Natural Resources

Volume 4, Issue 7 (November 2013)

ISSN Print: 2158-706X   ISSN Online: 2158-7086

Google-based Impact Factor: 0.89  Citations  h5-index & Ranking

Changes in Imja Lake and Karda Lake in the Everest Region of Himalaya

HTML  Download Download as PDF (Size: 559KB)  PP. 449-455  
DOI: 10.4236/nr.2013.47055    4,390 Downloads   8,224 Views  Citations

ABSTRACT

The Himalaya is a region sensitive to climate change. Changes in the glacial regime are one indicator of global climate changes. There are several studies focusing on analysis of temporal changes of these glacial lakes in the Himalaya region. However, the researches on addressing these trends in relation with surrounding topographical conditions are quite limited. In this study, we analyzed spatio-temporal changes in Imja Lake, located on the southern slope, and Karda Lake, located on the northern slope of the Mt. Everest region, in 1976, 1992, 2000, and 2008. Moreover, we examined whether the topographic conditions differ between the two slopes. Landsat and ASTER GDEM (advanced space borne thermal emission and reflection radiometer, global digital elevation model) data were used to identify boundaries of target glacial lakes and to calculate three indices of growth rate compared to year of 1976 (%, GRa), growth rate compared to preceding year (%, GRb), and growth speed (m2/year, GS) of the two lakes. The topographic conditions in circular buffer zones from the centroid of the two lakes were analyzed. Although the area of two lakes demonstrated linear increase from 1976 to 2008, growth rate compared to year of 1976 (GRa) differed significantly (Kruskal-Wallis test, p < 0.05). The area of Imja Lake enlarged significantly faster than the one of Karda Lake (Kruskal-Wallis test and Chisquared test for independence on m × n contingency table between 1976, 1992, 2000, and 2008 on growth speed (GS)). The two slopes differed in terms of three topographical variables: altitude, aspect, and angle of inclination (Kruskal-Wallis test, p < 0.05). The differences between the growth trends of the two lakes can be explained by differences in the topographic conditions on their respective slopes. However, differences in temporal changes should be explained by other temporal factors, e.g. climatic variables.

Share and Cite:

W. Chen, T. Doko, H. Fukui and W. Yan, "Changes in Imja Lake and Karda Lake in the Everest Region of Himalaya," Natural Resources, Vol. 4 No. 7, 2013, pp. 449-455. doi: 10.4236/nr.2013.47055.

Cited by

[1] 2 The Climatic and Anthropogenic Influences on Himalayan Glacial and Non-Glacial Lakes
2021
[2] Outburst floods from moraine-dammed lakes in the Himalayas
2019
[3] Subpixel Surface Water Extraction (SSWE) Using Landsat 8 OLI Data
Water, 2018
[4] The Need for Community Involvement in Glacial Lake Field Research: The Case of Imja Glacial Lake, Khumbu, Nepal Himalaya
Climate Change, Glacier Response, and Vegetation Dynamics in the Himalaya, 2016
[5] Mapping the spatial changes in Lake Volta using multitemporal remote sensing approach
Lakes & Reservoirs: Research & Management, 2016
[6] A lake detection algorithm (LDA) using Landsat 8 data: A comparative approach in glacial environment
International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 2015
[7] Changes in rongbuk Lake and Imja lake in the everest region of Himalaya
The International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2014

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.