Assessment of the Baspa basin glaciers mass budget using different remote sensing methods and modeling techniques

Abstract

Glacial melt water is the key source for various socio-industrial and domestic activities in the Himalayas. Several recent studies suggest that glaciers are experiencing rapid melt. The glaciers health can be best assessed by mass balance. However, the mass balance investigations using in-situ methods for a large sample of glaciers are highly difficult in the Himalaya. Hence, remote sensing methods and modelling techniques are preferred. However, there is a lack of information on uncertainties associated with these methods in assessing the regional scale mass balance. Hence, these methods are applied to evaluate the regional scale mass budget of Baspa basin, Western Himalaya between 2000 and 2011. The total mass loss estimated using geodetic method amounts to −0.49 ± 0.1 gigatons, temperature index method to −0.43 ± 0.012 gigatons and AAR method to −0.36 ± 0.1 gigatons. Furthermore, this study highlights the limitations of these methods in mass loss evaluation in data scarce Himalayan regions.