Assessing controls on mass budget and surface velocity variations of glaciers in Western Himalaya

This study analyses spatially resolved estimates of mass budget and surface velocity of glaciers in the Zanskar Basin of Western Himalaya in the context of varying debris cover, glacier hypsometry and orientation. The regional glacier mass budget for the period of 1999–2014 is −0.38 ± 0.09 m w.e./a. Individual mass budgets of 10 major glaciers in the study area varied between −0.13 ± 0.07 and −0.66 ± 0.09 m w.e./a. Elevation changes on debris-covered ice are considerably less negative than over clean ice. At the same time, glaciers having >20% of their area covered by debris have more negative glacier-wide mass budgets than those with <20% debris cover. This paradox is likely explained by the comparatively larger ablation area of extensively debris-covered glaciers compared to clean-ice glaciers, as indicated by hypsometric analysis. Additionally, surface velocities computed for the 2013–14 period reveal near stagnant debris-covered snouts but dynamically active main trunks, with maximum recorded velocity of individual glaciers ranging between ~50 ± 5.58 and ~90 ± 5.58 m/a. The stagnant debris-covered extent, which varies from glacier-to-glacier, are also characterized by ice cliffs and melt ponds that appreciably increase the overall surface melting of debris-covered areas.