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<p>The Himalayan glaciers, due to global warming, are one of the most delicate cryospheric systems and are receding at a faster rate. The present research inspects the long-term spatio-temporal dynamics of glacial lakes and snow cover in the Upper Sutlej and Chandra basins of the Western Himalaya, utilising geospatial technology with the help of multi-temporal Landsat data (LANDSAT (4–5) MSS/TM and LANDSAT 8/9 (OLI)) from 1996 to 2024. The Land Surface Temperature (LST) increased by -7.67&#xa0;°C to 4.71&#xa0;°C (161.4%) and -17.72&#xa0;°C to -10.36&#xa0;°C (41.55%), respectively, in the Upper Sutlej and Chandra Basins, from 1996 to 2024. Simultaneously, snow cover area derived from snow indices like NDSI, SWI and S3 declined by 85–88% and 54–62% in the Upper Sutlej and Chandra basin respectively, while due to its geographic location, Tso Moriri in the Upper Sutlej River Basin did not exhibit any changes regarding expansion, but the lake is frozen to completely melted form 1996–2024. The glacial lake area of Gepang Gath, Samudra Tapu, and Chandra Taal in the Chandra Basin increased by 238%, 124%, and 23%, respectively from 1996 to 2024. The Pearson correlation of snow indices is <i>r</i> = 0.99 in both basins. LST and snow indices have an inverse correlation of <i>r</i> = -0.94 to -0.98 and <i>r</i> = -0.87 to -0.90 in the Upper Sutlej and Chandra Basin, respectively. For the Ganpang Gath, Samudra Tapu, and Chandra Lakes in the Chandra Basin, the LST and the expansion of glacial lakes area have a positive Pearson correlation of <i>r</i> = 0.26, 0.24, and 0.17, respectively, whereas Tso Moriri Lake in the Upper Sutlej Basin shows negative correlation with the expansion of glacial lake area. The Sentinel-2 data used for validation showed that the expansion of all the lakes studied was more than 90% accurate. The accuracy of the snow cover area was 81 and 90% and 82 to 84% of Chandra basin in 2020 and 2024 respectively, 82 and 91% and 82 to 95% in Upper Sutlej basin for 2020 and 2024, respectively. These all aspects indicate a significant thermal influence on glacier ablation and glacier lake expansion in both basins. Results of this study highlight substantial cryospheric deterioration caused by regional warming and stress the necessity for adequate monitoring of high-risk lakes to alleviate Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) threats.</p>

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Spatio-Temporal Monitoring of Glacial Lake Expansion and Snow Cover Variability in the Upper Sutlej and Chandra Basin, Western Himalaya Using Multi-Decadal (1996–2024) Landsat Data

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月17日

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  • Jayant Nath Tripathi,
  • Roopa Maurya,
  • Swarnim,
  • Ommkar P. Behera

摘要

The Himalayan glaciers, due to global warming, are one of the most delicate cryospheric systems and are receding at a faster rate. The present research inspects the long-term spatio-temporal dynamics of glacial lakes and snow cover in the Upper Sutlej and Chandra basins of the Western Himalaya, utilising geospatial technology with the help of multi-temporal Landsat data (LANDSAT (4–5) MSS/TM and LANDSAT 8/9 (OLI)) from 1996 to 2024. The Land Surface Temperature (LST) increased by -7.67 °C to 4.71 °C (161.4%) and -17.72 °C to -10.36 °C (41.55%), respectively, in the Upper Sutlej and Chandra Basins, from 1996 to 2024. Simultaneously, snow cover area derived from snow indices like NDSI, SWI and S3 declined by 85–88% and 54–62% in the Upper Sutlej and Chandra basin respectively, while due to its geographic location, Tso Moriri in the Upper Sutlej River Basin did not exhibit any changes regarding expansion, but the lake is frozen to completely melted form 1996–2024. The glacial lake area of Gepang Gath, Samudra Tapu, and Chandra Taal in the Chandra Basin increased by 238%, 124%, and 23%, respectively from 1996 to 2024. The Pearson correlation of snow indices is r = 0.99 in both basins. LST and snow indices have an inverse correlation of r = -0.94 to -0.98 and r = -0.87 to -0.90 in the Upper Sutlej and Chandra Basin, respectively. For the Ganpang Gath, Samudra Tapu, and Chandra Lakes in the Chandra Basin, the LST and the expansion of glacial lakes area have a positive Pearson correlation of r = 0.26, 0.24, and 0.17, respectively, whereas Tso Moriri Lake in the Upper Sutlej Basin shows negative correlation with the expansion of glacial lake area. The Sentinel-2 data used for validation showed that the expansion of all the lakes studied was more than 90% accurate. The accuracy of the snow cover area was 81 and 90% and 82 to 84% of Chandra basin in 2020 and 2024 respectively, 82 and 91% and 82 to 95% in Upper Sutlej basin for 2020 and 2024, respectively. These all aspects indicate a significant thermal influence on glacier ablation and glacier lake expansion in both basins. Results of this study highlight substantial cryospheric deterioration caused by regional warming and stress the necessity for adequate monitoring of high-risk lakes to alleviate Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) threats.