You are browsing the archive for afghanistan glacier retreat Archives - From a Glacier's Perspective.
November 15, 2014
Tchap Dara Valley Glacier Retreat, Afghanistan
The Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan is quite remote. A look at maps or Google Earth will indicate the lack of even place names except in the main river valleys. The Secret Compass uses this fact to advantage for expeditions in the region. Here we examine three glaciers north of Sarhad two draining into the Tchap Dara Valley. Haritashiya et al (2009) examined fluctuations of 30 Wakhan Cooridor glaciers from 1976-2003. …
November 15, 2012
Yajun Peak Glacier Retreat, Afghanistan
Glaciers of Afghanistan have received little detailed attention for obvious reasons, only satellite image analysis of selected areas has been completed Haritashiya et al (2009) and Shroder and Bishop (2010), both studies noting a significant retreat and downwasting. In this post glaciers in the remote area around Yajun Peak in the Hindu Kush 150 km northeast of Bagram Airbase and 75 km west of the Pakistan Border are examined. Landsat …
September 23, 2012
Emend River Headwaters Glacier Retreat, Hindu Kush, Takhar Province, Afghanistan
The Emend River drains from the Hindu Kush Mountains and joins the Worsaj River and eventually drains into the Amu Darya River. This area is not impacted much by the summer monsoon and glacier runoff is key to summer streamflow. The runoff from the glacier is tapped for extensive irrigation in the valley bottom both along the Emend, and eventually downstream near Taliquan (bottom image). At the headwaters of the …
December 23, 2009
Zemestan Glacier, Afghanistan Retreats
The Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan is not easy to get to, as a result field study of its glaciers are quite limited. This is where the Global land ice Monitoring System (GLIMS) comes in. GLIMS acquires satellite imagery of glaciated areas, making these images available to researchers and processing them to an extent for inventory purposes. GLIMS is led by Jeff Kargel at the University of Arizona. In the Wakhan …