Abstract
This study summarizes the results of several climate studies conducted using field observed data of winter period over the North-West Himalaya (NWH) and Central Himalaya (CH). It also summarizes the latest conclusions about wintertime trends over NWH and its constitutive zones that have been drawn from the study conducted by Negi et al. (Curr Sci 114(4):760–770, 2018), which incorporates the results and inferences of all other studies as well. Wintertime climatic variability over CH has also been discussed for the first time in this study. The salient deductions are as under:
-
Overall warming trends in mean and maximum temperature of NWH (1991–2015) and CH (2001–2012) have been observed. In contrast to the situation at the global scale, the data of both NWH and CH reflect higher rate of warming in maximum temperature than minimum temperature. Consequently, there has been an increase in Diurnal Temperature Range (DTR) over both NWH and CH.
-
Regionally, long term (~30 years) warming trends have been observed in all zones of NWH except for the minimum temperature over the Lower Himalaya (LH) which shows cooling trends.
-
The rate of warming (mean temperature) is found to be highest in the Greater Himalaya (GH) than the Karakoram Himalaya (KH) and LH, which partly explains the higher rate of glacier melt in regions of GH than KH. In addition, no conclusive trends in Elevation Dependent Warming (EDW) were observed in NWH.
-
Short term trends (2000–2015) depict cooling in maximum temperature of LH and GH, which though unexplained, may have some links with rising concentration of aerosols in atmosphere in recent decades as reported in a study by Krishnan and Ramanathan (Geophys Res Lett 29(9):54–1–54–4, 2002).
-
The cryosphere of NWH and CH show heterogeneous behaviour to climate change.
-
Long term warming trends over LH, GH and CH have manifested in retreat of glaciers lying in these areas. Though KH also reports warming but this marginal increase in temperature field has not yet made a dent in KH where temperatures are still in subfreezing range even during ablation period. This obviously has resulted in less ablation indirectly implying marginal gain in mass, which has resulted in bringing more stability to the glaciated region of Karakoram Himalaya.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Agarwal V, Bolch T, Syed TH, Pieczonka T, Strozzi T, Nagaich R (2017) Area and mass changes of Siachen glacier (East Karakoram). J Glaciol 63:148–163
Azam MF, Wagnon P, Vincent C et al (2014) Reconstruction of the annual mass balance of Chhota Shigri glacier, Western Himalaya, India, since 1969. Ann Glaciol 55(66):69–80
Azam MF, Wagnon P, Berthier E et al (2018) Review of the status and mass changes of Himalayan-Karakoram glaciers. J Glaciol 64(243):61–74
Bahugana M, Rathore BP (2014) Are the Himalayan glaciers retreating? Curr Sci 106(7):1008–1013
Beniston M, Rebetez M (1996) Regional behavior of minimum temperatures in Switzerland for the period 1979–1993. Theor Appl Climatol 53:231–243
Beniston M, Diaz HF, Bradley RS (1997) Climatic change at high elevation sites: an overview. Clim Chang 36(3–4):233–251
Bhutiyani MR, Kale VS, Pawar NJ (2007) Long-term trends in maximum, minimum and mean annual air temperatures across the Northwestern Himalaya during the twentieth century. Clim Chang 85:159–177
Bhutiyani MR, Kale VS, Pawar NJ (2010) Climate change and precipitation variations in the northwestern Himalaya: 1866–2006. Int J Climatol 30:535–548
Bolch T, Kulkarni A, Kääb A et al (2012) The state and fate of Himalayan glaciers. Science 336:310–314
Braganza K, Karoly DJ, Arblaster JM (2004) Diurnal temperature range as an index of global climate change during the twentieth century. Geophys Res Lett 31:L13217. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL019998
Chen X, Cui P, Li Y, Yang Z and Qi Y (2007) Changes in glacial lakes and glaciers of post1986 in the Poiqu River basin, Nyalam, Xizang (Tibet). Geomorph 88(3): 298–311
Diaz HF, Bradley RS (1997) Temperature variations during the last century at high elevation sites. Clim Chang 36:253–279
Diaz H, Eischeid J (2007) Disappearing ‘alpine tundra’ Köppen climatic type in the western United States. Geophys Res Lett 34:L18707
Dimri A, Dash S (2012) Wintertime climatic trends in the western Himalayas. Clim Chang 111:775–800
Gardelle J, Berthier E, Arnaud Y (2012) Slight mass gain of Karakoram glaciers in the early twenty-first century. Nat Geosci 5:322–325. https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO1450
Gardelle J, Berthier E, Arnaud Y, Kääb A (2013) Region-wide glacier mass balances over the Pamir-Karakoram-Himalaya during 1999–2011. Cryosphere 7:1263–1286
Gurung DR, Maharjan SB, Shrestha AB et al (2017) Climate and topographic controls on snow cover dynamics in the Hindu Kush Himalaya. Int J Climatol 37:3873–3882. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4961
Gusain HS, Mishra VD, Bhutiyani MR (2014) Winter temperature and snowfall trends in the cryospheric region of north-west Himalaya. Mausam 65(3):425–432
Gusain HS, Kala M, Ganju A et al (2015) Observations of snow-meteorological parameters in Gangotri glacier region. Curr Sci 109(11):2116–2120
Hasenauer H, Merganicova K, Petritsch R et al (2003) Validating daily climate interpolations over complex terrain in Austria. Agric For Meteorol 119:87–107
Hasson S, Böhner J, Lucarini V (2014) Early 21st century snow cover state over the western river basins of the Indus River system. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 18:4077–4100
Immerzeel WW, Droogers P, de Jong SM, Bierkens MF (2009) Large scale monitoring of snow cover and runoff simulation in Himalayan river basins using remote sensing. Remote Sens Environ 113:40–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2008.08.010
