Lake Inventory and Evolution of Glacial Lakes in the Nubra-Shyok Basin of Karakoram Range

The trends of glacier lake evolution during the past few decades and their future development are still not well understood. The aim of the present study is to investigate the growth and changes in moraine and bed rock dammed glacier lakes of the Nubra and Shyok basin, Karakoram Range using multi-temporal satellite images. The glacier lake inventory is based on Landsat 7 and 8 (15 m spatial resolution), and Sentinels 2A (10 m spatial resolution) satellite imageries. The data revealed that during the years 2002–2017, the number of glacial lakes increased from 215 to 255. The glacial lake area also increased from ~ 9.0 km2 in 2003 to ~ 9.36 km2 in 2013 and ~ 11.27 km2 in 2017. During 2002–2017, the lake area increased by ~ 2.27 km2, out of which ~ 1.9 km2 increase is recorded between 2013 and 2017 accounts for almost 84% of the total increase. The lakes with an area of ≥ 0.2 km2 have been considered for glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) susceptibility studies and volume estimation. Analyses of the data show a progressive increase in number of glacial lakes and their areal extent. This study would help planners to minimize the adverse effects of GLOF in the Nubra-Shyok basin.