Recent variations of supraglacial lakes on the Baltoro Glacier in the central Karakoram Himalaya and its possible teleconnections with the pacific decadal oscillation

Veettil, Bijeesh Kozhikkodan; Bianchini, Nilceia; Bremer, Ulisses Franz; Maier, Éder Leandro Bayer; Simões, Jefferson Cárdia

doi:10.1080/10106049.2015.1041565

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Gibson et al [38] analyzed the supraglacial lakes between 2001 and 2012 based on three images acquired in 29 August 2001 (0.66 km 2 ), 14 August 2004 (1.79 km 2 ), and 20 August 2012 (2.04 km 2 ), observing an increasing number of lakes between 2001 and 2012 and particularly between 2001 and 2004, which can be attributed to changes in precipitation since 2000 [38]. Our results differ by ±0.5 km 2 from the results of Veettil et al [36] and ±0.2 km 2 at maximum from Gibson et al [38]. The differences can be explained by the usage of different thresholds and spectral bands.…”

Section: Supraglacial Lakescontrasting

confidence: 80%

“…Veettil et al [36] mapped the lakes from four images acquired in July 1978 (1.145 km 2 ), July 1993 (1.948 km 2 ), June 2002 (2.395 km 2 ), and June 2014 (2.164 km 2 ) based on Landsat imagery. They observed an increase of lakes from the late 1970s towards the late 2000s and a stable state between 2002 and 2014.…”

Section: Supraglacial Lakesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, they identified a connection between the increase of lakes and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), respectively. The formation and the expansion of the lakes occur during the warm regime of PDO, particularly during the wet conditions between January and April affected by El Niño [36]. Unfortunately, the large increase of lakes from 2012 to 2017 invalidate their assumption: 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 were affected by the wet conditions of El Niño, whereas 2011/2012 and 2016/2017 were influenced by the dry conditions of La Niña [37].…”

Section: Supraglacial Lakesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impacts of Climate and Supraglacial Lakes on the Surface Velocity of Baltoro Glacier from 1992 to 2017

2018

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The Baltoro Glacier is one of the largest glaciers in the Karakoram mountain range. Long-term monitoring of glacier dynamics provides key information on glacier evolution in a changing climate, which is essential for regional water resource and natural hazard management. On large glaciers, detailed field based mass balance is not feasible. Ice dynamic variations quantify changes in mass transport and possibly the influence of environmental parameters on the evolution of the glacier. Although velocity variations of Baltoro Glacier during winter and summer are linked to seasonally enhanced basal sliding, little is known about differences in timing and magnitude of (intra-)seasonal velocity variations and their determining mechanisms. We present time series of annual, seasonal, and intra-seasonal glacier surface velocities by means of intensity offset tracking applied on multi-mission Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data for a period of 25 years from 1992 to 2017. Supraglacial lakes forming on the downstream glacier surface in summer were mapped from 1991 to 2017 based on the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), calculated from multi-spectral Landsat and ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) imagery. Additionally, precipitation data of the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) and temperature data of ERA-Interim were used to derive the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Temperature Index (STI) from 1998 to 2017. Linking surface velocities to the SPI confirmed a strong correlation between heavy precipitation events in winter and the magnitude and the timing of glacier acceleration in summer. Downstream extensions of summer acceleration that have been found since 2015 may be explained by additional water draining from an increased number of supraglacial lakes through crevasses that have been formed in consequence of higher initial velocities, evoked by strong winter precipitation. The warmer melt seasons observed in the years 2015 to 2017 additionally affects the formation of a supraglacial lake, so stronger summer acceleration events in recent years may be indirectly related to global warming.

