Glaciohydrology of the Himalaya-Karakoram

Azam, MF and Kargel, JS and Shea, JM and Nepal, S and Haritashya, UK and Srivastava, S and Maussion, F and Qazi, N and Chevallier, P and Dimri, AP and Kulkarni, AV and Cogley, JG and Bahuguna, I (2021) Glaciohydrology of the Himalaya-Karakoram. In: Science, 373 (6557).

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Abstract

Understanding the response of Himalayan-Karakoram (HK) rivers to climate change is crucial for ~1 billion people who partly depend on these water resources. Policy-makers tasked with sustainable water resources management require an assessment of the rivers’ current status and potential futur changes. We show that glacier and snow melt are important components of HK rivers, with greater hydrological importance for the Indus basin than for the Ganges and Brahmaputra basins. Total river runoff, glacier melt, and seasonality of flow are projected to increase until the 2050s, with some exceptions and large uncertainties. Critical knowledge gaps severely affect modeled contributions of different runoff components, future runoff volumes, and seasonality. Therefore, comprehensive field observation–based and remote sensing–based methods and models are needed. © 2021 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Science
Publisher:	American Association for the Advancement of Science
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Keywords:	climate change; glacial hydrology; melting; policy making; remote sensing; runoff; seasonality; sustainable development; water resource, glacier; human; remote sensing; review; river; runoff; seasonal variation; uncertainty; agriculture; climate change; drinking; hydropower; water availability, Brahmaputra Basin; Ganges Basin; Himalayas; Indus Basin; Karakoram
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Divecha Centre for Climate Change
Date Deposited:	16 Feb 2023 10:06
Last Modified:	16 Feb 2023 10:06
URI:	https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/80366

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