Abstract The glaciers are considered as iconic indicators of climate change, and receding at differential rates worldwide. Variable retreat rates of glacier termini and inadequate supporting field data (e.g. mass balance, ice thickness, velocity, etc.) of the glaciers makes it difficult to access the impact of climate change. Here, we examined eight glaciers in the upper Rishi Ganga catchment, Nanda Devi region, Central Himalaya, India, to assess their spatial and temporal variability towards the climate change. The temporal coverage of analysis spans from twentieth to early twenty-first centuries (ranges 1980 to 2017). The study was designed by comparing the estimates of different temporal satellite images of the Hexagon KH-9 (1980) with Landsat 5 TM (1989), Landsat 7 ETM+ (1999), Landsat 8 OLI/TRIS (2017) and ASTER DEM (2011) with local and regional meteorological conditions of the study area. The upper Rishi Ganga catchment covers an area of ~690 km2, having a glaciated area of ~243 km2 (~35% of the total area) during 1980. Our study reveals that the glaciers of the valley lost ~26 km2 (10%) of the glaciated area between 1980 and 2017. The total glacierized area in 2017 is ~217 km2, which is ~26% of the total area. However, during the same periods (1980–2017) the Equilibrium Line Altitude (ELA) of the glaciers fluctuated between 5200 and 5700 m asl. The present study suggests that the glaciers in the region have responded to deprived precipitation conditions since 1980, overlapping our understanding of glacier retreat due to temperature increase, in the context of the global warming scenario.

中文翻译：

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过去 30 年的冰川变化和相关气候驱动因素，印度喜马拉雅中部的 Nanda Devi 地区

摘要 冰川被认为是气候变化的标志性指标，并且在全球范围内以不同的速度消退。冰川末端的可变退缩率和冰川的支持性现场数据（例如质量平衡、冰厚度、速度等）的不足，使得很难了解气候变化的影响。在这里，我们检查了印度喜马拉雅中部南达德维地区 Rishi Ganga 流域上游的 8 条冰川，以评估它们对气候变化的时空变异性。分析的时间覆盖范围从 20 世纪到 21 世纪初期（范围从 1980 年到 2017 年）。该研究的设计是通过比较 Hexagon KH-9 (1980) 与 Landsat 5 TM (1989)、Landsat 7 ETM+ (1999)、Landsat 8 OLI/TRIS (2017) 和 ASTER DEM (2011) 以及研究区的当地和区域气象条件。上 Rishi Ganga 流域面积约 690 平方公里，1980 年冰川面积约 243 平方公里（约占总面积的 35%）。我们的研究表明，山谷的冰川消失了约 26 平方公里（10%） 1980 年至 2017 年冰川面积的总面积。 2017 年冰川总面积约为 217 平方公里，占总面积的 26%。然而，在同一时期（1980-2017 年），冰川的平衡线高度（ELA）在 5200 至 5700 m asl 之间波动。目前的研究表明，该地区的冰川自 1980 年以来就对降水不足的条件做出了反应，这与我们在全球变暖情景下对温度升高导致冰川退缩的理解重叠。