Glaciers, snow and neglected forms of frozen water: Cryosphere components in the Trans-Himalaya of Ladakh, India

In the semi-arid Trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh, meltwater supply from the cryosphere is essential for irrigated agriculture. Different meltwater sources are used during the agricultural production period. Apart from high altitude glaciers above 5200 m a.s.l. and permafrost which meltwaters become available in summer, runoff from seasonal snow cover and aufeis is mostly used to bridge recurrent water scarcity in spring. While glaciers and snow cover are “visible” sources, easily detectable by optical remote sensing data, permafrost and aufeis, a seasonal ice body created by successive freezing of flowing water onto the already frozen surface is mainly located along rivers and streams, are almost neglected in current research. The aim of the study is to inventory different components of the cryosphere and to analyse their seasonal variability and their general dynamics in the context of climate change. Based on different multi-temporal and multi-scale remote sensing data and techniques glacier changes are documented over long observation periods. The investigation of the seasonal snow cover is based on MODIS data and for the mapping of aufeis fields a time series analysis of Landsat data was conducted.