Many factors are wrapped up in the calibration and, therefore, impact the variance. Because energy fluxes are additive (Eq. The Glaciers of Pakistan - An Overview | Epic Backpacker Tours Results of this cross-validation showed minimal systemic bias ( = 0.02m w.e. Besides, You can also Submit Pak Study MCQs. 36 (123), 222228. Meteorological Conditions Over Antarctic Blue-Ice Areas And Their Influence On The Local Surface Mass Balance. Processes Governing the Mass Balance of Chhota Shigri Glacier (Western Himalaya, India) Assessed by point-scale Surface Energy Balance Measurements. While a full Monte Carlo experiment, or similar, could provide greater detail, the computational requirements of the model precluded such an investigation. doi:10.1017/s0022143000009333, Oerlemans, J., and Knap, W. H. (1998). Once calibrated, the model calculates energy and mass fluxes hourly over the surface of each glacier for the duration of the HAR forcing. Glaciers of Pakistan | Pakistan Defence doi:10.3189/172756501781832557, Braithwaite, R. J. FIGURE 5. Clim. J. Glaciol. (Editors) (2015). Glacier shapes were given by RGI 6, and glacier mass balance is accumulation less melt and sublimation. We calibrated an independent set of glaciers (n = 95) spatially distributed across the UIB to confirm that the choice of glaciers for calibration did not affect the results (Supplementary Figure S2B). Briscoe, W. J., Qamar, U., Contijoch, M., Amir, P., and Blackmore, D. (2005). Nat. 7, 363. doi:10.3389/feart.2019.00363. Glacier melt constitutes over one-third of the Indus Rivers discharge, but the impacts of glacier shrinkage from anthropogenic climate change are not equal across all eleven subbasins of the Upper Indus. Home to More than 7,000 Glaciers It is estimated that Pakistan has over 7,253 glaciers at the moment. Thus, we limit our study to the 81% of UIB glaciers (comprising 76% of the glacierized area) that are clean glaciers, defined here as glaciers whose areas are less than 15% covered by debris. It is 72 kilometres long and 3 kilometres wide. 6, 108. doi:10.3389/feart.2018.00108. All three Karakoram subbasins show skews in the distribution of their glacier areas, with many small glaciers. The largest glacier in the world is Seller Glacier with an area of 7,018 square kilometers (2,710 square miles) located on the Antarctic . J. Glaciol. The Open Global Glacier Model (OGGM) v1.1. We calculate the daily climatological lapse rates; thus, the lapse rates are the same for a given date in each year of the model run and are used to scale temperature from the elevation of a glaciers HAR gridcell to its surface. At 8,611 m (28,251 ft),K2 is the highest mountain in the region, and three others within 20 km top 8,000 m. The glacier gives rise to the Shigar River, which is a tributary of the Indus River. Of the four lowest subbasin-wide mean modeled MBs, three are in the Karakoram. The way that the calibration was applied minimizes the impact of model over-fit: the 323 calibrated PCFs were not input directly to the model. In Table 2, it is clear that mean melt (in m w.e. Map of the Upper Indus Basin showing (A) percent of days with at least 1hour of melt, and, on those days, (B) average melt energy. Res. Furtwngler Glacier (foreground) as it appeared in August 2014. PLOS ONE 11 (11), e0165630. Application of a Mass-Balance Model to a Himalayan Glacier. doi:10.1017/jog.2019.91, Rupper, S., and Roe, G. (2008). The RMSE is calculated by comparing a subbasins individual glaciers modeled MBs with their geodetic MBs. Only the most attentive can spot the teachers hidden glasses in the classroom within 4 seconds! Thus, our results are limited to clean glacier contributions to meltwater in the UIB. Remote Sens. We performed 10-fold cross-validation to determine any bias introduced by our local averaging method to estimate PCFs for all glaciers in the UIB. Modeling offers a powerful tool to investigate the dynamics of a river system and parse out the various components of its supply. While the model-measured mass balance bias provided a mass balance uncertainty, it was important not to apply this mass balance uncertainty directly to the melt results because melt is not necessarily off if the mass balance is off (and vice versa). The Famous Glaciers in Pakistan - Karakorum Expeditions Three inputs values across a glacier surface are determined by adjusting for the glacier-HAR elevation difference. The Siachen Glacier was discovered in 1907 and is the world's largest glacier outside of the polar regions. Earth Sci. 32 (1), 3038. An Examination of Physical Processes that Trigger the Albedo-Feedback on Glacier Surfaces and Implications for Regional Glacier Mass Balance across High Mountain Asia. Terich Mir - Wikipedia The general biases seen in the model-observations comparisons are similar to those seen when comparing to geodetic mass balance observations. The average daily melt energy is reflected in the area-weighted mean melt of each subbasin (Table 2). The Siachen measures approximately 75km in length and 4.8km in width, and rises to about 4,800m. J. Geophys. Zurich, Switzerland: World Glacier Monitoring Service. The model also assumes the small areas of debris cover on clean glaciers (up to 15% of total glacier area) are clean ice. Accordingly, we reset the non-physical, outlying temperature values that vacillate more than 15C from the previous (hourly) time steps temperature. Pritchard, D. M. W., Forsythe, N., Fowler, H. J., ODonnell, G. M., and Li, X.