Glacier Snowline Altitudes in Ladakh Across Four Decades

5,729 end-of-summer snowline altitude observations derived from manual mapping of 2,257 glaciers in the trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh. The dataset, authored by Mohd Soheb, covers four periods between 1977 and 2019. It shows snowline altitudes have risen on over 85% of glaciers studied.

Use Cases

• Model glacier mass balance based on snowline altitude changes.
• Analyze spatial variability in glacier sensitivity to temperature changes across basins.
• Assess the sustainability of glaciers where snowlines exceed the glacier's maximum elevation.
• Correlate long-term snowline altitude trends with regional air temperature data.

Strengths

• Contains 5,729 individual snowline altitude observations.
• Covers 2,257 glaciers across four distinct time periods (1977, 1994, 2009, 2019).
• Analysis reveals a clear trend, with over 85% of studied glaciers showing rising snowlines.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific study region in Ladakh.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Manual mapping from imagery.

Time Range

1977, 1994, 2009, 2019

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-01 18:31:21; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh, including Suru and Zanskar basins.