---
DOAJ_listed: '1'
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
PlanS_conform: '1'
_id: '21247'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Seasonal snowmelt in High Mountain Asia is an important source of river discharge.
    Therefore, observation of the spatiotemporal variations in snow cover at catchment
    scales using high-resolution satellites is essential for understanding changes
    in water supply from headwater catchments. In this study, we adapt an algorithm
    to automatically detect the snowline altitude (SLA) using the Google Earth Engine
    platform with available high-resolution multispectral satellite archives that
    can be readily applied for areas of interest. Here, we applied and evaluated the
    tool to five glacierized watersheds across the Himalayas to quantify the changes
    in seasonal and annual snow cover over the past 21 years and analyze climate reanalysis
    data to assess the meteorological factors influencing the SLA. Our findings revealed
    substantial variations in the SLA among sites in terms of seasonal patterns, decadal
    trends, and meteorological controls. We identify positive trends in SLA in Hidden
    Valley (+11.9 m yr−1), Langtang (+14.4 m yr−1), and Rolwaling (+8.2 m yr−1) in
    the Nepalese Himalayas but a negative trend in Satopanth (−15.6 m yr−1) in the
    western Indian Himalayas and no significant trend in Parlung in southeastern Tibet.
    We suggest that the increase in SLA in Nepal was caused by warmer temperatures
    during the monsoon season, whereas the decrease in SLA in India was driven by
    increased winter snowfall and reduced monsoon snowmelt. By integrating the outcomes
    of these analyses, we found that long-term changes in SLA are primarily driven
    by shifts in the local climate, whereas seasonal variability may be influenced
    by geographic features in conjunction with climate.
acknowledgement: We thank Maud Bernat for helping with the modification of the automatic
  detection code and Michael McCarthy for preparing snowline data derived from the
  MODIS satellite. This research was supported by the JSPS–SNSF (Japan Society for
  the Promotion of Science–Swiss National Science Foundation) bilateral program project
  (HOPE, High-elevation precipitation in High Mountain Asia; JPJSJRP 20191503, grant
  no. 183633) and JSPS KAKENHI (grant nos. 23K13417 and 23H01509).
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Orie
  full_name: Sasaki, Orie
  last_name: Sasaki
- first_name: Evan S.
  full_name: Miles, Evan S.
  last_name: Miles
- first_name: Francesca
  full_name: Pellicciotti, Francesca
  id: b28f055a-81ea-11ed-b70c-a9fe7f7b0e70
  last_name: Pellicciotti
  orcid: 0000-0002-5554-8087
- first_name: Akiko
  full_name: Sakai, Akiko
  last_name: Sakai
- first_name: Koji
  full_name: Fujita, Koji
  last_name: Fujita
citation:
  ama: Sasaki O, Miles ES, Pellicciotti F, Sakai A, Fujita K. Contrasting patterns
    of change in snowline altitude across five Himalayan catchments. <i>The Cryosphere</i>.
    2025;19(11):5283-5298. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5283-2025">10.5194/tc-19-5283-2025</a>
  apa: Sasaki, O., Miles, E. S., Pellicciotti, F., Sakai, A., &#38; Fujita, K. (2025).
    Contrasting patterns of change in snowline altitude across five Himalayan catchments.
    <i>The Cryosphere</i>. Copernicus Publications. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5283-2025">https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5283-2025</a>
  chicago: Sasaki, Orie, Evan S. Miles, Francesca Pellicciotti, Akiko Sakai, and Koji
    Fujita. “Contrasting Patterns of Change in Snowline Altitude across Five Himalayan
    Catchments.” <i>The Cryosphere</i>. Copernicus Publications, 2025. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5283-2025">https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5283-2025</a>.
  ieee: O. Sasaki, E. S. Miles, F. Pellicciotti, A. Sakai, and K. Fujita, “Contrasting
    patterns of change in snowline altitude across five Himalayan catchments,” <i>The
    Cryosphere</i>, vol. 19, no. 11. Copernicus Publications, pp. 5283–5298, 2025.
  ista: Sasaki O, Miles ES, Pellicciotti F, Sakai A, Fujita K. 2025. Contrasting patterns
    of change in snowline altitude across five Himalayan catchments. The Cryosphere.
    19(11), 5283–5298.
  mla: Sasaki, Orie, et al. “Contrasting Patterns of Change in Snowline Altitude across
    Five Himalayan Catchments.” <i>The Cryosphere</i>, vol. 19, no. 11, Copernicus
    Publications, 2025, pp. 5283–98, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5283-2025">10.5194/tc-19-5283-2025</a>.
  short: O. Sasaki, E.S. Miles, F. Pellicciotti, A. Sakai, K. Fujita, The Cryosphere
    19 (2025) 5283–5298.
date_created: 2026-02-16T15:36:51Z
date_published: 2025-11-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-02-17T12:49:00Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '550'
department:
- _id: FrPe
doi: 10.5194/tc-19-5283-2025
file:
- access_level: open_access
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  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2026-02-17T12:35:44Z
  date_updated: 2026-02-17T12:35:44Z
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file_date_updated: 2026-02-17T12:35:44Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '        19'
issue: '11'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '11'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: 5283-5298
publication: The Cryosphere
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 1994-0424
publication_status: published
publisher: Copernicus Publications
quality_controlled: '1'
status: public
title: Contrasting patterns of change in snowline altitude across five Himalayan catchments
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 19
year: '2025'
...