The Status of Glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan Region

Abstract

The study presented here was designed to develop comprehensive baseline information on the glaciers of the entire HKH region organised by major basins and sub-basins. The glacier inventory was prepared from satellite images taken within a short period to maintain uniformity of the observational database, and for areas in all countries except China was prepared at ICIMOD. The inventory data for basin areas in China were received through collaboration with CAREERI. In addition to the immediate research objectives, the long-term objective is to support global climate change research by facilitating access to well-documented glacier data. The project also aimed to build the regional capacity of partner institutes engaged in glacier mapping and to undertake the glacier inventory using tools and methods developed at the local and national level. The glacier database will be provided online to facilitate access to information by policy and decision makers, scientists, and the public at large in the region and beyond. The database provides a basis for assessing the rates of change of glaciers, which is important for understanding climate change, water resource planning, and mitigation of glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) hazards. The methodology used and basin-wise results are presented in the following chapters. The detailed data are available in the online database.