Glacier Mass Balance and Its Significance on the Water Resource Management in the Western Himalayas

摘要

Introduction The global climate system is a consequence of and a link between the atmosphere, oceans, ice sheets (cryosphere), living organisms (biosphere), and soils, sediments and rocks (geosphere). The role of glaciers as sensitive climatic indicators and natural buffers of hydrological cycle is well established. In this era of much talked about climate change and global warming, glaciers have been correctly recognized as a thermometer and a crucial freshwater resource. Glaciers release meltwater during summers and early autumn, and, therefore, act as a water resource downstream by recharging river fed aquifer and influencing runoff (Bolch et al., 2012).