DefinePK

Abstract

To tackle the challenges of the growing water demands, an improved Water resource management is required. The main contributor of water resources in Pakistan is the Indus river, which Inflow largely depends on glacier and snowmelt from Upper Indus Basin located in the mountainous ranges of Himalaya–Karakoram–Hindukush (HKH). Despite such importance, assessment of cryosphere dynamics cannot be done manually with accuracy, especially in mountainous areas comprising difficult terrain. To obtain precision, other sources of information such as station data and remotely sensed snow-covered area, should be used together to make accurate conclusions about the snow cover and climate variability conditions which will affect downstream population for water-related activities and its management and, for example, hydropower generation, etc. Therefore, this study was done to explore the changes in snow-covered area in Shayok River basin (Sub-catchment of the Indus River) through remote sensing and GIS. Satellite images of MODIS sensor were used to examine the variation in snow. Modis 8-day composite images from 2000-2018 were selected to investigate SCA due to its high accuracy. Furthermore, climate data from one (only available) high altitude climate station located at the same basin was used to study correlation among now cover variations with varying preticipation, minimum and maximum year-round temperatures for the period of 2000-2018. Analysis showed that remote sensing is a useful technique for estimation of snow in difficult and complex topography. Moreover, results also indicate that SCA is highly correlated with the climatic parameters (Temperature and Precipitation data) therefore it is important to get accurate climate data to understand snow extent properly. Our results will be helpful to manage water resources properly in downstream population which indicate one-month shift of snow cover accumulation and depletion. However, to make more accurate and conclusions, we recommend on detail study of each river basin and long-term monitoring of whole UIB.