Snow cover variability and trend over the Hindu Kush Himalayan region using MODIS and SRTM data

Desinayak, Nirasindhu; Prasad, Anup K.; El-Askary, Hesham; Kafatos, Menas; Asrar, Ghassem R.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-67-2022

Articles | Volume 40, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-67-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-67-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 40, issue 1

Regular paper

|

31 Jan 2022

Regular paper |

| 31 Jan 2022

Snow cover variability and trend over the Hindu Kush Himalayan region using MODIS and SRTM data

Nirasindhu Desinayak, Anup K. Prasad, Hesham El-Askary, Menas Kafatos, and Ghassem R. Asrar

Data sets

GPD Viewer National Snow & Ice Data Center https://nsidc.org/data/tools/analysis-and-imaging

MODIS/Terra Snow Cover Monthly L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG, Version 6 D. K. Hall and G. A. Riggs https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD10CM.006

Hole-filled SRTM for the globe Version 4 A. Jarvis, H. I. Reuter, A. Nelson, and E. Guevara http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org

Short summary

The study presents long-term altitudinal changes and variability (spatial and temporal; during 2000–2017) in the coverage of snow and glaciers in one of the world’s largest mountainous regions, i.e., the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region. The western zone and high-altitude regions (above 6000 m) show no significant decline in snow cover, whereas the lower-altitude regions (< 6000 m) show a variable but statistically significant decline in snow cover in the central and eastern zones (5 %–15 %).