Decadal Study on Supraglacial Debris Cover of Kaer Glacier, Eastern Himalayas
摘要
Glaciers constitute a critical marker of climate change as their accelerated melt rate reveals rising temperatures and contributes to sea level rise. Melt rates shape surface energy balance and glacier dynamics, and supraglacial debris influences them. Even though research on glaciers has grown, experts still cannot fully understand the characteristics of the glacial debris layer. The debris can either increase or decrease ablation, depending on its thickness. Lakes and debris cover caused by moraine have been the focus of earlier glacier research in the Eastern Himalayas. This study analyzed the changes in the supraglacial debris cover of the 30.863 square kilometer Kaer Glacier between 2014 and 2023. The research used the normalized difference snow index (NDSI) and established a threshold of 0.22 using Landsat-8 data to better distinguish debris from snow and ice. SDC areas for the years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 are found to be 0.239, 0.886, 0.715, 1.530, 0.946, 1.189, 1.700, 1.138, 1.090, and 0.582 km2, respectively. Present decadal scale analysis shows that the SDC area grew linearly by 0.542 km2 between 2014 and 2023, indicating that the gradual loss of glacial mass caused a 45% increase in the SDC area.