Climate Change Impact on Leh, A Glacier – Reliant Town: Adapative Responses, Impacts, and Solutions

R Shiva Kumar; Padma Yangchan

doi:10.53989/bu.ga.v10i1.4

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Geographical analysis

DOI: 10.53989/bu.ga.v10i1.4

Year: 2021, Volume: 10, Issue: 1, Pages: 17-27

Original Article

Climate Change Impact on Leh, A Glacier – Reliant Town: Adapative Responses, Impacts, and Solutions

R Shiva Kumar¹, Padma Yangchan²

¹Guest Faculty, Department of Geography & Geoinformatics, Bangalore University, Bengaluru
²M.Sc in Geography, Department of Geography & Geoinformatics, Bangalore University, Bengaluru

Received Date:01 March 2021, Accepted Date:12 May 2021

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

It is an apparent and now well-documented fact that climate change and water cycles are closely interrelated. This study focuses on the effects of climate change on water supplies in the Ladakh region. Snowfall and glacial retention change in groundwater resource levels, unpredictable rainfall patterns, and coping with the resulting water scarcity are the area’s current major problems. The main sources of water are the Himalayan glaciers, streams, springs and hand pumps that draw up water from the groundwater table. Climate change and resultant temperature rise have caused rapid melt water runoff in Ladakh, while erratic rainfall & groundwater vulnerability has reduced water supply. Climate change due to the rapid urbanization and global cycles of weather is not the only problem that the locals have to deal with. The high and naturally arid climate of the area has forced residents to acclimatize and adapt to difficult weather circumstances, including frigid winters, water scarcity, soil erosion, and various other natural hazards.

Keywords: Climate change; Groundwater; Natural glacier; Artificial glacier; Solar greenhouse

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Copyright

© 2021 Kumar & Yangchan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Published By Bangalore University, Bengaluru, Karnataka