Current glacier status and ELA changes since the Late Pleistocene in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan

Abstract

• In the HKM, Afghanistan ELA shows less change from Late Pleistocene to the present. • Climate change impacts different sizes of glaciers differently. • Other than climate, slope and elevation can define the recession of glaciers. • Increase in volume and number of glacial lakes is on rise in the HKM, Afghanistan. The glacier cover of the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan provides a natural laboratory to assess the impact of climate change on the cryosphere. However, to date, not much is known about how the cryosphere in these mountainous regions is responding to climate change. Therefore, using an integrated approach including geospatial technology, climate data, a mass balance study, as well as topographic analysis, we present the first systematic study of glacier fluctuations in the Kokcha sub-basin of the Afghanistan Range for the last 25 years (1990 to 2015). The glacier cover and the number of glaciers in the basin have reduced from 576 km 2 and 1007 in 1990 to 492 km 2 and 998 in 2015 respectively, losing ~84 km 2 (~15%) of the total glaciated area. Besides the mass loss of the glaciers ranges from −0.65 m water equivalent per year and −0.02 m water equivalent per year with an average of −0.20 m water equivalent per year as estimated by the geodetic method. The equilibrium line altitude changes since the Late Pleistocene to the present vary from 810 ± 145 m to 1060 ± 145 m with an average of 722 ± 145 m. The increasing trend of temperature and shifting precipitation seasons have resulted in enhanced glacier recession and the formation of numerous glacial lakes in the basin. In addition to the climatic variables and glacier size, the topographic parameters slope, and elevation are observed to be the dominant factors influencing glacier recession and mass changes in the basin.