Abstract
In this study, we present spatiotemporal assessment of Glacier and Glacial Lake in the Hindukush and Karakoram ranges. Two sites, namely Yazghil Glacier and Darkut Glacier and Glacial Lake have been selected to map the impacts of climate change by Remote Sensing data and GIS. For each site, Glacier and Lake have been mapped with LANDSAT satellite images from 1977 to 2015, using a normalized snow & water index and digitization of lowest elevation of Glacier and Lake Area. The Yazghil has shown anomalous behavior i.e. the glacier remained almost stable during 2002 to 2011, but in 2015 the glacier retreated in length and breadth. On the other hand, during the same period Darkut Glacial Lake has been increasing continuously during 1988 to 2015 and the decreasing trend of the same Glacier about 0.43 Km was observed.The annual average air temperature data of Yazghil and Darkut depicts the increasing trend from 1916 to 2015, and the sharply rising trend was observed from 2000 to 2015 based on Climate Research Unit data. In the recent satellite data, the decline of Yazghil and Darkut Glacier and increasing Lake area of Darkut is a clear evidence of retreating of Glacier, which can be attributed to the rise in mean temperature of the region. The results indicate that the Yazghil and Darkut glaciers are in a state of retreat and have been gradually losing mass. It is necessary to monitor the area continuously and to save thedownstream community from probable Glacial Lake Outburst Flood.