Ice cover loss and debris cover evolution in the Afghanistan Hindu Kush Himalaya between 2000 and 2020
Glaciers in Afghanistan are crucial elements for water resource and summer river flows. They are also threatened by rapid climate warming. This study presents an up-to-date assessment of ice cover loss for the entire country over two periods, 2000–2008 and 2008–2020, using newly developed remote sen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15230430.2024.2373858 |
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| author | Jamal A. N. Shokory Stuart N. Lane |
| author_facet | Jamal A. N. Shokory Stuart N. Lane |
| author_sort | Jamal A. N. Shokory |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Glaciers in Afghanistan are crucial elements for water resource and summer river flows. They are also threatened by rapid climate warming. This study presents an up-to-date assessment of ice cover loss for the entire country over two periods, 2000–2008 and 2008–2020, using newly developed remote sensing indices that include a more reliable determination of changing debris cover. The results suggest an estimated ice-covered area of 2,690.7 ± 108.2 km2 in 2020, that was 75 ± 0.7% clean ice and 25 ± 3.0 percent debris-covered ice. Total ice-covered area retreated by −0.16 ± 0.01 percent yr−1 between 2000 and 2008 and −0.46 ± 0.05 percent yr−1 between 2008 and 2020. Notably, 60 percent of ice cover loss (2000–2020) related to ice cover extents with a size ≤ 2.5 km2, comprising 60 percent of the total ice-covered area in 2000. Higher altitude accumulation zones also exhibited mass loss. However, there was also substantial spatial variation in these rates of loss based on geographical region, glacier size, and climate zones. In the north-eastern regions that are geographically close to or part of the north-west Karakoram ice cover was declining at a substantially lower rate, stable, or even increasing slightly, as compared with the northern and central regions of Afghanistan. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-359315bdadc94928a4ec7801e5659146 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1523-0430 1938-4246 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-359315bdadc94928a4ec7801e56591462025-01-13T14:40:40ZengTaylor & Francis GroupArctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research1523-04301938-42462024-12-0156110.1080/15230430.2024.2373858Ice cover loss and debris cover evolution in the Afghanistan Hindu Kush Himalaya between 2000 and 2020Jamal A. N. Shokory0Stuart N. Lane1Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics (IDYST), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandInstitute of Earth Surface Dynamics (IDYST), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandGlaciers in Afghanistan are crucial elements for water resource and summer river flows. They are also threatened by rapid climate warming. This study presents an up-to-date assessment of ice cover loss for the entire country over two periods, 2000–2008 and 2008–2020, using newly developed remote sensing indices that include a more reliable determination of changing debris cover. The results suggest an estimated ice-covered area of 2,690.7 ± 108.2 km2 in 2020, that was 75 ± 0.7% clean ice and 25 ± 3.0 percent debris-covered ice. Total ice-covered area retreated by −0.16 ± 0.01 percent yr−1 between 2000 and 2008 and −0.46 ± 0.05 percent yr−1 between 2008 and 2020. Notably, 60 percent of ice cover loss (2000–2020) related to ice cover extents with a size ≤ 2.5 km2, comprising 60 percent of the total ice-covered area in 2000. Higher altitude accumulation zones also exhibited mass loss. However, there was also substantial spatial variation in these rates of loss based on geographical region, glacier size, and climate zones. In the north-eastern regions that are geographically close to or part of the north-west Karakoram ice cover was declining at a substantially lower rate, stable, or even increasing slightly, as compared with the northern and central regions of Afghanistan.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15230430.2024.2373858Afghanistanclimate warmingglacier changewater resourcesremote sensing |
| spellingShingle | Jamal A. N. Shokory Stuart N. Lane Ice cover loss and debris cover evolution in the Afghanistan Hindu Kush Himalaya between 2000 and 2020 Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research Afghanistan climate warming glacier change water resources remote sensing |
| title | Ice cover loss and debris cover evolution in the Afghanistan Hindu Kush Himalaya between 2000 and 2020 |
| title_full | Ice cover loss and debris cover evolution in the Afghanistan Hindu Kush Himalaya between 2000 and 2020 |
| title_fullStr | Ice cover loss and debris cover evolution in the Afghanistan Hindu Kush Himalaya between 2000 and 2020 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ice cover loss and debris cover evolution in the Afghanistan Hindu Kush Himalaya between 2000 and 2020 |
| title_short | Ice cover loss and debris cover evolution in the Afghanistan Hindu Kush Himalaya between 2000 and 2020 |
| title_sort | ice cover loss and debris cover evolution in the afghanistan hindu kush himalaya between 2000 and 2020 |
| topic | Afghanistan climate warming glacier change water resources remote sensing |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15230430.2024.2373858 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jamalanshokory icecoverlossanddebriscoverevolutionintheafghanistanhindukushhimalayabetween2000and2020 AT stuartnlane icecoverlossanddebriscoverevolutionintheafghanistanhindukushhimalayabetween2000and2020 |