{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,22]],"date-time":"2026-01-22T08:39:13Z","timestamp":1769071153743,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,27]],"date-time":"2019-01-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1548547200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004663","name":"Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["MOST 104-2221-E-006-048-MY3 and MOST 106-2119-M-006-018"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MOST 104-2221-E-006-048-MY3 and MOST 106-2119-M-006-018"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004663","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The Indus River, which flows through China, India, and Pakistan, is mainly fed by melting snow and glaciers that are spread across the Hindukush\u2013Karakoram\u2013Himalaya Mountains. The downstream population of the Indus Plain heavily relies on this water resource for drinking, irrigation, and hydropower generation. Therefore, its river runoff variability must be properly monitored. Gilgit Basin, the northwestern part of the Upper Indus Basin, is selected for studying cryosphere dynamics and its implications on river runoff. In this study, 8-day snow products (MOD10A2) of moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer, from 2001 to 2015 are selected to access the snow-covered area (SCA) in the catchment. A non-parametric Mann\u2013Kendall test and Sen\u2019s slope are calculated to assess whether a significant trend exists in the SCA time series data. Then, data from ground observatories for 1995\u20132013 are analyzed to demonstrate annual and seasonal signals in air temperature and precipitation. Results indicate that the annual and seasonal mean of SCA show a non-significant decreasing trend, but the autumn season shows a statistically significant decreasing SCA with a slope of \u2212198.36 km2\/year. The annual mean temperature and precipitation show an increasing trend with highest values of slope 0.05 \u00b0C\/year and 14.98 mm\/year, respectively. Furthermore, Pearson correlation coefficients are calculated for the hydro-meteorological data to demonstrate any possible relationship. The SCA is affirmed to have a highly negative correlation with mean temperature and runoff. Meanwhile, SCA has a very weak relation with precipitation data. The Pearson correlation coefficient between SCA and runoff is \u22120.82, which confirms that the Gilgit River runoff largely depends on the melting of snow cover rather than direct precipitation. The study indicates that the SCA slightly decreased for the study period, which depicts a possible impact of global warming on this mountainous region.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s19030531","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,29]],"date-time":"2019-01-29T03:40:55Z","timestamp":1548733255000},"page":"531","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":25,"title":["Spaceborne Satellite for Snow Cover and Hydrological Characteristic of the Gilgit River Basin, Hindukush\u2013Karakoram Mountains, Pakistan"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8972-7622","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dostdar","family":"Hussain","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geomatics, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1,University Road, Tainan City 70101, Taiwan"},{"name":"Integrated Mountain Area Research Centre (IMARC), Karakoram International University (KIU), Gilgit 15100, Pakistan"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3449-995X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chung-Yen","family":"Kuo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geomatics, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1,University Road, Tainan City 70101, Taiwan"}]},{"given":"Abdul","family":"Hameed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Government Degree College Danyore, Gilgit 151100, Pakistan"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3581-076X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kuo-Hsin","family":"Tseng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research, National Central University, Taoyuan City 32001, Taiwan"},{"name":"Institute of Hydrological and Oceanic Sciences, National Central University, Taoyuan City 32001, Taiwan"}]},{"given":"Bulbul","family":"Jan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Space and Planetary Astrophysics, University of Karachi, Karachi 75840, Pakistan"}]},{"given":"Nasir","family":"Abbas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geography, Government College University Lahore, Lahore 54000, Pakistan"}]},{"given":"Huan-Chin","family":"Kao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geomatics, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1,University Road, Tainan City 70101, Taiwan"}]},{"given":"Wen-Hau","family":"Lan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geomatics, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1,University Road, Tainan City 70101, Taiwan"}]},{"given":"Moslem","family":"Imani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geomatics, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1,University Road, Tainan City 70101, Taiwan"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"306","DOI":"10.1175\/JHM-D-14-0043.1","article-title":"Future Hydrological Regimes in the Upper Indus Basin: A Case Study from a High-Altitude Glacierized Catchment","volume":"16","author":"Soncini","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Hydrometeorol."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"1382","article-title":"Climate Change Will Affect the Asian Water Towers","volume":"328","author":"Immerzeel","year":"2010","journal-title":"Paleobiol. Sci."