Kääb A, Berthier E, Nuth C et al (2012) Contrasting patterns of early twenty-first-century glacier mass change in the Himalayas. Nature 488(7412):495–498
Krishnan R, Ramanathan V (2002) Evidence of surface cooling from absorbing aerosols. Geophys Res Lett 29(9):54–1–54–4
Kulkarni AV (2007) Effect of global warming on the Himalayan cryosphere. Jalvigyan Sameeksha 22:93–108
Kulkarni AV, Karyakarte Y (2014) Observed changes in Himalayan glaciers. Curr Sci 106(2):237–244
Kumar P, Kotlarski S, Moseley C et al (2015) Response of Karakoram-Himalayan glaciers to climate variability and climatic change: a regional climate model assessment. Geophys Res Lett 42:1818–1825. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063392
Liu X, Cheng Z, Yan L, Yin Z (2009) Elevation dependency of recent and future minimum surface air temperature trends in the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings. Glob Planet Chang 68:164–174
Madhura RK, Krishnan R, Revadekar JV, Mujumdar M, Goswami BN (2015) Changes in western disturbances over the Western Himalayas in a warming environment. Clim Dyn 44:1157–1168
McGuire CR, Nufio CR, Bowers MD, Guralnick RP (2012) Elevation-dependent temperature trends in the Rocky Mountain Front Range: changes over a 56- and 20-year record. PLoS One 7(9):12
Negi HS, Datt P, Thakur NK, Ganju A, Bhatia VK, Vinay Kumar G (2017) Observed spatio-temporal changes of winter snow albedo over the north-west Himalaya. Int J Climatol 37(5):2304–2317. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4846
Negi HS, Kanda N, Shekhar MS, Ganju A (2018) Recent wintertime climatic variability over North West Himalayan cryosphere. Curr Sci 114(4):760–770
Pepin NC, Seidel DJ (2005) A global comparison of surface and free-air temperatures at high elevations. J Geophys Res 110:D03104. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JD005047
Rangwala I, Miller J, Xu M (2009) Warming in the Tibetan Plateau: possible influences of the changes in surface water vapor. Geophys Res Lett 36:L06703
Rasmussen R, Baker B, Kochendorfer J et al (2012) How well are we measuring snow? Bull Am Meteorol Soc 93:811–829. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00052.1
Saurabh V, Braun M (2016) Elevation change rates of glaciers in the Lahaul-Spiti (Western Himalaya, India) during 2000–2012 and 2012–2013. Remote Sens 8:1038
Scherler D, Bookhagen B, Strecker MR (2011) Spatially variable response of Himalayan glaciers to climate change affected by debris cover. Nat Geosci 4:156–159. https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO1068
Schild A (2008) ICIMOD’s position on climate change and mountain systems. Mt Res Dev 28:328–331
Schneider S (1990) The global warming debate heats up: an analysis and perspective. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 71:1292–1304
Sharma SS, Ganju A (2000) Complexities of avalanche forecasting in Western Himalaya – an overview. Cold Reg Sci Technol 31:95–102
Shekhar MS, Chand H, Kumar S, Srinivasan K, Ganju A (2010) Climate-change studies in the western Himalaya. Ann Glaciol 51(54):105–112
Shekhar MS, Devi U, Paul S et al (2017) Analysis of trends in extreme precipitation events over Western Himalaya region: intensity and duration wise study. J Indian Geophys Union 21(3):225–231
Singh SK, Rathore BP, Bahugana IM, Ajai (2014) Snow cover variability in Himalayan Tibetan region. Int J Climatol 34:446–452
Singh D, Sharma V, Juyal V (2015) Observed linear trend in few surface weather elements over the Northwest Himalayas (NWH) during winter season. J Earth Syst Sci 124:553–565
Sirguey P, Still H, Cullen NJ et al (2016) Reconstructing the mass balance of Brewster glacier, New Zealand, using MODIS-derived glacier-wide albedo. Cryosphere 10:2465–2484
Stahl K, Moore RD, Floyer JA et al (2006) Comparison of approaches for spatial interpolation of daily air temperature in a large region with complex topography and highly variable station density. Agric For Meteorol 139:224–236
Stocker TF, Qin D, Plattner GK et al (2013) Summary for policymakers of climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge/New York
Strachan S, Kelsey EP, Brown RF et al (2016) Filling the data gaps in mountain climate observatories through advanced technology, refined instrument siting, and a focus on gradients. Mt Res Dev 36(4):518–527
Thompson LG (2000) Ice core evidence for climate changes in the tropics: implications for our future. Quat Sci Rev 19:19–35
Tudoroiu M, Eccel E, Gioli B et al (2016) Negative elevation-dependent warming trend in the Eastern Alps. Environ Res Lett 11:12
Yadav RR, Park WK, Singh J and Dubey B (2004) Do the western Himalayas defy global warming? Geophys Res Lett, 31, L17201; https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020201
Wilks DS (1995) Statistical methods in the atmospheric sciences, 2nd edn. Academic, San Diego, p 467
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to technical staff of SASE for data collection from rugged terrain in extreme harsh climatic conditions. This work is carried out under DRDO project ‘Him-Parivartan’.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Negi, H.S., Ganju, A., Kanda, N., Gusain, H.S. (2020). Climate Change and Cryospheric Response Over North-West and Central Himalaya, India. In: Dimri, A., Bookhagen, B., Stoffel, M., Yasunari, T. (eds) Himalayan Weather and Climate and their Impact on the Environment . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29684-1_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29684-1_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-29683-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-29684-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)