IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/abq/ijist1/v8y2026i2p663-684.html

Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Land Use Land Cover Dynamics, Synergy of Land Surface Temperature and Snow Cover Fluctuations in Gilgit River Basin, North Pakistan

Author

Listed:
  • Atta-ur Rahman*,Osama Amjad,Hussain Zia,Muhammad Dawood

    (Department of Geography andGeomatics,University of Peshawar,Pakistan Department ofGeography,Bahauddin Zakariya University,Multan, Pakistan)

Abstract

This study explores the spatio-temporal dynamics of Land Use Land Cover (LULC), Land Surface Temperature (LST) and snow cover in the Gilgit River Basin (GRB), North Pakistan during the period 1995-2024 using remote sensing and GIS technologies. Multi-temporal Landsat satellite imagery (Landsat 5, 7, 8 and 9) was applied through Google Earth Engine (GEE) to analyze LULC changes, relationship of LST and snow cover variability. Supervised classification i.e. random forest algorithm revealed significant LULC transformations. Settlement expansion shows, rapid increases were recorded in urban sprawl and population growth (+6,736.92 ha). These changes in built-up area are concentrated in areas under farmland. This is because of the conversion of vegetation cover and agricultural land into built-up areas. In the context of vegetation cover, the region observed the degradation in area under forest cover and loss of agricultural land (-43,676.09 ha). Similarly, in case of snow cover, critical changes were observed (-169,211.68 ha). The resultant values illustrate glaciers retreat along with limited snow accumulation. This is largely attributed to climatic change and rising temperature in the HKH region. As a result, it has a direct impact on river discharge and water security. Furthermore, growth in barren land (+203,535.44 ha), where positive changes in almost all the land use classes. Consequently, desertification, land degradation and loss of snow and vegetation cover occurred. Additionally, slight rise has been seen in water bodies such as +86.74 ha and the minor changes are due to glacial melting which temporarily increases the surface water. As a result, small lakes i.e. glacial and glacio-fluvial lakes were also developed. The analysis revealed that LST exhibited a strong warming trend (+0.17°C/year, *p*

Suggested Citation

  • Atta-ur Rahman*,Osama Amjad,Hussain Zia,Muhammad Dawood, 2026. "Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Land Use Land Cover Dynamics, Synergy of Land Surface Temperature and Snow Cover Fluctuations in Gilgit River Basin, North Pakistan," International Journal of Innovations in Science & Technology, 50sea, vol. 8(2), pages 663-684, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:abq:ijist1:v:8:y:2026:i:2:p:663-684
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journal.50sea.com/index.php/IJIST/article/view/1842/2659
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journal.50sea.com/index.php/IJIST/article/view/1842
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Muhammad Dawood & Atta-ur Rahman & Sami Ullah & Shakeel Mahmood & Ghani Rahman & Kamran Azam, 2020. "Spatio-statistical analysis of rainfall fluctuation, anomaly and trend in the Hindu Kush region using ARIMA approach," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 101(2), pages 449-464, March.
    2. Shreedhar Maskey & Stefan Uhlenbrook & Sunal Ojha, 2011. "An analysis of snow cover changes in the Himalayan region using MODIS snow products and in-situ temperature data," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 108(1), pages 391-400, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mohan Kumar Rai & Basanta Paudel & Yili Zhang & Pashupati Nepal & Narendra Raj Khanal & Linshan Liu & Raju Rai, 2023. "Appraisal of Empirical Studies on Land-Use and Land-Cover Changes and Their Impact on Ecosystem Services in Nepal Himalaya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-19, April.
    2. Hania Arif, 2023. "Geo-Spatial Dynamics of Snow Cover and Hydro-Meteorological Parameters for Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan," International Journal of Innovations in Science & Technology, 50sea, vol. 5(3), pages 193-214, September.
    3. Shakeel Mahmood & Razia Rani, 2022. "People-centric geo-spatial exposure and damage assessment of 2014 flood in lower Chenab Basin, upper Indus Plain in Pakistan," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 111(3), pages 3053-3069, April.
    4. Yasmeen Anis, Sheeba Afsar, Syeda Zainy, Ghuffran Saeed, 2025. "Climate Change and the Changing Rainfall Patterns in Karachi," International Journal of Innovations in Science & Technology, 50sea, vol. 7(9), pages 85-93, August.
    5. Palazzoli, I. & Maskey, S. & Uhlenbrook, S. & Nana, E. & Bocchiola, D., 2015. "Impact of prospective climate change on water resources and crop yields in the Indrawati basin, Nepal," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 143-157.
    6. Bocchiola, D. & Brunetti, L. & Soncini, A. & Polinelli, F. & Gianinetto, M., 2019. "Impact of climate change on agricultural productivity and food security in the Himalayas: A case study in Nepal," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 113-125.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:abq:ijist1:v:8:y:2026:i:2:p:663-684. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Iqra Nazeer (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.