Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Investigation of temporal change in glacial extent of Chitral watershed using Landsat data

  • Published:
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Glaciers are also known as solid reservoirs, and in this regard, Pakistan is a blessed country to have enriched glaciers. The change in glacial extent becomes very crucial for rivers whose discharges are associated with glacier melt. Even a little change in the glacial extent may bring a significant change in the resulting river flows. Considering climate change scenarios, many researchers have predicted future flows in such catchments. But in almost all such studies, the reduction in the glaciers is not normally based on any rational. Therefore, research is needed in order to estimate how glaciers are actually behaving under the change of temperature and precipitations to better estimate the future flows. For this purpose, Chitral watershed was considered as the study area. The seasonal change in the snow extent was estimated by using MODIS data for various years that helped to identify the month with minimum glacial extent. With the help of remote sensing, unsupervised classification was performed to estimate the glacier area in Chitral watershed. The results show a definite receding trend with respect to time in the glaciers of the region for the past decade.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akhtar, M., Ahmad, N., & Booij, M. J. (2008). The impact of climate change on the water resources of Hindu Kush–Karakorum–Himalaya region under different glacier coverage scenarios. Journal of Hydrology, 355, 148–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bajracharya, S. R., & Shrestha, B. (Eds.) (2011). The status of glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region. Kathmandu: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)

  • Bogacka, B. (2004). Time series. Course handouts. Available from: http://www.maths.qmul.ac.uk/~bb/TS_MainPage.html>.volume = [o].

  • Böhm, R., Auer, I., Brunetti, M., Maugeri, M., Nanni, T., & Schöner, W. (2001). Regional temperature variability in the European Alps: 1760–1998 from homogenized instrumental time series. International Journal of Climatology, 21(14), 1779–1801.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, J. G., & Soomro, B. (2005). Inventory of glaciers and glacial lakes and the identification of potential glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) affected by global warming in the mountains of Himalayan region.

  • Frey, H., Paul, F., & Strozzi, T. (2012). Compilation of a glacier inventory for the western Himalayas from satellite data: methods, challenges, and results. Remote Sensing of Environment, 124(2012), 832–843.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, A., Moholdt, G., Cogley, J., Wouters, B., Arendt, A., Wahr, J., Berthier, E., Hock, R., Pfeffer, W., Kaser, G., Ligtenberg, S., Bolch, T., Sharp, M., Hagen, J., Van den Broeke, M., & Paul, F. (2013). A reconciled estimate of glacier contributions to sea level rise: 2003 to 2009. Science 852–857.

  • Hock, R., De Woul, M., Radić, V., & Dyurgerov, M. (2009). Mountain glaciers and ice caps around Antarctica make a large sea‐level rise contribution. Geophysical Research Letters, 36(7), L07501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houghton, J. T., Ding, Y., Griggs, D. J., Noguer, M., van der Linden, P. J., Dai, X., Maskell, K., & Johnson, C. A. (eds.), (2001). The scientific basis, Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, p. 881.

  • Immerzeel, W., Droogers, P., de Jong, S. M., & Bierkens, M. F. P. (2009). Large-scale monitoring of snow cover and runoff simulation in Himalayan river basins using remote sensing. Remote Sensing of Environment, 113(1), 40–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2007). IPCC statement on the melting of Himalayan glaciers.

  • Kaser, G., Cogley, J., Dyurgerov, M., Meier, M., & Ohmura, A. (2006). Mass balance of glaciers and ice caps: consensus estimates for 1961–2004. Geophysical Research Letters, 33(19), L19501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaser, G., Grosshauser, M., & Marzeion, B. (2010). Contribution potential of glaciers to water availability in different climate regimes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(47), 20223–20227.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mohammadi, K., Eslami, H. R., & Kahawita, R. (2010). Parameter estimation of an ARMA model for river flow forecasting using goal programming. Journal of Hydrology, 331, 293–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naeem, U. A., Hashmi, H. N., Shamim, M. A., & Ejaz, N. (2012). Flow variation in astore river under assumed glaciated extents dueto climate change. Pakistan Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences , 11, 73–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naeem, U. A., Hashmi, H. N., Rehman, H., & Shakir, A. S. (2013). Flow trends in river Chitral due to different scenarios of glaciated extent. KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering, 17(1), 244–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naeem, U. A., Rehman, H., Hashmi, H. N., Shakir, A. S., Ghumman, A. R., & Shamim, M. A. (2014). Ranking sensitive calibrating parameters of UBC watershed model. KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering, 19(05), 1538–1547.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raper, S., & Braithwaite, R. (2006). Low sea level rise projections from mountain glaciers and icecaps under global warming. Nature, 439, 311–313.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shi, Y., & Liu, S. (2000). Estimation on the response of glaciers in China to the global warmingin the 21st century. Chinese Science Bulletin, 45(7), 668–672.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sorg, A., Bolch, T., Stoffel, M., Solomina, O., & Beniston, M. (2012). Climate change impacts on glaciers and runoff in Tien Shan (Central Asia). Nature Climate Change, 2, 725–731.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Immerzeel, W. W., van Beek, L. P. H., & Bierkens, M. F. P. (2010). Climate change will affect the asian water towers. Science, 328, 1382.

  • Immerzeel, W. W., van Beek, L. P. H., Konz, M., Shrestha, A. B. & Bierkens, M. F. P. (2012). Hydrological response to climate change in a glacierized catchment in the Himalayas. Climatic Change, 110, 721–736

  • WWF Nepal Program. (2005). An overview of glaciers, glacier retreat, and subsequent impacts in Nepal, India and China.

  • Ye, Q., Kang, S., Chen, F., & Wang, J. (2006). Monitoring glacier variations on Gela Dandong Mountain, central Tibetan Plateau, from 1969 to 2002 using remote-sensing and GIS technologies. Journal of Glaciology, 52, 179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zamir, U. (2012). Monitoring receding of glaciers and in north-eastern Pakistan through geo-informatics techniques. Science Technology and Development, 31(4), 327–334.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, L., Ding, R., & Moore, J. (2014). Glacier volume and area change by 2050 in high mountain Asia. Global and Planetary Change, 122(2014), 197–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Water Resources Engineering, Civil Engineering Department, University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, Taxila, Pakistan

    Usman Ali Naeem, Naeem Ejaz, Umer Mustafa, Hashim Nisar Hashmi & Abdul Razzaq Ghumman

  2. Bursa Orhangazi University, Bursa, Turkey

    Muhammad Ali Shamim

  3. Hydraulics and Irrigation Engineering, Civil Engineering Department, University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

    Habib ur Rehman

Authors
  1. Usman Ali Naeem
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Muhammad Ali Shamim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Naeem Ejaz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Habib ur Rehman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Umer Mustafa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Hashim Nisar Hashmi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Abdul Razzaq Ghumman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Usman Ali Naeem.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Naeem, U.A., Shamim, M.A., Ejaz, N. et al. Investigation of temporal change in glacial extent of Chitral watershed using Landsat data. Environ Monit Assess 188, 43 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-5026-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-5026-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation