Exploring Aufeis: Relevance of Icing and Ice Reservoirs for Climate Change Adaptation in the Trans-Himalaya of Ladakh, India

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Marcus Nüsser
• Subject Area: Physical Geography ; Human Geography
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 438535984

• Final Report Year: 2025

Final Report Abstract

In accordance with the three objectives defined in the proposal, we provided the first regional assessment of aufeis distribution for the Trans-Himalaya, a first estimation of ice volumes of selected aufeis fields and an integrated appraisal of aufeis in the socio-hydrological system of Ladakh. The project further contributed to ongoing scientific efforts to map aufeis distribution on regional and global scales and showed the potential of remote sensing methods and field surveys for studying this often-neglected cryosphere component. Our results revealed widespread aufeis occurrence that intensifies with increasing continentality and aridity towards the Tibetan Plateau. Aufeis fields predominately occur within an elevation range between 4000–5500 m a.s.l., which suggests that thermal and hygric factors limit aufeis formation beyond this elevational belt. Their individual size is highly variable, but aufeis fields exceeding sizes of 0.1 km² account for most of the aufeis-covered area. The largest aufeis fields are typically found along braided streams and can even exceed the size of the largest high-altitude glaciers in Ladakh by a factor of three. Temporal patterns indicate an accumulation phase from November until March, and a melting phase from April until July. The maximum aufeis area is typically reached in April and May. Aufeis development and depletion exhibits both profound seasonal and inter-annual variability in terms of size and probably thickness as well. Except for a few isolated places in the Pangong Tso Basin in eastern Ladakh, aufeis fields completely disappear until the end of July. Digital elevation model differencing revealed substantial ice thickness up to almost three meters in the analysed ice reservoirs, while natural aufeis fields occasionally even reach greater thickness over three meters. Furthermore, the ice volumes across all studied sites indicate substantial amounts of preserved water that needs to be considered in future hydrological studies and estimations of water resources. This widespread occurrence implies a significant hydrological value that is largest on the local scale. It provides water for irrigated cultivation, wetlands used as pastoral grazing resources and serves for drinking purposes. Ice reservoirs and aufeis mitigate the problem of water scarcity in spring to some extent but the scope to which the water is adequate to cover local needs depends on a variety of factors. It remains difficult to evaluate the efficacy of ice reservoirs as a climate change adaptation measure. The function as an additional water source depends on meltwater availability in the upper catchments. Here, more in-depth and long-term studies are required.

Publications

• Distribution and Relevance of aufeis (icing) in the Upper Indus Basin. AK Hochgebirge, 16-17 April (online).
  Brombierstäudl D., Schmidt S. & Nüsser M.
  
• Distribution and relevance of aufeis (icing) in the Upper Indus Basin. Science of The Total Environment, 780, 146604.
  Brombierstäudl, Dagmar; Schmidt, Susanne & Nüsser, Marcus
  
• Glaciers, snow and neglected forms of frozen water: Cryosphere components in the Trans-Himalaya of Ladakh. Indo-German Workshop on Water Availability and Quality under varying environmental and urban conditions, 22-23 October, Heidelberg.
  Schmidt S., Brombierstäudl D., Passang S., Dame J. & Nüsser M.
  
• Mapping aufeis in the Upper Indus Basin with time-series analysis. ICIMOD Cryosphere Forum, 20-23 September (online).
  Brombierstäudl D., Schmidt S. & Nüsser M.
  
• Towards a socio-hydrological framework for the northwestern Himalaya. Indo-German Workshop on Water Availability and Quality under varying environmental and urban conditions, 22-23 October, Heidelberg.
  Nüsser M., Schmidt S., Brombierstäudl D. & Dame J.
  
• Aufeis in Ladakh: Spatial and temporal dynamics in the Tso Moriri basin. Jahrestagung AK Hochgebirge, 20-22 May, Heidelberg.
  Brombierstäudl D., Schmidt S. & Nüsser M.
  
• Aufeis: A neglected cryosphere component in the Trans-Himalaya of Ladakh. 25th Alpine Glaciology Meeting, 24/25 March, München.
  Brombierstäudl D., Schmidt S. & Nüsser M.
  
• Cryosphere changes and local adaptation strategies: socio-hydrological case studies from the Himalayan region. International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS 2022), 3 June 2022, Montpellier.
  Nüsser M., Schmidt S. & Brombierstäudl D.
  
• Spatial and temporal dynamics of aufeis in the Tso Moriri basin, eastern Ladakh, India. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 34(1), 81-93.
  Brombierstäudl, Dagmar; Schmidt, Susanne & Nüsser, Marcus
  
• Aufeis in High Mountain Asia: Evidence from two endorheic basins (Tso Moriri and Pangong Tso). EGU, Remote Sensing of Cold Regions (CR5.2), 23.–28 April, Wien.
  Brombierstäudl D., Schmitt T., Schmidt S. & Nüsser M.
  
• Aufeis in the Upper Indus Basin – Compilation of the first inventory based on satellite imagery. 20th IALS (International Association for Ladakh Studies) Conference, 5-8 October, Heidelberg.
  Brombierstäudl D., Schmidt S. & Nüsser M.
  
• Cryosphere dynamics and sociohydrological interactions: Towards an integrated perspective of environment and development in Ladakh. Ladakh University, 1 March, Leh.
  Nüsser M., Schmidt S., Brombierstäudl D. & Soheb M.
  
• It’s all about water: Cryosphere changes and socioeconomic adaptation strategies in the Upper Indus Basin. 28th IUGG General Assembly, 16 July, Berlin.
  Nüsser M., Brombierstäudl D., Soheb M. & Schmidt S.
  
• It’s all about water: Cryosphere changes and socioeconomic adaptation strategies in the Upper Indus Basin. 35th National Conference of the Indian Institute of Geomorphology. 25 November, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (keynote).
  Nüsser M., Brombierstäudl D., Soheb M. & Schmidt S.
  
• It’s all about water: Cryosphere changes and socioeconomic adaptation strategies in the Upper Indus Basin. International Conference on Himalayan Environment in Changing Climate Scenario (keynote). 19 September, Leh (Ladakh).
  Nüsser M., Brombierstäudl D., Soheb M. & Schmidt S.
  
• Socio-hydrological pathways: Cryosphere changes and adaptation strategies in the Trans-Himalaya of Ladakh, India (highlighted) (EGU, Mountain hydrology under global change: monitoring, modelling and adaptation (HS 2.1.6), 23.–28 April, Wien
  Nüsser M., Brombierstäudl D., Soheb M. & Schmidt S.
  
• Aufeis thickness and volume estimations from stereo satellite imagery and terrestrial photographs: Evidence from Central Ladakh, India. Science of The Total Environment, 954, 176180.
  Brombierstäudl, Dagmar; Schmidt, Susanne; Soheb, Mohd & Nüsser, Marcus
  
• Giant Aufeis in the Pangong Tso Basin: Inventory of a Neglected Cryospheric Component in Eastern Ladakh and Western Tibet. Atmosphere, 15(3), 263.
  Schmitt, Tobias; Brombierstäudl, Dagmar; Schmidt, Susanne & Nüsser, Marcus