Basin-scale spatio-temporal development of glacial lakes in the Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalayas

This dataset offers detailed inventories of glacial lakes for the years 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020 in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. Landsat satellite imagery was utilised to map glacial lakes, encompassing all lakes that are equal to or exceed 0.0036 km² in size.

In the latest inventory from 2020, we identified a total of 19,284 glacial lakes, encompassing a cumulative area of 1191.81 ± 209.21 km². The investigation encompasses comprehensive mapping at the sub-basin level over the whole study area, facilitating regional-scale evaluations of glacial lake distribution and expansion. The findings reveal a significant rise in glacial lakes over the last thirty years, with a 9.31% increase in the number of lakes and a 10.09% increase in total lake area within the HKH region.