998-09-16), (D) Landsat TM (1999-10-29), (E) Landsat ETM+ (2000-08-28), (F) Landsat ETM+ (2002- 08-02), (G) Landsat ETM+ (2006-09-30), (H) Landsat TM (2009-09-30), (I) Landsat TM (2011-08-03). Hexagon is panchromatic images and Landsat TM and ETM+ band combination is 5-4-3. See fig 1 for location in study area.
  • Fig. 5. Cumulative length records of Central Rimo and Kichik Kumdan and Aktash glaciers during 1973–2011. Dotted line for Central Rimo Glacier indicates that there were no observations between 1930 and 1973 in our study.

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CITATION STYLE

APA

Bhambri, R., Bolch, T., Kawishwar, P., Dobhal, D. P., Srivastava, D., & Pratap, B. (2013). Heterogeneity in glacier response in the upper Shyok valley, northeast Karakoram. Cryosphere, 7(5), 1385–1398. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1385-2013

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