Studies of Himalayan glacial response to climatic forcing are few and a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between the two is needed. This has been highlighted by recent controversies over future glacier change in this area. This study has therefore reviewed if there is a connection between glacier mass balance indexes and precipitation pattern in the Everest region. 111 glaciers were mapped in ArcGIS through remote sensing. Glacial total area, accumulation area as well as snowline altitudes and aspect were mapped. From this, the two mass balance indexes Accumulation Area Ratio, AAR and Area-Altitude Balance Ratios, AABR were derived. The intention was to search for patterns. In addition to this, an expedition to parts of the study area was conducted in March to April 2011. Hundreds of photographs of snow stratigraphy, debris cover ice snouts, accumulation etc were taken. The expedition also led to an understanding of the environment and of the glaciers which was helpful for the assessment of the remote sensing results. No pattern in glacier size, ELA, AAR or AABR was found that suggests a connection between mass balance and local precipitation pattern. The glaciers instead appear to be more sensitive to elevation. The largest glaciers and highest AAR and AABR are found at high - although not the highest - elevations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-77138 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Burström, Annika |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för naturgeografi och kvartärgeologi (INK) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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