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Snow Cover Analysis in Chandra Basin of Western Himalaya from 2001 to 2016

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Applications of Geomatics in Civil Engineering

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering ((LNCE,volume 33))

Abstract

Snow cover and glaciers play an important and significant role in high-altitude areas. Chandra Basin, a subbasin of Chenab Basin, is situated in Lahaul–Spiti district, Himachal Pradesh, Western Himalaya and lying on the monsoon-arid transition region. To study the snow cover variation in Chandra basin from 2001 to 2016 for winter period (November−April), MODIS 8-day Terra (MOD10A2) data product is used. A Python script (Arcpy and Numpy package) is used to estimate the snow cover variation in Chandra Basin during the study period. This analysis shows that maximum average snow cover during 2001−2016 was in March (96.94%) and minimum in November (76.93%). Linear-trend-based analysis of snow cover area indicates that it is shrinking at the rate of 0.12% per year. The total reduction in snow cover area in the study area during 2001−2016 is 2.00%.

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Correspondence to Rakesh Sahu .

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Sahu, R., Gupta, R.D. (2020). Snow Cover Analysis in Chandra Basin of Western Himalaya from 2001 to 2016. In: Ghosh, J., da Silva, I. (eds) Applications of Geomatics in Civil Engineering. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering , vol 33. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7067-0_45

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7067-0_45

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-7066-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-7067-0

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