Study of dynamics in surface ice flow rate of glaciers in Hunza basin, Karakoram

Sivalingam, S and Murugesan, GP and Kulkarni, AV and Dhulipala, K and Devaraj, S (2023) Study of dynamics in surface ice flow rate of glaciers in Hunza basin, Karakoram. In: Environmental Science and Pollution Research .

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Abstract

Glaciers in the Karakoram region are widely recognized for their historical surging phenomenon. Accurate field-based glacier monitoring is challenging in the Karakoram due to the presence of mixed-nature glaciers that are advancing, receding, and surging. Many geographers came to the opinion that surging is a thermally controlled activity in the Karakoram as opposed to a hydrologically controlled activity as a result of characteristics including high-altitude warmth, precipitation, and accumulation patterns of these glaciers. But the main surge mechanism is still a mystery. The current study used Landsat multispectral satellite datasets to examine and investigate the glaciers’ vulnerability to surging activity in the Hunza basin based on the annual surface ice flow rate and frontal snout advancement of the glaciers from 1990 to 2021. Around 80 glaciers in the Hunza basin have been researched, and based on interannual surface flow rates, it has been determined that Batura, Hassanabad II, Barpu, Gharesa, Hispar, Khurdopin, Minapin, Virjerab, Yazgil, and Ghulkin glaciers are more vulnerable to surging. The findings show that during the research period, these glaciers had surged and advanced along their snouts. The frontal snout of these glaciers advances, and moraines are deposited closer to the glacier terminus as a consequence of active surge points over the ablation region. The Hunza basin’s topography, precipitation, and thermal regimes regulate the glaciers’ surging phenomena causing successive acceleration in the glaciers. Field-based measurements made with a differential global positioning system are used to corroborate the obtained results. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Environmental Science and Pollution Research
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH.
Keywords:	Annual surface ice flow rate; Hunza basin; Karakoram; Surge; Thermal regime
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Divecha Centre for Climate Change
Date Deposited:	02 May 2023 10:32
Last Modified:	02 May 2023 10:32
URI:	https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/81261

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