Glacier changes in Langtang Catchment, Central Nepalese Himalaya from the Little Ice Age (∼1815 CE) to 2023 CE
4 affiliations
- 1School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology, Newcastle University, UK
- 2School of Geography and Natural Sciences, Northumbria University, UK
- 3School of Geography and water@leeds, University of Leeds, UK
- 4International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal
Abstract
Himalayan glaciers have experienced significant area and mass loss since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA; ~mid-1800s to early-1900s), yet analysis of the patterns of recession and long-term, catchment-scale records remain scarce. Here, we reconstruct the extent and surface of glaciers at the LIA (~1815 CE) in the Langtang Catchment, Nepal Himalaya, using geomorphological indicators and balanced-ratio method, and quantify the long-term (LIA-1964/2023 CE) and recent (1964 to 2023 CE) changes in glacier extent based on Corona (1964/1974) and Sentinel (2016/2023) imagery, while examining climatic, topographic, and glaciological controls. Between the LIA and 2023, total glacier area decreased by 78.78 ± 4.38 km 2 (~41.5%), while glacier numbers nearly doubled from 58 to 115 due to separation, fragmentation, and disconnection. Glacier area loss rates increased more than fourfold, from 0.11% a −1 (LIA:1815–1964) to 0.49% a −1 (1964–2023) with further acceleration after 2000 (~0.79% a −1 during 2000–2016 and ~ 0.5% a −1 during 2016–2023). Glaciers in the catchment experienced widespread thinning, reduced flow velocities, and rising equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs), coinciding with pronounced elevation-dependent warming (~0.3 °C dec −1 > 4000 m compared to 0.1 °C dec −1 at 3865 m a.s.l.; 1964–2023). Thinning progressively migrated up-glacier into accumulation zones, while rising ELAs increasingly intersected thinned and heavily crevassed icefall regions, driving glacier fragmentation and disconnection. Fragmented glaciers showed higher area loss, thinning rates, and reduced surface velocities, whereas disconnections in valley glaciers led to stagnation and degradation of debris-covered tongues. Our study highlights the critical need to assess glacier fragmentation and disconnection across the Himalaya. With enhanced warming at higher elevations, fragmentation and disconnection will likely dominant glacier recession in the region, with significant implications for future glacier evolution, meltwater availability, regional hydrology and associated geohazards.
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BibTeX
@article{silwal2026glacier,
title = {{Glacier changes in Langtang Catchment, Central Nepalese Himalaya from the Little Ice Age (∼1815 CE) to 2023 CE}},
author = {Gunjan Silwal and Bethan J. Davies and J. Rachel Carr and Owen King and Sammie Buzzard and Jonathan Lee Carrivick and Prashant Baral},
journal = {Global and Planetary Change},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105555},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105555},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Glacier changes in Langtang Catchment, Central Nepalese Himalaya from the Little Ice Age (∼1815 CE) to 2023 CE
AU - Gunjan Silwal
AU - Bethan J. Davies
AU - J. Rachel Carr
AU - Owen King
AU - Sammie Buzzard
AU - Jonathan Lee Carrivick
AU - Prashant Baral
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/08
JO - Global and Planetary Change
DO - 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105555
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105555
AB - Himalayan glaciers have experienced significant area and mass loss since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA; ~mid-1800s to early-1900s), yet analysis of the patterns of recession and long-term, catchment-scale records remain scarce. Here, we reconstruct the extent and surface of glaciers at the LIA (~1815 CE) in the Langtang Catchment, Nepal Himalaya, using geomorphological indicators and balanced-ratio method, and quantify the long-term (LIA-1964/2023 CE) and recent (1964 to 2023 CE) changes in glacier extent based on Corona (1964/1974) and Sentinel (2016/2023) imagery, while examining climatic, topographic, and glaciological controls. Between the LIA and 2023, total glacier area decreased by 78.78 ± 4.38 km 2 (~41.5%), while glacier numbers nearly doubled from 58 to 115 due to separation, fragmentation, and disconnection. Glacier area loss rates increased more than fourfold, from 0.11% a −1 (LIA:1815–1964) to 0.49% a −1 (1964–2023) with further acceleration after 2000 (~0.79% a −1 during 2000–2016 and ~ 0.5% a −1 during 2016–2023). Glaciers in the catchment experienced widespread thinning, reduced flow velocities, and rising equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs), coinciding with pronounced elevation-dependent warming (~0.3 °C dec −1 > 4000 m compared to 0.1 °C dec −1 at 3865 m a.s.l.; 1964–2023). Thinning progressively migrated up-glacier into accumulation zones, while rising ELAs increasingly intersected thinned and heavily crevassed icefall regions, driving glacier fragmentation and disconnection. Fragmented glaciers showed higher area loss, thinning rates, and reduced surface velocities, whereas disconnections in valley glaciers led to stagnation and degradation of debris-covered tongues. Our study highlights the critical need to assess glacier fragmentation and disconnection across the Himalaya. With enhanced warming at higher elevations, fragmentation and disconnection will likely dominant glacier recession in the region, with significant implications for future glacier evolution, meltwater availability, regional hydrology and associated geohazards.
SN - 0921-8181
SN - 1872-6364
ER -