-F. (2019). The Biafo Glacier is the world's third longest glacier outside the polar regions, second only to the 70 km (43 mi) Siachen Glacier, India, and Tajikistan's 77 km (48 mi) long Fedchenko Glacier. The complex climatology, extreme topography, and difficult field access present challenges to studies of the cryosphere in the UIB region (Lund et al., 2020) and support the benefits of modeling. UN Starts World's Biggest Glacier-Mapping Project in Pakistan B., and Bierkens, M. F. P. (2016). Figure 2 shows all three mass balance components in a stacked bar graph, by subbasin. The Baltoro Glacier, 57 kilometers long, is one of the longest. Parameterization of Incoming Longwave Radiation at Glacier Sites in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. In addition, surface velocities would advect firn/snow from higher elevations to lower elevations which would affect the areal distribution of snow versus ice seasonally. A., Zaitchik, B. F., Kwon, Y., Qian, Y., et al. Although uncertainties remain large and difficult to quantify at the basin-wide/regional scale, our uncertainty analysis revealed that the SEMB parameters impose smaller uncertainties compared to the calibration (parameter-only uncertainties were found up to a MB bias of only 0.03m w.e. Evidence of wildlife can be seen throughout the trek. TABLE 3. The Biafo Glacier presents a trekker with several days of very strenuous, often hectic boulder hopping, with spectacular views throughout and Snow Lake near the high point. Some of these biases average out at the subbasin scale but, given the skew towards negative mass balance bias (Figure 7), there is likely a bias towards overestimating melt in our approach. This highway of ice connects two ancient mountain kingdoms, Nagar (immediately south of Hunza) in the west with Baltistan in the east. We do not show energy associated with precipitation and subsurface conduction because of their relatively small contributions to the overall net energy. Mass-Balance Gradients and Climatic Change. Finally, there have been energy balance studies specifically using HAR on glaciers. Int. doi:10.1175/jcli-d-13-00282.1, Miller, J. D., Immerzeel, W. W., and Rees, G. (2012). (2018b). Interannual Changes of the Upper Indus Basin Hydrological Cycle. Alaska, a tidewater glacier and, despite global warming, is expanding. It is located in the Baltoro Muztagh, a sub-range of the Karakoram range. Pakistan has many glaciers known as hiking and holiday destinations. The few existing detailed studies leave open the need for a robust quantification of glacier contributions to Indus flow by subbasin. The UIB extent varies in the literature because many define it as limited to the area whose water drains into the lake behind Tarbela Dam, which stores water before the river enters the lowlands in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (e.g., Immerzeel et al., 2009; Mukhopadhyay and Khan, 2014; Tahir et al., 2017). doi:10.1038/s41558-017-0049-x, Immerzeel, W. W., and Bierkens, M. F. P. (2012). For Chhota Shigri glacier, the model captures some of the variance well but does not capture the most negative years. Radiative fluxes dominate the melt signal in the northeastern subbasins (Nubra/Shyok and Zaskar), whereas turbulent fluxes dominate in the western (Kabul/Swat/Alingar, Gilgit/Hunza) and southern (Chenab1, Bavi, Sutlej) ones. doi:10.1002/2014jd022666, Siyal, A. W., Gerbens-Leenes, P. W., and Nonhebel, S. (2021). It flows west to east. J. Glaciol. Notably, there is a left skew in the model MBs that is absent in the measurements; this is reflected graphically and in the model MB mean and median values, which are lower than the corresponding values for the geodetic MB. doi:10.2166/nh.1983.0016, Mukhopadhyay, B., and Khan, A. RF provided project direction, research feedback, and manuscript feedback. The albedos of bare ice and fresh snow directly affect the absorption of energy by the surface, while the temperature lapse rate and temperature at which precipitation phase transitions affect whether precipitation falls as rain or snow. doi:10.1029/2003JD004338, Mlg, T., Maussion, F., and Scherer, D. (2014). Values for the 10 parameters used in the uncertainty analysis. Within this context, our main findings are: A) Spatial patterns exist in the dominant contributor to glacier melt. 282 (14), 104115. Modelled Climate Sensitivity of the Mass Balance of Morteratschgletscher and its Dependence on Albedo Parameterization. The remaining basins have no clear dominant contributor to the melt signal; melt is driven by a mix of turbulent and radiative fluxes. We assume a linear relationship given the absence of a known relation combined with the likelihood that there is generally some relationship between melt uncertainty and mass balance bias. doi:10.5194/gmd-12-909-2019, Maussion, F., Scherer, D., Mlg, T., Collier, E., Curio, J., and Finkelnburg, R. (2014). Front. 52 (12), 51865201. Krishen Ganga and Jhelum are combined into a single basin (KG&J), and K/S/A is Kabul/Swat/Alingar. 