Historical changes in the alpine glacier system a case study of Lidder valley

Abstract

newlineThe Himalayas has been bestowed by nature with the largest resources of snow and glaciers outside newlinePolar Regions, which represents a sustainable source of fresh water and nourishes all the major newlinerivers of the south Asian region. Besides perennial sources of freshwater, glaciers in the Himalayas newlineare important and useful for agriculture purposes, tourism, and energy generation and regulate newlineregional climatology. However, the observed climate change in the region has impacted the newlineHimalayan cryosphere with subsequent impacts on streamflows, food production and even tourism. newlineGlacier depletion is considered a very reliable and easily understandable natural indicator of newlineclimate change since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA). This process has been associated with newlinesignificant changes in the high-mountains, sometimes even leading to potentially hazardous newlinesituations like GLOFs etc. The monitoring and assessment of glaciers is thus necessary as they are newlinethe sensitive indicators of the climate and environmental changes. Besides being an important newlinesource of drinking water supplies, glaciers in the Kashmir Himalaya are important for the newlinesustenance of key sectors including agriculture, hydropower generation and tourism. However, the newlineclimate change impacts on glaciers in Kashmir Himalayas are clear and loud as in the rest of the newlineHimalaya. Changing climate has been reported to have serious impacts on snow and glacier newlineresources in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, impacting various socio-economic sectors in the state newlinewhere the streamflows are dominated by snow and glacier melt throughout the hydrological year. newlineKeeping in view the tremendous societal and environmental significance of glaciers in Kashmir newlineHimalaya, encompassing the Jhelum river basin, the understanding of glacier recession, dynamics, newlinethe past and future trends of glaciers is important to understand the impacts of depleting cryosphere newlinein this Himalayan region. The aim of this study is to overcome the limited information and enhance newlinethe current un............