Remote sensing study of snowline altitude at the end of melting season, Chandra-Bhaga basin, Himachal Pradesh, 1980-2007

Pandey, Pratima and Kulkarni, Anil V and Venkataraman, G (2013) Remote sensing study of snowline altitude at the end of melting season, Chandra-Bhaga basin, Himachal Pradesh, 1980-2007. In: GEOCARTO INTERNATIONAL, 28 (4). pp. 311-322.

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Abstract

Glaciers have a direct relation with climate change. The equilibrium line altitude (ELA) is the most useful parameter to study the effect of climate change on glaciers. The ELA is a theoretical snowline at which the glacier mass balance is zero. Snowline altitude (SLA) at the end of melting season is generally regarded as the ELA. Glaciers of Chandra-Bhaga basin in Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh were chosen to study the ELA, using satellite images from 1980 to 2007. A total of 19 glaciers from the Chandra-Bhaga basin were identified and selected to carry out the study of ELA variation over 27 years. This study reveals that the mean SLA of the sub-basin has increased from 5009 +/- 61m to 5401 +/- 21m from 1980 to 2007. The study is in agreement with the reported increase in the temperature and decrease in winter snowfall of North-West Himalaya in the last century.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	GEOCARTO INTERNATIONAL
Publisher:	TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article is belongs to TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Keywords:	snowline altitude; glaciers; Himalaya; remote sensing; climate
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Divecha Centre for Climate Change
Date Deposited:	02 Oct 2013 06:04
Last Modified:	02 Oct 2013 06:04
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/47360

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