Recession of Gya Glacier and the 2014 glacial lake outburst flood in the Trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh, India

Majeed, Ulfat; Rashid, Irfan; Sattar, Ashim; Allen, Simon; Stoffel, Markus; Nüsser, Marcus; Schmidt, Susanne

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144008

Cited by 65 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 127 publications

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“…A similar fishkill was reported from the Nigeen lake in 2012 [42]; however, this fishkill event, the first of its kind, took place in the flowing Jhelum river, the water quality of which is normally considered to be very good in the upper stretches and poor in the middle stretches falling in the main city area [56]. Additionally, the use of freely available high-resolution satellite remote sensing data such as Planet Cubesat images available at daily timesteps [57][58][59] could help in mapping the urban centres/towns located in the vicinity of river courses that may act as potential sources of water pollution [56]. It becomes equally important to monitor the pace of landsystem changes that are affecting the physicochemical and biological characteristics of aquatic ecosystems across Kashmir.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 55%

Investigating the 2017 Erratic Fishkill Episode in the Jhelum River, Kashmir Himalaya

2021

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Globally, the frequency of fishkill episodes is increasing, owing to natural and human-induced modification of aquatic ecosystems. A massive fishkill took place on 22 October 2017 along an approximately 1.5 km stretch of the Jhelum River in Srinagar City, India. Thousands of fish died during this specific event, not lasting more than three hours, creating chaos and panic among the local population and government circles. In this context, affected fish were assessed for three morphological parameters, which include skin color, eye appearance, and skin texture. To back our findings, three critical water-quality parameters, including pH, water temperature, and dissolved oxygen essential for the survival of fishes were assessed in the affected river stretch. This study assumes importance given that water-quality observation stations for monitoring the health of the Jhelum River are lacking in the highly urbanized Srinagar City. The morphological examination of fish samples revealed discoloration, bulging eyes, and rough skin texture, indicating chemical contamination of waters in the affected river stretch. The water quality analysis revealed neutral pH (7.2), normal temperature (15.6 °C), and mildly depleted dissolved oxygen (6 mg L−1) levels. While the morphological examination of the affected fish indicated chemical contamination, the physicochemical parameters exhibited a typical scenario of river water. For avoiding any such further incident and to precisely ascertain the cause of such fishkill episodes in future, it is suggested that a few continuous water-quality monitoring sites along Jhelum River should be set up, supplemented with robust ecological modeling simulations.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 55%

Investigating the 2017 Erratic Fishkill Episode in the Jhelum River, Kashmir Himalaya

2021

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“…Although changes in the timing, intensity, and duration of rainfall, precipitation, and snowmelt can negatively affect the water quality of wetlands (Erwin, 2009), the scanty network of hydrometeorological observatories is a stumbling block for developing a scientific understanding of the hydrological processes (Majeed et al, 2020; Romshoo et al, 2012) vis‐a‐vis their influence on water quality in the Himalaya. Flooding, a result of increased precipitation and intense rainstorms, transports large volumes of water and contaminants into wetland ecosystems (Talbot et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land system transformations govern the trophic status of an urban wetland ecosystem: Perspectives from remote sensing and water quality analysis

2021

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Globally, urban wetlands are facing immense pressure from land use land cover changes (LULCCs) and associated water quality degradation that is severely affecting the trophic status of these ecosystems. This study analyzed water quality degradation resulting from land system changes in the vicinity of Khushalsar, an urban Wetland, in Srinagar City from 1980 to 2017. The analysis of satellite data indicated that this Wetland lost ~18.1 ha from 1980 to 2017. During the same period, the urban area within the Wetland increased from 0.2% to 16.5%. The land cover changes assessed in the vicinity of Wetland indicated an increase of 119% and 62.8% in built‐up and roads respectively. The analysis of surface water quality of the Wetland showed widespread degradation. The Trophic state index ranged from 73.4 to 84.6 indicating hyper‐eutrophic waters. A snapshot of comparative water quality data from 2002 to 2018 revealed that the mean concentration of NO3−‐N increased from 219 to 433 μg L−1 and that of total phosphorus increased from 135.4 to 1,236 μg L−1 indicative of continuous nutrient enrichment. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) grouped eight sampling sites into four clusters based on likeliness of water quality characteristics. Similarly, discriminant analysis showed the formation of similar patterns of clusters, corroborating the HCA. Principal component analysis suggested three principal components accounting for a cumulative variance of 90.61%. The unplanned land system changes vis‐a‐vis human‐induced water quality degradation together with the lack of a monitoring mechanism have brought the Khushalsar Wetland to its current hyper‐eutrophic state.

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“…The glacier surface lowering data of the Pangong group of glaciers is available as dem.rar in the data repository. GlabTop model was used to simulate glacier bed overdeepenings and glacier ice thickness for the four glacier associated with proglacial lakes [5] , [6] , [7] . The model results about bed-overdeepenings and ice thickness are available as glabtop.rar.…”

Section: Data Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ascertaining glacier dynamics and geodetic mass changes in the Pangong Region of Trans-Himalayan Ladakh using remote sensing data

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Recession of Gya Glacier and the 2014 glacial lake outburst flood in the Trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh, India

Cited by 65 publications

References 127 publications

Investigating the 2017 Erratic Fishkill Episode in the Jhelum River, Kashmir Himalaya

Investigating the 2017 Erratic Fishkill Episode in the Jhelum River, Kashmir Himalaya

Land system transformations govern the trophic status of an urban wetland ecosystem: Perspectives from remote sensing and water quality analysis

Ascertaining glacier dynamics and geodetic mass changes in the Pangong Region of Trans-Himalayan Ladakh using remote sensing data

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