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You are browsing the archive for Himalaya glacier retreat Archives - From a Glacier's Perspective.

January 21, 2024

Mount Everest Region Glacier Snow Line in February 2024 Remains over 6000 Meters

The snow line (yellow dots) on Mount Everest region glaciers on Feb. 3, 2024 in this Landsat image average 6040 m. This is a 200 m rise from October 22, 2023 and a 20 m rise since Jan. 10, 2024. The passes at Nangpa La and Nup La are both snow free.  The snow line (yellow dots) on Mount Everest region glaciers on Jan. 10, 2024 in this Landsat image …

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November 20, 2023

Kanchenjunga Glacier, Nepal High Snowlines Expanding Supraglacial Ponds in 2023

Kanchenjunga Glacier in Nov. 8, 2023 false color Sentinel image.  The flowlines of the six tributaries shown in green with the snowline on each at the purple dots. Percentage of glacier length above the snowline for each tributary shown as percentage. Two rapidly expanding supraglacial lakes shown at yellow arrows. Kanchenjunga Glacier is the main glacier draining west from Kanchenjunga Peak draining into the Ghunsa River. Lamsal et al (2017). report …

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November 2, 2023

Satopanth and Bhagirath Kharak Glacier, India Shrinking Accumulation Zone

Satopanth and Bhagirath Kharak Glacier snowline (blue dots) on Oct. 8, 2020 (Sentinel image) mean elevation is 5350 m. T=Terminus location and blue line is flowline with distance from terminus in km. Satopanth and Bhagirath Kharak Glacier are located at the headwaters of the Alaknanda River, Uttarakhand, India and have until recently shared a terminus. Glacier runoff is an important contribution to the 400 MW Vishnuprayag and 330 MW Alaknanda …

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November 28, 2022

North Annapurna Glacier, Nepal Retreat and Lake Development

North Annapurna Glacier in August 2022 Sentinel image. A=North Annapurna Base Camp, I=icefall base,  B= Prominent Knob, C=tributary that has separated by 2022. The green arrow marks the end of the active ice which is now 1.5 km upglacier of the terminus. Note Diki Cho (lake) is relatively free of icebergs that were plentiful in 2018. North Annapurna Glacier drains the northeast side of Annapurna (8091 m). The North Annapurna …

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November 22, 2022

Suru Basin, Ladakh India Glaciers Bare of Snowcover in August 2022

Suru Basin glaciers in 1998 and 2022 Landsat images.  Red arrow marks the 1998 terminus location, yellow arrow the 2022 terminus location. S=Shafat Glacier, D=Dilung Glacier. Glacier 1-4 are unnamed glaciers that lost almost all snowcover in 2022. Glaciers of the Suru Basin, draining the Ladakh Range, a drier region of the Himalaya, was significantly by the 2022 pre-monsoon and monsoon season warmth. Here we focus on a group of …

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November 7, 2022

Bara Shigri Glacier, India Separation of Tributaries

Bara Shigri Glacier in 1993 and 2022 Landsat images indicating the separation of a number of tributaries. Purple dots mark the snowline 1993=5050 m and 2022=5600 m. Bara Shigri Glacier, India is in Chandra Valley of the Western Himalaya. Chand et al (2017) report on the behavior of the glacier from the Little Ice Age to 2014 noting a retreat of 255 m from 1992-2002 and 168 m from 2002-2014. …

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January 3, 2022

Changsang Glacier, Sikkim 2 km retreat and Lake Expansion 1989-2021

Changsang Glacier in Landsat images from 1989 and 2021, illustrating a 2.05 km retreat from 1989 terminus position-red arrow to the 2021 terminus position-yellow arrow.  Formation of a new lake is also evident. The snowline is marked by purple dots. Changsang Glacier (Karda Glacier) is a valley glacier just north of Kanchengjunga, Nepal/Sikkim. A comparison of Landsat imagery from 1989 to 2021 identifies the formation of a lake at the …

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May 22, 2021

Mena Kang West Glacier retreat and lake expansion, Tibet, China

    Mena Kang West Glacier in 2002, 2020 and 2021 Landsat images.  Red arrow is the 2000 terminus location, yellow arrow the 2021 terminus location and pink dots the snowline. “Mena Kang West” Glacier is an unnamed glacier that is to the west of Mena Kang (6140 m) at 28 N, 91.6 W in Tibet, China. The glacier drains into the Nyamjang Chu, which flows south in Arunachal Pradesh, …

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March 18, 2021

Bailang and Angge Glacier, China Retreat and Lake Expansion 1995-2020

Bailang (B) and Angge Glacier (A) in 1995 and 2020 Landsat images indicating retreat and lake expansion. Red arrow is the 1995 terminus location, yellow arrow the 2020 terminus location, purple arrow rock ridges that expand separating tributaries. Chubda Glacier (C) to the south and an unnamed glacier Point D between Angge and Bailang. Bailang Glacier and Angge Glacier, China are adjacent to the Chubda Glacier, Bhutan, They drain north from …

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January 24, 2021

January 2021 Thaw on Mount Everest Region Generates Ablation, Rolwaling Glacier, Nepal

Rolwaling Glacier in October 13, 2020, December 16, 2020 and January 17, 2021 Landsat imagery indicating the snow line rise that has persisted into mid- winter. Snow line indicated by yellow dots. Recent observations of rising snow lines on glaciers during the October- 2020-January 2021 period in Landsat imagery indicates that once again there is significant ablation occurring  on Himalayan glaciers, as has been the case in several recent years …

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