Abstract:
Glaciers are fresh water storehouses. Ever since climate change has accelerated the snowmelt process, research focused on monitoring glaciers has emerged as a significant research domain. One of the major goals of this research was to identify snow cover trends for glaciated regions of Pakistan and provide estimations of snow mass balance. The area chosen for this study was the Upper Indus basin, which includes the mountain ranges of Hindu Kush, Karakoram and the Himalayas. This region exhibits high topographic relief and climate change variability. Snow cover trend analysis for this region was performed for eleven years ranging from 2004 to 2014 using MODIS imagery with daily temporal resolution. Results were then compared with each year’s average monthly temperature. Further quantitative analysis was also performed to evaluate whether presence of increased vegetation is a reliable indicator of greater snowmelt. Snow mass balance is an important parameter to estimate the accumulation or ablation of glaciers. Snow mass balance of four selected years was calculated and compared. Year 2004 had the lowest mass snow balance while 2014 had the highest snow balance. Analysis of different parameters concluded that snow generally starts melting in the months of May, June and continues melting at faster rates in the months of July and August. With the arrival of winter and subsequent snowfalls, glaciers regain their mass. With the advancement in computing technologies, it has become easier for computers to handle and manipulate massive datasets. Remote sensing has proved to be an excellent tool for data collection from remote areas. Analysis of snow mass balance has revealed that glaciers in the Hindu Kush and Himalayan ranges are regaining their mass. Finally, a web interface was programmed to share research results with GIS and non-GIS users. This should increase awareness about applications of GIS and RS technology.
