Climate Change, Glacier Response, and Vegetation Dynamics in the Himalaya

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

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2. Climate Change and Dynamics of Glaciers and Vegetation in the Himalaya: An Overview

   • Udo Schickhoff, R. B. Singh, Suraj Mal

   Pages 1-26

3. Climate Change

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 27-27

      PDF

   2. Recent Climate Change over High Asia

      • Shabeh ul Hasson, Lars Gerlitz, Udo Schickhoff, Thomas Scholten, Jürgen Böhner

      Pages 29-48

   3. Analytic Comparison of Temperature Lapse Rates and Precipitation Gradients in a Himalayan Treeline Environment: Implications for Statistical Downscaling

      • Lars Gerlitz, Benjamin Bechtel, Jürgen Böhner, Maria Bobrowski, Birgit Bürzle, Michael Müller et al.

      Pages 49-64

   4. Climate Change and Hydrological Responses in Himalayan Basins, Nepal

      • Tirtha Raj Adhikari, Lochan Prasad Devkota

      Pages 65-85

   5. Spatial and Temporal Variability of Climate Change in High-Altitude Regions of NW Himalaya

      • M. R. Bhutiyani

      Pages 87-101

   6. Assessing Climate Change Signals in Western Himalayan District Using PRECIS Data Model

      • R. B. Singh, Swarnima Singh, Shouraseni Sen Roy

      Pages 103-115

   7. Climate Change in Pindari Region, Central Himalaya, India

      • R. B. Singh, Santosh Kumar, Ajay Kumar

      Pages 117-135

4. Climate Change Impacts on Glaciers and Hydrology

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 137-137

      PDF

   2. Glacier Variations in the Trans Alai Massif and the Lake Karakul Catchment (Northeastern Pamir) Measured from Space

      • Nicolai Holzer, Tim Golletz, Manfred Buchroithner, Tobias Bolch

      Pages 139-153

   3. Heterogeneity in Fluctuations of Glacier with Clean Ice-Covered, Debris-Covered and Proglacial Lake in the Upper Ravi Basin, Himachal Himalaya (India), During the Past Four Decades (1971–2013)

      • Pritam Chand, Milap Chand Sharma, Ram Nagesh Prasad

      Pages 155-179

   4. Current and Future Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Hazard: Application of GIS-Based Modeling in Himachal Pradesh, India

      • Simon K. Allen, Andreas Linsbauer, Christian Huggel, S. S. Randhawa, Yvonne Schaub, Markus Stoffel

      Pages 181-203

   5. Estimating Recent Glacier Changes in Central Himalaya, India, Using Remote Sensing Data

      • Suraj Mal, R. B. Singh, Udo Schickhoff

      Pages 205-218

   6. Instability Processes Triggered by Heavy Rain in the Garhwal Region, Uttarakhand, India

      • Manish Mehta, D. P. Dobhal, Tanuj Shukla, Anil K. Gupta

      Pages 219-234

   7. The Need for Community Involvement in Glacial Lake Field Research: The Case of Imja Glacial Lake, Khumbu, Nepal Himalaya

      • Teiji Watanabe, Alton C. Byers, Marcelo A. Somos-Valenzuela, Daene C. McKinney

      Pages 235-250

   8. Understanding Factors Influencing Hydro-climatic Risk and Human Vulnerability: Application of Systems Thinking in the Himalayan Region

      • Gourav Misra, Harekrishna Misra, Christopher A. Scott

      Pages 251-267

5. Climate Change and Vegetation Dynamics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 269-269

      PDF

   2. Climate Change and Treeline Dynamics in the Himalaya

      • Udo Schickhoff, Maria Bobrowski, Jürgen Böhner, Birgit Bürzle, Ram Prasad Chaudhary, Lars Gerlitz et al.

      Pages 271-306

   3. Treeline Responsiveness to Climate Warming: Insights from a Krummholz Treeline in Rolwaling Himal, Nepal

      • Niels Schwab, Udo Schickhoff, Michael Müller, Lars Gerlitz, Birgit Bürzle, Jürgen Böhner et al.

      Pages 307-345

This book provides information essential for anyone interested in climate and environmental change of the Himalayan region, including land and resource managers, environmental planners, conservationists, environmentalists, geographers, climatologists, ecologists, and students. The book is unique in its coverage of the current understanding of the science of climate change in the Himalayan mountain system and of the major impacts on physical systems and ecosystems. The book gives an overview of the physical science basis of climate change and explains drivers and processes of glacier and vegetation dynamics.

The book covers relevant aspects of accelerated climate change observed in the Himalayan mountain system, and highlights the regional differentiation of climatic changes and associated environmental modifications. The focus is on climate variability and change, and how physical systems and ecosystems respond to climate change impacts. Consequences include impacts on physical systems such as glacier shrinkage, glacial lake outburst floods, altered hydrological characteristics, permafrost warming and thawing, and mass movements on slopes. Climate change is also a powerful stressor on ecosystems and induces range shifts of plant and animal species and alterations in terms of phenology, biomass, plant cover, plant group dominance and species composition. Thus, ecosystem structure and functioning will be strongly affected.

The book has an introductory chapter followed by a section on climate change, a section on impacts on glaciers and hydrology, and a section on vegetation dynamics. Each section has several chapters presenting key concepts, major drivers and key processes of environmental change in the Himalayan region from different perspectives. Climate change impacts in the Himalaya have not been studied in much detail, and respective findings were not presented so far in a comprehensive overview. This book summarizes the current knowledge of interactions between climate change and the dynamics of glaciers, hydrology, and vegetation.

• Climate Change, Himalaya
• Glacial Lake Outburst Floods
• Glacier Fluctuation
• Himalayan Ecosystem
• Vegetation Responses to Climate Change
• climate change impacts

“The collection of chapters represents an in-depth analysis of trends in temperature and precipitation in different areas of the region. … The editors of this volume have created an excellent work that integrates climate change in the Himalayas with numerous ecological dynamics. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, professionals.” (J. L. Hatfield, Choice, Vol. 54 (5), January, 2017)

"The focus on elevation and the diversity of topics presented within this book represent its greatest strengths. … the book provides both breadth and detail on ongoing environmental changes in the Himalayas. … it would be suitable for researchers and graduate-level students working in the region on a variety of topics, or as a reference book for upper-level courses on mountains and environmental change." (Joseph Shea, Mountain Research and Development, Vol. 37 (3), August, 2017)

• Department of Geography, Delhi School of, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

  RB Singh

• CEN Center for Earth System Research and, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

  Udo Schickhoff

• Department of Geography, Shaheed Bhagat, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

  Suraj Mal

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