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The mean annual mass balance of Chandra basin and Svalbard Arctic area, during
last one and a half decade, is −0.67 ± 0.14 m w.e. and −0.36 ± 0.02 m w.e.,
respectively. There has been a gradual warming with an apparent stronger trend
observed in both the regions during the last one and half decade.
Keywords Glaciers · Ice caps · Mass balance · Himalaya · Arctic
1 Introduction
Climate change is one of the major and critical challenges for scientific community
including policy makers in the twenty-first century. Temperature rise not only alter
precipitation, evaporation and surface runoff pattern but also impacts the entire
water cycle that in turn has cascading effects on freshwater availability, agriculture
pattern and various other resources and activities of humankind. Glaciers, one of the
best known sensitive indicators of climate change, have been experiencing increased,
negative glacier mass balances in recent decades across the globe providing vital
evidence to give credence to the ongoing climate change. The mass balance of a
glacier, negative or positive, determines whether the glacier is shrinking or growing.
Though there are intra and inter variability in glacier mass wastage across the world
due to local conditions and response times, most of the glaciers have been experiencing uniform retreat pattern (WGMS 2008, 2013; Sharma et al. 2016; Patel et al.
2016, 2017, 2018). Since glaciers also constitute one of the critical freshwater reservoirs, changes in the area and volume of glaciers significantly affect downstream
activities. Glacier retreat and changes in the associated stream flow regime is therefore expected to have great socio-economic impact on populated areas dependent on
glacier melt water as water storage (Jones et al. 2018a, b). This is especially true for
the Himalaya that has been defined as a water tower of Asia (Immerzeel et al. 2013;
Bolch et al. 2012; Sharma et al. 2016; Patel et al. 2016). The water draining from
glaciers generally contributes to the discharge during the time of high demand, in
summer (Huss et al. 2008). If the current scenario continues, discharge from glacierized catchments will undergo significant change and will have major impact on
the water resource management. Decreasing glacier volume reduces the reservoir of
frozen water, negative mass balance rates lead to an initial increase of melt water
run-off. Later, the loss of volume is accompanied by a shrinking of the area and the
total run- off from the glacier decreases. Another consequence of retreating glacier
volumes is the change in the run-off regime towards earlier run-off peaks with
increased discharge during spring but declining trend during summer (Finger et al.
2012; Sharma et al. 2013; Singh et al. 2017). Glacier measurements are therefore
important for surveying glacier changes and for understanding the relationship
between climate, glaciers and their hydrological consequences downstream.
Increased runoff from glaciers is very probably contributing to a rise in global sea
level (Solomon et al. 2007), while, on a more local scale, retreating glaciers are
affecting the lives of people living close to them (Xu et al. 2013).
P. Sharma et al.
The mean annual mass balance of Chandra basin and Svalbard Arctic area, during
last one and a half decade, is −0.67 ± 0.14 m w.e. and −0.36 ± 0.02 m w.e.,
respectively. There has been a gradual warming with an apparent stronger trend
observed in both the regions during the last one and half decade.
Keywords Glaciers · Ice caps · Mass balance · Himalaya · Arctic
1 Introduction
Climate change is one of the major and critical challenges for scientific community
including policy makers in the twenty-first century. Temperature rise not only alter
precipitation, evaporation and surface runoff pattern but also impacts the entire
water cycle that in turn has cascading effects on freshwater availability, agriculture
pattern and various other resources and activities of humankind. Glaciers, one of the
best known sensitive indicators of climate change, have been experiencing increased,
negative glacier mass balances in recent decades across the globe providing vital
evidence to give credence to the ongoing climate change. The mass balance of a
glacier, negative or positive, determines whether the glacier is shrinking or growing.
Though there are intra and inter variability in glacier mass wastage across the world
due to local conditions and response times, most of the glaciers have been experiencing uniform retreat pattern (WGMS 2008, 2013; Sharma et al. 2016; Patel et al.
2016, 2017, 2018). Since glaciers also constitute one of the critical freshwater reservoirs, changes in the area and volume of glaciers significantly affect downstream
activities. Glacier retreat and changes in the associated stream flow regime is therefore expected to have great socio-economic impact on populated areas dependent on
glacier melt water as water storage (Jones et al. 2018a, b). This is especially true for
the Himalaya that has been defined as a water tower of Asia (Immerzeel et al. 2013;
Bolch et al. 2012; Sharma et al. 2016; Patel et al. 2016). The water draining from
glaciers generally contributes to the discharge during the time of high demand, in
summer (Huss et al. 2008). If the current scenario continues, discharge from glacierized catchments will undergo significant change and will have major impact on
the water resource management. Decreasing glacier volume reduces the reservoir of
frozen water, negative mass balance rates lead to an initial increase of melt water
run-off. Later, the loss of volume is accompanied by a shrinking of the area and the
total run- off from the glacier decreases. Another consequence of retreating glacier
volumes is the change in the run-off regime towards earlier run-off peaks with
increased discharge during spring but declining trend during summer (Finger et al.
2012; Sharma et al. 2013; Singh et al. 2017). Glacier measurements are therefore
important for surveying glacier changes and for understanding the relationship
between climate, glaciers and their hydrological consequences downstream.
Increased runoff from glaciers is very probably contributing to a rise in global sea
level (Solomon et al. 2007), while, on a more local scale, retreating glaciers are
affecting the lives of people living close to them (Xu et al. 2013).
P. Sharma et al.