You are browsing the archive for India Glacier retreat Archives - From a Glacier's Perspective.
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 …
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 …
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. …
April 30, 2021
Shafat Glacier Separation and Stagnation, India
Shafat Glacier in 1997 and 2020 Landsat images. 1-6 are different tributaries with the main glacier being #1. A marks the junction of #1 and #6. Shafat Glacier occupies the northeast flank of Nun Kun Peak in Ladakh India and drains into the Suru valley. The main valley glacier (1) has been fed by a decreasing number of tributaries. Shukla et al (2020) identified an increase in annual temperature has …
February 9, 2021
Potential Preconditioning for Landslide High 2020 Glacier Snow Lines in Rishi Ganga Basin, India 2020
The catastrophic landslide and resulting flood in the Rishi Ganga basin Uttarakhand, India on Feb. 7 was triggered on a formerly glaciated slope at 5600 m detailed in a blog post by Petley (2021). This event occurred after a post-monsoon season featuring high snowlines on adjacent glaciers and the warmest January in the last six decades in Uttarakhand, India. Glacier snowlines are a proxy for the elevation where melting predominates, were these preconditioning factors? Here we examine the elevation of the glacier snowlines in 2020.
November 16, 2020
Gangotri Glacier, India Smallest Observed Accumulation Zone in 2020
Gangotri Glacier snowline averaging 5600 m on Oct. 16, 2020 in Landsat image, magenta dots indicate the snowline. Yellow line is the Randolph Glacier Inventory margin. Tributaries: K=Kirti; G=Ghanohim, Su=Sumeru, M=Maiandi, S=Swachhand. Gangotri Glacier, India is in the Bhagirathi River watershed and is the largest glacier in the Garhwal Range of the Himalaya. Gangotri Glacier supports hydropower as its meltwater runoff passes through three hydropower plants generating 1430 Megawatts including …
January 6, 2020
Sona and Meola Glacier Retreat Dhauliganga Basin, India
Sona Glacier (SG) and Meola Glacier (MG) in 1993 and 2019 Landsat images. Red arrow indicates 1993 terminus location of Sona Glacier and Yellow arrow the 2019 terminus location. The orange arrow marks the 1993 downglacier limit of clean ice, below is debris covered ice. Point A marks a small expanding rock outcrop amidst glacier. Point B marks north lateral moraine exposure of Meola Glacier. The Dhauliganga River is in …
June 11, 2018
Kokthang Glacier Retreat, Sikkim Himalaya, India Doubles Lake Size
Kokthang Glacier in 1988 and Feb. 2018 Landsat imagery. The red arrow indicates the 1988 terminus and the yellow arrow the upstream end of the lake beyond which the glacier has retreated in 2018. The purple dots indicate the snowline. Kokthang Glacier drains south from the Kokthang Peak a satellite peak on the south side of the Kanchenjunga Massif, Sikkim in India, the next valley south of East Rathong Glacier. …
May 2, 2017
Gurudongmar Glacier Retreat and Teesta River Hydropower, Sikkim
Gurudongmar Glacier draining ton Gurudongmar Lake B in Landsat images from 1996 and 1998 and Sentinel image from 2016.Red arrow is the 1996 terminus and yellow arrow the 2016 terminus.Point M indicates a terminal moraine belt, impounding the lake Teesta Urja Limited is this month finishing the 1200 MW Teesta Stage III hydro power project on. The project is a run of the river scheme in the North Sikkim district. The …
Dean of Academic Affairs at Nichols College and Professor of Environmental Science at Nichols College in Massachusetts since 1989. Glaciologist directing the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project since 1984. This project monitors the mass balance and behavior of more glaciers than any other in North America.