Measurements, models and drivers of incoming longwave radiation in the Himalaya.

Melting snow and glacier ice in the Himalaya forms an important source of water for people downstream. Incoming longwave radiation (LW) is an important energy source for melt, but there are only few measurements of LW at high elevation. For the modelling of snow and glacier melt, the LW is therefore often represented by parameterizations that were originally developed for lower elevation environments.

Glacier ablation and temperature indexed melt models in the Nepalese Himalaya.

Temperature index (TI) models are convenient for modelling glacier ablation since they require only a few input variables and rely on simple empirical relations. The approach is generally assumed to be reliable at lower elevations (below 3500 m above sea level, a.s.