Articles | Volume 9, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2089-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2089-2015
Research article
 | 
11 Nov 2015
Research article |  | 11 Nov 2015

Assessment of permafrost distribution maps in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region using rock glaciers mapped in Google Earth

M.-O. Schmid, P. Baral, S. Gruber, S. Shahi, T. Shrestha, D. Stumm, and P. Wester

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Cited articles

Bajracharya, S. and Shrestha, B.: The status of glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region, ICIMOD, Kathmandu, 2011.
Bivand, R. and Lewin-Koh, N.: maptools: Tools for reading and handling spatial objects, available at: http://cran.r-project.org/package=maptools, last access: 21 October 2013.
Boeckli, L., Brenning, A., Gruber, S., and Noetzli, J.: A statistical approach to modelling permafrost distribution in the European Alps or similar mountain ranges, The Cryosphere, 6, 125–140, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-125-2012, 2012.
Bolch, T., Buchroithner, M., Pieczonka, T., and Kunert, A.: Planimetric and volumetric glacier changes in the Khumbu Himal, Nepal, since 1962 using Corona, Landsat TM and ASTER data, J. Glaciol., 54, 592–600, https://doi.org/10.3189/002214308786570782, 2008.
Bolch, T., Kulkarni, A., Kääb, A., Huggel, C., Paul, F., Cogley, J. G., Frey, H., Kargel, J. S., Fujita, K., Scheel, M., Bajracharya, S., and Stoffel, M.: The state and fate of Himalayan glaciers., Science, 336, 310–331, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1215828, 2012.
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Short summary
The extent and distribution of permafrost in the mountainous parts of the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region are largely unknown. This article provides a first-order assessment of the two available permafrost maps in the HKH region based on the mapping of rock glaciers in Google Earth. The Circum-Arctic Map of Permafrost and Ground Ice Conditions does not reproduce mapped conditions in the HKH region adequately, whereas the Global Permafrost Zonation Index does so with more success.