Heterogeneity in topographic control on velocities of Western Himalayan glaciers

Scientific Reports
Lydia SamF Javier Martín-Torres

Abstract

Studies of the seasonal and annual patterns of glacier velocities improve our understanding of the ice volume, topography, responses to climate change, and surge events of glaciers. Such studies are especially relevant and equally rare for the Himalayan glaciers, which supply many rivers that sustain some of the most heavily populated mountainous regions in the world. In particular, the control of the hypsometric distribution of geomorphometric parameters, such as slope, aspect, and curvature, on the dynamics of Himalayan glaciers have never been studied so far, at the river basin scale. Here, we present the degree to which topographic and hypsometric parameters affect the seasonal and annual average flow velocities of 112 glaciers in the Baspa River basin in the Western Indian Himalaya by analysing Global Land Ice Velocity Extraction from Landsat 8 (GoLIVE) datasets for the years 2013-2017. We observe, (i) significant heterogeneity in topographic controls on the velocities of these glaciers, (ii) elevation and the seasons play important roles in regulating the degree to which morphometric parameters (slope, aspect, and curvature) affect these velocities, (iii) a possible polythermal regime promoting both sliding and deformatio...Continue Reading

References

Jul 20, 2002·Science·Anthony A ArendtVirginia B Valentine
Jun 12, 2010·Science·Walter W ImmerzeelMarc F P Bierkens
Apr 21, 2012·Science·T BolchM Stoffel
Jul 17, 2013·Nature Communications·Evan W BurgessChristopher F Larsen
Feb 15, 2017·Nature Communications·Andrew N MackintoshSam M Dean
Aug 3, 2017·Scientific Reports·Anshuman BhardwajRicardo M Fonseca
Sep 6, 2017·Scientific Reports·Mayank ShekharMaría-Paz Zorzano

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Software Mentioned

ArcGIS
GoLIVE
Spatial Analyst
Google Earth
OLS
Spatial
Curvature
Zonal Statistics
Spatial Analyst Raster Calculator
ASTER GDEM

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