Assessment of Glaciers Fluctuation: Shigar Basin

Arshad Ali

doi:10.3759/jowrem.v2i1.1753

Abstract

Pakistan is drained by Indus River whose upper basin runs across Hindukash-Karakorum-Himalayan (HKH) range which houses the largest cryosphere after both the poles. Any change in the glacierized mass of this region shall have serious implications for the water resources of the country. Shigar Basin, a major feeder of Upper Indus Basin, is considered important for the assessment of its glaciers fluctuation in the region. Besides an overall basin glacial assessment, six glaciers are specifically assessed for the fluctuation and thinning for a temporal range of 1992 to 2010 using Landsat data and Aster GDEM. The results are no different than the previous studies related to glaciers melting in central Karakoram but in this research, glacial fluctuation has been assessed from geomorphological and snow mass variations. Most common features like accumulation zone, exposed ablation zone and debris covered zone are mapped, which show the glaciers of Shigar Basin are relatively slowly melting with slight thinning rate. Glacier mass balance found for Shigar Basin from 1992 to 2010 is −0.1386 m yr–1 water equivalent. As a whole, it has been found that the glaciers in Shigar Basin are melting albeit at a very slow rate.