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2017 was final year in ICIMOD's third medium-term action plan (2013-2017)
. This report documents several stories showing the cumulative impact of ICIMOD’s work over the last five years. They show how we combine efforts on multiple fronts – from working with communities, engaging policy makers and promoting collaboration across borders to generating new knowledge and building capacity – to create positive change in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). During this timeframe many important lessons have emerged to help us chart the way forward
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Background The Cryosphere Monitoring Programme Bhutan (CMP–B) carries out annual field monitoring on the benchmark Thana glacier, collects and analysis data from automatic weather stations and hydrological monitoring stations in selected research sites downstream
. CMP–B also monitors glacial lakes and assesses socio-economic vulnerability in the Punatsang Chu basin. It produces remote sensing data, analyses, and inventories on the cryosphere for the entire Bhutan Himalaya. The programme is funded by the Government of Norway and implemented by the National Center for Hydrology and Meteorology (NCHM) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
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The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) works with its implementing partners to develop a coordinated scheme for field and remote sensing monitoring and modelling, and to assess the state and processes of the cryosphere in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH)
. Activities under this programme are also geared towards improving transboundary water resource management and expanding global knowledge of glaciers, glacial lakes, permafrost, snow, climate change impact, and hydrometeorology in the HKH
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Maharjan, S. B.; Mool, P. K.; Lizong, W.; Xiao, G.; Shrestha, F.; Shrestha, R. B.; Khanal, N. R.; Bajracharya, S. R.; Joshi, S.; Shai, S.; Baral, P.
This report provides comprehensive information about the glacial lakes of five major river basins of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) — Amu Darya, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Irrawaddy, including Mansarovar Interior Basin — representing the year 2005, which helps to fill the data gap of glacial lakes information in the region
. This is the first comprehensive knowledge upon the distribution of glacial lakes for the HKH providing baseline data for further investigation of glacial lakes, GLOF hazards and risk assessment, and mitigation measures. This inventory of glacial lakes was prepared with consistent, homogeneous, much narrower temporal range and single source data with a semi-automatic method. For the consistency of glacier and glacial lakes data, the same time satellite images were used to delineate both glaciers and glacial lakes. The glacier inventory data and report was published in 2011. The glacial lake boundaries were delineated using an automatic method on Landsat images from the year 2005±2 years. The automatic method to delineate the glacial lake boundaries by defining the threshold condition of band ratio images made the process of mapping and monitoring of glacial lakes faster. It is challenging to apply the method throughout the region as it is difficult to get good quality of images with the least amount of snow cover, cloud cover, and shadow portion due to inconsistent and analogous climatic conditions in the region. So some of the lakes were manually digitized by validating on high resolution images in Google Earth as well as comparing with previous inventory data wherever available. This report also provides the modified classification schemes of glacial lakes from previous reports to make it consistent throughout the region. This inventory includes all the lakes in front of and on or beside a glacier or in the lowland formed by paleo-glaciation
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Over Saint-Sorlin Glacier in the French Alps (45° N, 6
.1° E; ∼ 3 km2) in summer, we study the atmospheric surface-layer dynamics, turbulent fluxes, their uncertainties and their impact on surface energy balance (SEB) melt estimates. Results are classified with regard to large-scale forcing. We use high-frequency eddy-covariance data and mean air-temperature and wind-speed vertical profiles, collected in 2006 and 2009 in the glacier's atmospheric surface layer. We evaluate the turbulent fluxes with the eddy-covariance (sonic) and the profile method, and random errors and parametric uncertainties are evaluated by including different stability corrections and assuming different values for surface roughness lengths. For weak synoptic forcing, local thermal effects dominate the wind circulation. On the glacier, weak katabatic flows with a wind-speed maximum at low height (2–3 m) are detected 71 % of the time and are generally associated with small turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and small net turbulent fluxes. Radiative fluxes dominate the SEB. When the large-scale forcing is strong, the wind in the valley aligns with the glacier flow, intense downslope flows are observed, no wind-speed maximum is visible below 5 m, and TKE and net turbulent fluxes are often intense. The net turbulent fluxes contribute significantly to the SEB. The surface-layer turbulence production is probably not at equilibrium with dissipation because of interactions of large-scale orographic disturbances with the flow when the forcing is strong or low-frequency oscillations of the katabatic flow when the forcing is weak. In weak forcing when TKE is low, all turbulent fluxes calculation methods provide similar fluxes. In strong forcing when TKE is large, the choice of roughness lengths impacts strongly the net turbulent fluxes from the profile method fluxes and their uncertainties. However, the uncertainty on the total SEB remains too high with regard to the net observed melt to be able to recommend one turbulent flux calculation method over another
