Glaciers as Indicators
Glaciers as Indicators of
Climate Change – the special
case of the high elevation glaciers of
the Nepal Himalaya
Richard Armstrong, National Snow and Ice Data Center, CIRES, Univ of Colorado, Boulder, USA, rlax@nsidc.org
Donald Alford, Consulting Hydrologist, Billings, Montana, USA, Dalford8@aol.com
Adina Racoviteanu, Inst of Arctic and Alpine Research, Univ of Colorado, Boulder, USA, racovite@gmail.com
G
laciers represent perhaps the most dramatic In addition, there is clear evidence that indicates that
and direct visual evidence of climate the retreat of glaciers in most locations of the world
change. Glacier retreat provides a clear has accelerated in recent decades. However, while it
indication of a global climate that has been warming is safe to say that almost all glaciers of the world have
since the Little Ice Age (LIA), which occurred from been losing mass to some degree, and retreating, since
approximately 1650 to 1850. Throughout North the LIA, it is important to point out that glacier systems
America, Europe, and Asia, the evidence left by at the highest elevations, 4000-7000 m, have not
glacier moraines shows the maximum extent of these responded to recent climate warming in the same way
glaciers during the LIA and quantifi es the fact that as lower elevation glaciers. Therefore, although glaciers
glaciers have been retreating since this period in are retreating both in the European Alps and in the
response to a warmer climate. Himalayas, one cannot always make direct comparisons
Elevation model and glaciers in the Dudh Kosi basin
- Digital elevation model (DEM) from the NASA Shuttle
Radar Topography Mission (SRTM v.4), (90m spatial
resolution).
- Glacier outlines for Nepal from topographic maps,
3250 glaciers, 5,300 sq.km (ICIMOD)
- Catchment basins from ICIMOD (basic topographic
unit in water budget analysis)
Dudh Kosi basin
- Runoff data from Department of Hydrology and
Glaciers
Meteorology (DHM), Nepal
KDU elevation (m)
High: 8773
- Maximum annual altitude of the 0 deg. isotherm from
Low: 335
extrapolation and upper air data
- Nine glacierised and gauged basins were selected
for the study.
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