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"SHIP (1990). Snow and Ice Hydrology Project, Upper Indus River Basin, WAPDA-IDRC-Wilfrid Laurier University."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhydrol.2011.08.035","article-title":"Modeling snowmelt-runoff under climate scenarios in the Hunza River basin, Karakoram Range, Northern Pakistan","volume":"409","author":"Tahir","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Hydrol."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"148","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhydrol.2008.03.015","article-title":"The impact of climate change on the water resources of Hindukush-Karakorum-Himalaya region under different glacier coverage scenarios","volume":"355","author":"Akhtar","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Hydrol."},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"139","article-title":"Hydrology research in the upper Indus basin, Karakoram Himalaya, Pakistan","volume":"190","author":"Young","year":"1990","journal-title":"Hydrol. Mt. Areas."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"332","DOI":"10.1659\/0276-4741(2005)025[0332:TKAGEA]2.0.CO;2","article-title":"The Karakoram Anomaly? Glacier Expansion and the \u201cElevation Effect,\u201d Karakoram Himalaya","volume":"25","author":"Hewitt","year":"2005","journal-title":"Mt. Res. Dev."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105","DOI":"10.1007\/s10584-009-9546-x","article-title":"Winter climate change in alpine tundra: Plant responses to changes in snow depth and snowmelt timing","volume":"94","author":"Wipf","year":"2009","journal-title":"Clim. Chang."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-017-14256-5","article-title":"Contrasting glacier responses to recent climate change in high-mountain Asia","volume":"7","author":"Sakai","year":"2017","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"McCarthy, J.J., Canziani, O.F., Leary, N.A., Dokken, D.J., and White, K.S. (2001). Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation & Vulnerability: Contribution of Working Groupii to the Third Assessment Report of IPCC, Cambridge University Press."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"40","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2008.08.010","article-title":"Large-scale monitoring of snow cover and runoff simulation in Himalayan river basins using remote sensing","volume":"113","author":"Immerzeel","year":"2009","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"160","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2008.09.008","article-title":"Subpixel monitoring of the seasonal snow cover with MODIS at 250 m spatial resolution in the Southern Alps of New Zealand: Methodology and accuracy assessment","volume":"113","author":"Sirguey","year":"2009","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2951","DOI":"10.1002\/hyp.5810","article-title":"A comparison of MODIS and NOHRSC snow-cover products for simulating streamflow using the Snowmelt Runoff Model","volume":"19","author":"Lee","year":"2005","journal-title":"Hydrol. Process."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"216","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2005.03.013","article-title":"Using MODIS snow cover maps in modeling snowmelt runoff process in the eastern part of Turkey","volume":"97","author":"Tekeli","year":"2005","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"156","DOI":"10.1038\/ngeo1068","article-title":"Spatially variable response of Himalayan glaciers to climate change affected by debris cover","volume":"4","author":"Scherler","year":"2011","journal-title":"Nat. Geosci."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"198","DOI":"10.1016\/S0022-1694(02)00414-6","article-title":"Contrasting hydrological regimes in the upper Indus Basin","volume":"274","author":"Archer","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Hydrol."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Fowler, H.J., and Archer, D.R. (2005, January 3\u20139). Hydro-climatological variability in the Upper Indus Basin and implications for water resources. Proceedings of the 7th IAHS Scientific Assembly, Foz do Igua\u00e7u, Brazil."},{"key":"ref_18","first-page":"75","article-title":"Climate change and variability in mountain regions of Pakistan Implications for water and Agriculture","volume":"2","author":"Hussain","year":"2005","journal-title":"Pakistan J. Meteorol."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Water, N., and Profile, S. (2002). Pakistan Water Sector Strategy."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2329","DOI":"10.1002\/hyp.5887","article-title":"Karakorum-Hindukush-western Himalaya: Assessing high-altitude water resources","volume":"19","author":"Winiger","year":"2005","journal-title":"Hydrol. Process."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"466","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhydrol.2015.12.065","article-title":"Improving the accuracy of MODIS 8-day snow products with in situ temperature and precipitation data","volume":"534","author":"Dong","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Hydrol."