Morphometric control on glacier area changes in the Great Himalayan Range, Jammu and Kashmir, India

摘要

We have utilized satellite images of 1975 and 2001 to reveal the slow response of glaciers to climatic warming in the Great Himalayan Range, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Correlation of various glacier morphometric parameters with reference to glacier area change and shift in the snout position revealed that morphometric parameters exert prime control on area changes over glaciers, but do not have much control on the snout retreat or advancement of glaciers. The snout of glaciers which possess low reliefmay witness more retreat and vice versa. Percentage of area loss was higher over smaller glaciers indicating significant sensitivity of smaller glaciers to area changes.