509, 549572. Water Policy 16 (S1), 110. and variance (0.45m w.e.) Solar Energy 76 (5), 577589. An alternative exit to returning down the, The Biafo Glacier presents a trekker with several days of very strenuous, often hectic boulder hopping, with spectacular views throughout and, The Biafo Glacier is the worlds third longest glacier outside of the Polar Region, second only to the 75 km, Camp sites along the Biafo are located off of the glacier, adjacent to the lateral moraines and steep mountainsides. (2021)s Table 2. (2020), which was mostly calculated from ASTER imagery. Dyn. Krishen Ganga and Jhelum are combined into a single basin (KG&J), and K/S/A is Kabul/Swat/Alingar. Mountain Res. Take a look at some of the longest glaciers of the world including the polar regions. Martin Cuma at CHPC provided guidance on optimizing model run time. (2020). FIGURE 8. Craig, R., Ruple, J., Tanana, H., and Arrington, C. (2019). Four of the regions peaks exceed 26,000 feet (8,000 metres), and many rise to heights of more than 15,000 feet (4,500 metres). Res. J. Geophys. London: Methuen. Within the UIB of Wijngaard et al. Clim. You can add small text to appear under the headeing. Because of this number, Pakistan is one of the most glaciated countries outside the polar regions. Far more telling are comparisons of the mean and range: for Patsio glacier, the 3years are roughly within the range of the modeled output (but, once again, the number of years is too limited to assess whether the model generally captures the long-term mean or variability). While melt and mass balance uncertainties likely have some relation, they are rarely equivalent. 25 (4), 332340. Uncertainties in precipitation, though partly mitigated through our choice of precipitation for a calibration parameter, may still affect the model output and results. The Khyber Pass is of special historical interest: broad enough to allow for the passing of large numbers of troops, it has often been the point of ingress for armies invading the subcontinent. (2010). Our approach avoids over-calibrating and is computationally reasonablebut at the expense of greater certainty. J. Econ. The Importance of Observed Gradients of Air Temperature and Precipitation for Modeling Runoff from a Glacierized Watershed in the Nepalese Himalayas. Those contributing the most melt are the biggest glaciers. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The PCF value was determined by iteration until modelled mass balance was within 10% of the geodetic mass balance, resulting in one PCF for each of the 323 calibration sample glaciers. Mountain Res. By offering nothing motorized, we celebrate human power and natural environment. The first three (heading up from the last village before the glacier, the thousand-year-old, Evidence of wildlife can be seen throughout the trek. Indus River (Indus_river_kkl). Proc. The Biafo Glacier is a 67 km (42 mi)-long glacier situated in the Karakoram mountain range in Shigar district, GilgitBaltistan, Pakistan. The height of these glaciers is also mentioned in feet. Farther north is the Karakoram Range, which is a separate system adjoining the Himalayas. Minor earth tremors are common throughout the region. doi:10.1659/0276-4741(2005)025[0332:tkagea]2.0.co;2, Hock, R., and Holmgren, B. FIGURE 2. Himalayan glaciers are melting faster than ever, and scientists say it The Impact of Climate Change on the Water Resources of HindukushKarakorumHimalaya Region under Different Glacier Coverage Scenarios. Geosci. . Earth Sci. By neglecting dynamics, our mass balance estimates do not include feedbacks associated with elevation change over time (e.g., glaciers thin into warmer climates which amplify melt processes). Baltoro Glacier - Noon Academy The most important and famous glaciers of Pakistan are in Karakoram Mountain Range. The glacier has carved striations on the surrounding country rocks. Glaciers and Icebergs together form most of the Earth's fresh water. Clean. Contents A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z The, The Godwin-Austen Glacier is located near, PAKISTAN The Largest Land of Glaciers [3 of3], Further to: Fleshing-Out the Blackwater In BalochistanStory, PAKISTAN The Largest Land of Glaciers [2 of3], PAKISTAN - The Largest Land of Glaciers-III | Tea Break, PAKISTAN The Largest Land of Glaciers 2 (of 3) Wonders of Pakistan, PAKISTAN The Largest Land of Glaciers 1 (of 3) Wonders of Pakistan, The Wonders of Deosai Plains Wonders of Pakistan, Deosai Plains Fact Sheet Wonders of Pakistan, Lake Saif-ul-Malook Wonders of Pakistan, Are we wrong about Pakistan? Annual average glacier melt volume (20012013) from clean glaciers, aggregated by subbasin, for the Upper Indus Basin, with uncertainty bounds computed via a 12-glacier test set. Annals of Glaciolo. doi:10.1080/17538947.2017.1371254. Eq. (2018a). 57 (5). We did not address this specifically and note that the computed bounds shown in Figure 5 do not include this source of uncertainty. These branches have deep, narrow valleys along the Kunar, Panjkora, and Swat rivers. Available at: http://www.fao.org/geonetwork/srv/en/main.home [Accessed August 4, 2021]. 22 (12), 62976321. It lies in the Karakoram range, partially in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-administered Kashmir and partially in the China-administered Trans-Karakoram Tract in the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang. doi:10.1659/mrd-journal-d-12-00027.1, Mlg, T., and Hardy, D. R. (2004).