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Changes in glacial lakes and the consequences of these changes, particularly on the development of water resources and management of glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) risk, has become one of the challenges in the sustainable development of high mountain areas in the context of global warming
. This paper presents the findings of a study on the distribution of, and area changes in, glacial lakes in the Koshi basin in the central Himalayas. Data on the number of glacial lakes and their area was generated for the years 1977, 1990, 2000, and 2010 using Landsat satellite images. According to the glacial lake inventory in 2010, there were a total of 2168 glacial lakes with a total area of 127.61 km2 and average size of 0.06 km2 in the Koshi basin. Of these, 47% were moraine dammed lakes, 34.8% bedrock dammed lakes and 17.7% ice dammed lakes. The number of glacial lakes increased consistently over the study period from 1160 in 1977 to 2168 in 2010, an overall growth rate of 86.9%. The area of glacial lakes also increased from 94.44 km2 in 1977 to 127.61 km2 in 2010, a growth rate of 35.1%. A large number of glacial lakes in the inventory are small in size (≤ 0.1 km2). End moraine dammed lakes with area greater than 0.1 km2 were selected to analyze the change characteristics of glacial lakes in the basin. The results show that, in 2010, there were 129 lakes greater than 0.1 km2 in area; these lakes had a total area of 42.92 km2 in 1997, increasing to 63.28 km2 in 2010. The distribution of lakes on the north side of the Himalayas (in China) was three times higher than on the south side of the Himalayas (in Nepal). Comparing the mean growth rate in area for the 33 year study period (1977-2010), the growth rate on the north side was found to be a little slower than that on the south side. A total of 42 glacial lakes with an area greater than 0.2 km2 are rapidly growing between 1977 and 2010 in the Koshi basin, which need to be paid more attention to monitoring in the future and to identify how critical they are in terms of GLOF
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The Upper Indus Basin Network and Indus Forum Collaboration Meeting, a joint workshop, was conducted from 22–25 May 2017
. A majority of the participants came from Afghanistan, China, India, and Pakistan, countries that share the transboundary Indus River Basin. Among the participants were senior government officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and several international organizations. The key objective of the joint meeting was to synergize the efforts of institutions and individuals affiliated to the Upper Indus Basin Network (UIB-N) and the Indus Forum (IF) to generate and share knowledge on adaptation, climate, the cryosphere, water, and hazards and vulnerability; and support national governments in developing evidence-based policies to serve inhabitants of the Indus Basin
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This Annual Report broadly presents examples that demonstrate progress toward six strategic goals set out in the ICIMOD’s Strategy and Results Framework (2013-2017), documenting its experience over the last year in moving toward action
. This report also shows how the Centre is working with a multitude of partners – including governments, research and development organizations, civil society, the private sector, and communities on the ground – to increase the impact of ICIMOD’s work
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The cryosphere—snow, ice, and permafrost—is an important part of the water supply in the Hindu Kush Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau-Pamir (HKH-TP) region, driving changes in other spheres (hydrological, biological, geophysical) and sectors (hydroelectricity, agriculture, tourism, disasters)
. The cryosphere helps to buffer against changes in streamflows due t
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The cryosphere reacts sensitively to climate change, as evidenced by the widespread retreat of mountain glaciers
. Subsurface ice contained in permafrost is similarly affected by climate change, causing persistent impacts on natural and human systems. In contrast to glaciers, permafrost is not observable spatially and therefore its presence and possible changes are frequently overlooked. Correspondingly, little is known about permafrost in the mountains of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, despite permafrost area exceeding that of glaciers in nearly all countries. Based on evidence and insight gained mostly in other permafrost areas globally, this review provides a synopsis on what is known or can be inferred about permafrost in the mountains of the HKH region. Given the extreme nature of the environment concerned, it is to be expected that the diversity of conditions and phenomena encountered in permafrost exceed what has previously been described and investigated. We further argue that climate change in concert with increasing development will bring about diverse permafrost-related impacts on vegetation, water quality, geohazards, and livelihoods. To better anticipate and mitigate these effects, a deepened understanding of high-elevation permafrost in subtropical latitudes as well as the pathways interconnecting environmental changes and human livelihoods are needed
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