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"439","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2016.09.019","article-title":"Producing cloud-free MODIS snow cover products with conditional probability interpolation and meteorological data","volume":"186","author":"Dong","year":"2016","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_23","first-page":"1","article-title":"MODIS snow products user guide to collection 6","volume":"6","author":"Riggs","year":"2016","journal-title":"Digit. Media"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.14358\/PERS.81.2.119","article-title":"An Improved Liberal Cloud-Mask for Addressing Snow\/Cloud Confusion with MODIS","volume":"81","author":"Paull","year":"2015","journal-title":"Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1361","DOI":"10.5194\/hess-13-1361-2009","article-title":"Cloud removal methodology from MODIS snow cover product","volume":"13","author":"Gafurov","year":"2009","journal-title":"Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2015.06.017","article-title":"Spatio-temporal sensitivity of MODIS land surface temperature anomalies indicates high potential for large-scale land cover change detection in Arctic permafrost landscapes","volume":"168","author":"Muster","year":"2015","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5211","DOI":"10.1016\/S1352-2310(01)00342-9","article-title":"Linear trend analysis: A comparison of methods","volume":"35","author":"Hess","year":"2001","journal-title":"Atmos. Environ."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"442","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhydrol.2013.11.028","article-title":"How large is the Upper Indus Basin? The pitfalls of auto-delineation using DEMs","volume":"509","author":"Khan","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Hydrol."},{"key":"ref_29","first-page":"25","article-title":"Climate change, water and China\u2019s national interest","volume":"5","author":"Moore","year":"2009","journal-title":"China Secur."},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"Farhan, S.B., Zhang, Y., Ma, Y., Gao, H., and Rehmatullah, J. (May, January 27). The magnitude and seasonal stream flow fluctuations of Hunza River, Karakoram region during 1966\u20132010. Proceedings of the EGU General Assembly 2014, Vienna, Austria."},{"key":"ref_31","first-page":"1","article-title":"Glaciers and Glacial Lakes under Changing Climate in Pakistan","volume":"8","author":"Rasul","year":"2011","journal-title":"Pak. J. Meteorol."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"Bates, B.C., Kundzewicz, Z.W., Wu, S., and Palutikof, J.P. (2018, October 23). Climate Change and Water Climate Change and Water. Available online: http:\/\/www.citeulike.org\/group\/14742\/article\/8861411%5Cnhttp:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/publications_and_data\/publications_and_data_technical_papers.shtml#.UREVW6X7Uy4."},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"Shrestha, A.B., Agrawal, N.K., Alfthan, B., Bajracharya, S.R., Mar\u00e9chal, J., and vanOort, B. (2018, October 23). The Himalayan Climate and Water Atlas. Available online: http:\/\/www.grida.no\/publications\/69."},{"key":"ref_34","unstructured":"Lhamo, S. (2018, August 07). Assessment of Runoff Regime in Wang Chhu River Basin, Bhutan By Snow Cover Mapping and Stream Flow Modelling. Available online: https:\/\/www.itc.nl\/library\/papers_2015\/msc\/wrem\/lhamo.pdf."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1503","DOI":"10.5194\/hess-17-1503-2013","article-title":"Trends in timing and magnitude of flow in the Upper Indus Basin","volume":"17","author":"Sharif","year":"2013","journal-title":"Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"748","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2014.10.065","article-title":"Snow cover trend and hydrological characteristics of the Astore River basin (Western Himalayas) and its comparison to the Hunza basin (Karakoram region)","volume":"505","author":"Tahir","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"Jianchu, X., Shrestha, A., and Eriksson, M. (2018, October 03). Climate Change and Its Impacts on Glaciers and Water Resource Management in the Himalayan Region. Assessment of Snow, Glacier and Water Resources in Asia. Available online: http:\/\/www.mtnforum.org\/sites\/default\/files\/publication\/files\/5412.pdf."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"16","DOI":"10.1659\/MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-00027.1","article-title":"Assessment of Runoff Sensitivity in the Upper Indus Basin to Interannual Climate Variability and Potential Change Using MODIS Satellite Data Products","volume":"32","author":"Forsythe","year":"2012","journal-title":"Mt. Res. Dev."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"485","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1005613304674","article-title":"Increased precipitation in the Norwegian Arctic:True or false?","volume":"46","author":"Forland","year":"2000","journal-title":"Clim. Chang."},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"Wake, C.P. (1987). Spatial and Temporal Variation of Snow Accumulation in the Central Karakoram, Northern Pakistan. [Master Thesis, Wilfrid Laurier University]."},{"key":"ref_41","unstructured":"Sevruk, B. (1985). Correction of Precipitation Measurement, Workshop on the Correction of Precipitation Measurement, Zurich, Switcherland, International Association of Hydrological Science."},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"Sevruk, B. (2018, August 15). Reliability of Precipitation Measurement, International Workshop on Precipitation Measurement. Available online: https:\/\/www.scirp.org\/(S(i43dyn45teexjx455qlt3d2q))\/reference\/ReferencesPapers.aspx?ReferenceID=1073013."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/19\/3\/531\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T12:29:00Z","timestamp":1760185740000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/19\/3\/531"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,27]]},"references-count":42,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,2]]}},"alternative-id":["s19030531"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s19030531","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,27]]}}}