Abstract:
The assessment of temporal changes in glacier response due to
climatic change is critical from the hydrological perspective. The
present study aims to identify temporal changes in glacier
response using area changes, retreat, and surface elevation
changes. The Friedman test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were
introduced to identify the temporal changes in the parameters
mentioned above for the entire Sikkim from a sample of 28
studied glaciers. The result shows the area changes lies between
0.044–0.462, 0.143–0.351, 0.083–0.685, and 0.157–1.39%y 1
between 1988–2000, 2000–08, 2008–14 and 2014–18, respectively.
Further, the magnitude of deglaciation has increased after 2014
by 73%, 76%, and 100% compared to the third, second, and first
timeframe. Likewise, retreat is 10.82 ± 3.53,
19.07 ± 4.19,13.32 ± 5.59,23.44 ± 5.3 my 1 between 1998–2000,
2000–08, 2008–14 and 2014–18, respectively in the sample glaciers. Additionally, surface elevation change shows a negativeaccelerated trend in the sample glaciers from 0.15 to 1.92 my 1
to 0.88 to 2.52 my 1 between 2000–08 and 2008–18, respectively.
