139
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
P. S. Goel et al. (eds.), Climate Change and the White World,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21679-5_10
Glacier Response to Climate in Arctic
and Himalaya During Last Seventeen
Years: A Case Study of Svalbard, Arctic
and Chandra Basin, Himalaya
Parmanand Sharma, Lavkush Kumar Patel, Ajit T. Singh, Thamban Meloth,
and Rasik Ravindra
Abstract Glaciers are widely known as one of the best indicators of climate change
impacting the Earth over past few centuries. The glaciers are melting world over and
those in Arctic and Himalaya are no exception. Both of these regions are second
only to Antarctic and Greenland, in terms of vast coverage of snow and ice. The
Svalbard glaciers and ice caps cover an area of 34,600 km
2
with a total ice volume
of roughly 7000 km
3
while Himalaya occupy nearly 38,000 Km
2
area. Himalaya,
which is considered water tower for Asia because of presence of thousands of glaciers, has shown enhanced melting of its glaciers during past one and a half decade.
Since more than 1.3 billion people living in the major river basins downstream,
depend upon the water for their survival, the management of water resources is a
key responsibility of resources managers. The Arctic area demonstrates high latitude –low altitude glaciated area, the Himalayan glaciers on the other hand represent a terrain of high altitude but low latitudes. In spite of having these contrasting
geographical attributes, the glaciers in both the regions show a general increased
melting during the present decades.
The climate response of large fraction of glaciers of Arctic and Himalaya is significantly linked with atmospheric changes and ocean circulation. Atmospheric
changes are one of the main influencing factors for Himalayan glaciers whereas for
Arctic region, atmospheric changes and ocean circulations together influence the
glaciers. Snow and glaciers melt in Arctic enhanced significantly due to large temperature changes, changes in sea ice cover, atmospheric flow patterns and precipitation. Ocean circulation close to fjord modulates melt rates of marine-terminating
glaciers all over the Arctic. The mass balance data from both the region has been
used to address the questions of how rapidly these glaciers are adjusting to climate.
P. Sharma (*) · L. K. Patel · A. T. Singh · T. Meloth · R. Ravindra
National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Vasco da Gama, Goa, India
e-mail: pnsharma@ncaor.gov.in
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
P. S. Goel et al. (eds.), Climate Change and the White World,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21679-5_10
Glacier Response to Climate in Arctic
and Himalaya During Last Seventeen
Years: A Case Study of Svalbard, Arctic
and Chandra Basin, Himalaya
Parmanand Sharma, Lavkush Kumar Patel, Ajit T. Singh, Thamban Meloth,
and Rasik Ravindra
Abstract Glaciers are widely known as one of the best indicators of climate change
impacting the Earth over past few centuries. The glaciers are melting world over and
those in Arctic and Himalaya are no exception. Both of these regions are second
only to Antarctic and Greenland, in terms of vast coverage of snow and ice. The
Svalbard glaciers and ice caps cover an area of 34,600 km
2
with a total ice volume
of roughly 7000 km
3
while Himalaya occupy nearly 38,000 Km
2
area. Himalaya,
which is considered water tower for Asia because of presence of thousands of glaciers, has shown enhanced melting of its glaciers during past one and a half decade.
Since more than 1.3 billion people living in the major river basins downstream,
depend upon the water for their survival, the management of water resources is a
key responsibility of resources managers. The Arctic area demonstrates high latitude –low altitude glaciated area, the Himalayan glaciers on the other hand represent a terrain of high altitude but low latitudes. In spite of having these contrasting
geographical attributes, the glaciers in both the regions show a general increased
melting during the present decades.
The climate response of large fraction of glaciers of Arctic and Himalaya is significantly linked with atmospheric changes and ocean circulation. Atmospheric
changes are one of the main influencing factors for Himalayan glaciers whereas for
Arctic region, atmospheric changes and ocean circulations together influence the
glaciers. Snow and glaciers melt in Arctic enhanced significantly due to large temperature changes, changes in sea ice cover, atmospheric flow patterns and precipitation. Ocean circulation close to fjord modulates melt rates of marine-terminating
glaciers all over the Arctic. The mass balance data from both the region has been
used to address the questions of how rapidly these glaciers are adjusting to climate.
P. Sharma (*) · L. K. Patel · A. T. Singh · T. Meloth · R. Ravindra
National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Vasco da Gama, Goa, India
e-mail: pnsharma@ncaor.gov.in