Res. Agr. Eng., 2026, 72(1):14-24 | DOI: 10.17221/141/2025-RAE

Estimating changes in the Khisar glacier, using remote sensing data and GIS technologies for the assessment of water use in agriculture (Surkhandarya valley, Uzbekistan)Original Paper

Shokhjakhon Khamidullaev ORCID...1, Rustam Oymatov1, Ilhom Abdurahmanov1,2, Ilkhom Aslanov1
1 Department of Geodesy and Geoinformatics, Faculty of Land Recourses and Cadastre, "Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanisation Engineers" National Research University, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
2 Namangan State Technical University, Namangan, Uzbekistan

Climate change is speeding up the melting and retreat of glaciers, which is a big threat to water security in dry and semi-dry areas like Uzbekistan. To understand how glaciers affect regional hydrological systems and to come up with adaptive water management strategies, it is important to keep an eye on how they change over time. This study examines the temporal changes of the Khisar Glacier in the Surkhandarya Basin by combining remote sensing data from different times with a GIS-based spatial analysis. We looked at Landsat images from 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2024 to see how the size of the glaciers has changed and how that relates to weather and water variables. The results show that the glacier area has shrunk significantly, from 8.6 km2 in 1990 to 5.1 km² in 2024, a 40.7% decrease over the past three decades. The mean annual temperature in the basin rose by about 1.9 °C during the same time, and the Surkhandarya River's average summer discharge fell by about 22%. These results show how closely rising temperatures, melting glaciers, and lower river flow are linked. They also show how vulnerable glacier-fed water systems are to climate change. Combining satellite observations with climate and hydrology data is a good way to keep an eye on glaciers and assess water resources over time. The GIS-based monitoring framework created in this study provides useful tools for planning how to adapt to climate change and manage water resources in a way that is good for the environment in the Surkhandarya region and other glacier-dependent basins in Central Asia.

Keywords: agriculture; climate change; gis analysis; glacier retreat; khisar glacier; remote sensing; water resources

Received: August 23, 2025; Accepted: November 13, 2025; Prepublished online: March 16, 2026; Published: March 19, 2026  Show citation

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Khamidullaev S, Oymatov R, Abdurahmanov I, Aslanov I. Estimating changes in the Khisar glacier, using remote sensing data and GIS technologies for the assessment of water use in agriculture (Surkhandarya valley, Uzbekistan). Research in Agricultural Engineering. 2026;72(1):14-24. doi: 10.17221/141/2025-RAE.
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