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CONTROL ID: 1491523
TITLE: Land surface hydrological investigation in Upper Indus River Basin (UIB),
North Pakistan under the Framework of TPE Program
AUTHORS (FIRST NAME, LAST NAME): Yinsheng Zhang1
INSTITUTIONS (ALL): 1. TEL, ITP,CAS, Beijing, China.
ABSTRACT BODY: The Upper Indus Basin (UIB) is home to three of the world’s
mightiest mountain ranges. The Karakoram in north and the Himalaya in northeast
while the Hindukush in the northwest of Pakistan. The Indus River emerges from the
Tibetan Plateau and flows toward northern areas of Pakistan where it changes its
direction toward the south and flows into the Arabian Sea. The catchment area of
Indus River is located in Pakistan, China and India, but most part covered in
Pakistan. The Upper Indus Basin lies within the variable influence of three major
weather systems: the sub-Mediterranean regime of mainly winter, westerly storms;
the summer monsoon; and the Tibetan anticyclone.
The Upper Indus River Basin has a total catchment area of approx. 206,000 km2.
The UIB includes the Hunza, Gilgit, Astore, Shigar and Shyok sub-basins. Nearly
11.5% (22,000 km2) of the total area of the UIB is covered by perennial glacial ice
(including most of the largest valley glaciers) making it the largest area outside the
polar and Greenland regions (Hewitt, 2007). UIB has a mean elevation of 4750 m
with almost 60% of its total area above an elevation of 4500 m and 12% of its area
(almost the same area is glacier covered) above 5500 m. Glacial melt is one of the
major sources of inflow in the Upper Indus Basin, 44.8% of its river flow depends
upon glacial melting. Its mean discharge at Tarbela dam is 5533 m3/s (IUCN,
IWMI). Most of the annual precipitation in the UIB falls in the winter and spring and
originates from the west (Young and Hewitt, 1990). Several researchers reported that
80% of the flow of the Upper Indus River is contributed by less than 20% of its area,
essentially from the zones of heavy snowfall and glaciated basins above 3500m in
elevation.
Under the Framework of TPE Program, observational researches have been lunched
since last year. The project aim to the objective of hydrological consequence of snow
cover in UIB; impact of glacier dynamic to basin drainage and response of discharge
to climatic changes during past 50 years. The presentation will highlight the research
including field expedition in 2011, objective and strategies, and request to
cooperation as well.
KEYWORDS: [0774] CRYOSPHERE / Dynamics, [1863] HYDROLOGY / Snow
and ice, [1833] HYDROLOGY / Hydroclimatology, [0744] CRYOSPHERE /
Rivers.
Contact Details
CONTACT (NAME ONLY): Yinsheng Zhang
CONTACT (E-MAIL ONLY): [email protected]