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Section: Supraglacial Lakescontrasting

confidence: 80%

Section: Supraglacial Lakesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Supraglacial Lakesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impacts of Climate and Supraglacial Lakes on the Surface Velocity of Baltoro Glacier from 1992 to 2017

2018

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“…Existence of this anomalous behavior, particularly in the Karakoram ranges (Armstrong, 2010;Bolch et al, 2012;Cogley, 2012Cogley, , 2016Fowler & Archer, 2006;Gardelle et al, 2012;Hewitt, 2007;Immerzeel et al, 2015;Immerzeel et al, 2012;Kapnick et al, 2014;Kozhikkodan Veettil et al, 2016;Kumar et al, 2015;Morgan, 2014;Mukhopadhyay et al, 2014;Quincey et al, 2011;Rankl et al, 2014;Smiraglia et al, 2007;Soncini et al, 2015;Tahir et al, 2011), could perhaps be thought of as a simple matter of "cause" (temperature) and "effect" (melting) (Hewitt, 2014), especially since Karakoram temperatures have remained out of phase with hemispheric temperature trends for the past five centuries (Zafar et al, 2016). However, interpretation of the Karakoram anomaly has been complicated by the lack of long-term field programs focusing on glacier mass balance and by a scarcity of up-to-date, near-glacier climate data (Gardelle et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Hydrometeorological Perspective on the Karakoram Anomaly Using Unique Valley‐Based Synoptic Weather Observations

Bashir

Zeng

Gupta

et al. 2017

Geophysical Research Letters

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Glaciers in the eastern Hindukush, western Karakoram, and northwestern Himalayan mountain ranges of Northern Pakistan are not responding to global warming in the same manner as their counterparts elsewhere. Their retreat rates are less than the global average, and some are either stable or growing. Various investigations have questioned the role of climatic factors in regard to this anomalous behavior, widely referred to as “The Karakoram Anomaly.” Here, for the first time, we present a hydrometeorological perspective based on five decades of synoptic weather observations collected by the meteorological network of Pakistan. Analysis of this unique data set indicates that increased regional scale humidity, cloud cover, and precipitation, along with decreased net radiation, near‐surface wind speed, potential evapotranspiration, and river flow, especially during the summer season, represent a substantial change in the energy, mass, and momentum fluxes that are facilitating the establishment of the Karakoram anomaly.

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Climate and rivers

McGregor

2019

River Research & Apps

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Over the last few decades as hydrologists have slowly raised their line of sight above the watershed boundary, it has become increasingly recognised that what happens in the atmosphere, as a major source of moisture for the terrestrial branch of the hydrological cycle, can strongly influence river dynamics at a range of spatial and temporal scales. Notwithstanding this, there is still a tendency for some in the river research community to restrict their gaze to the river channel or floodplain. However, Geoff Petts, the person to which this special issue is dedicated, understood well and widely encouraged a holistic view of river catchment processes. This included an acknowledgment of the role of climate, in its broadest sense, in shaping what happens within and without the river channel. The purpose of this paper therefore is to offer a broad overview of the role of some aspects of climate science in advancing knowledge in river research. Topics to be addressed include the role of climate in influencing river flow regimes, a consideration of the large‐scale climate mechanisms that drive hydrological variability within river basins at interannual to decadal timescales and atmospheric rivers and their link to surface hydrology. In reviewing these topics, a number of key knowledge gaps have emerged including attributing the causes of river flow regime changes to any one particular cause, the nonstationary and asymmetric forcing of river regimes by modes of climate variability and establishing links between atmospheric rivers, and terrestrial river channel processes, fluvial habitats, and ecological change.

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Recent variations of supraglacial lakes on the Baltoro Glacier in the central Karakoram Himalaya and its possible teleconnections with the pacific decadal oscillation

Cited by 6 publications

References 40 publications

Impacts of Climate and Supraglacial Lakes on the Surface Velocity of Baltoro Glacier from 1992 to 2017

Impacts of Climate and Supraglacial Lakes on the Surface Velocity of Baltoro Glacier from 1992 to 2017

A Hydrometeorological Perspective on the Karakoram Anomaly Using Unique Valley‐Based Synoptic Weather Observations

Climate and rivers

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