Evaluating the sensitivity of glacier to climate by using stable water isotopes and remote sensing

Glaciers in the Himalayan Mountain system are undergoing rapid retreat, and the global climate change has a significant impact on it. In the present study, we used stable water isotope and remote sensing data to understand the impact of climate on melting behavior of some high-altitude glaciers in t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental earth sciences 2017-09, Vol.76 (17), p.1, Article 598
Main Authors: Lone, Suhail A., Jeelani, Ghulam, Deshpande, R. D., Shah, Rouf A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ambient temperature
Basins
Biogeosciences
Chemical composition
Climate
Climate change
Core analysis
Core sampling
Coring
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Environmental Science and Engineering
Geochemistry
Geology
Glacier melting
Glaciers
Global climate
High altitude
Hydrology/Water Resources
Ice
Isotope composition
Isotopes
Melting
Original Article
Rain
Rainfall
Remote sensing
Sensitivity analysis
Temporal variations
Terrestrial Pollution
Weather patterns
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Glaciers in the Himalayan Mountain system are undergoing rapid retreat, and the global climate change has a significant impact on it. In the present study, we used stable water isotope and remote sensing data to understand the impact of climate on melting behavior of some high-altitude glaciers in two glacier-fed basins of western Himalaya, India. Glacier samples were collected from four major glaciers of Liddar (Kashmir region) and Suru basins (Ladakh region) during melting season from May 2012 to November 2013 for δ 18 O and δ 2 H. It was observed that the glacier samples from Suru basin were more depleted in 18 O and 2 H (−10.9 to −16.2‰ and −73 to −128‰) than the glaciers of Liddar basin (−8.2 to −14.9‰ and −52 to −102‰). However, the d-excess of the glacier samples in Suru basin was lower (13.5–21.6‰) than the glaciers of Liddar basin (17–28‰). It was observed that the temporal changes in weather pattern strongly influence the isotopic composition of the glaciers with progressive decrease and increase in δ 18 O (or δ 2 H) with the increase in ambient temperature and rainfall, respectively. The results suggest that during the sunny days of August and September, the glaciers are melting at higher altitudes (3900–4172 m) in the accumulation zone, reflecting that the glaciers of Liddar basin are not the ideal sites for the ice coring for paleoclimatological studies. The study also revealed that 20% glacier extent (glacierized area) in Liddar basin has been lost in
ISSN:1866-6280
1866-6299
DOI:10.1007/s12665-017-6937-6