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Monitoring Frontal Changes of Shah Glacier in the Ravi Basin, Himachal Himalaya (India) from 1965 to 2013

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Abstract

Shah Glacier is the longest glacier in the Ravi basin of Himachal Himalaya, (India). This glacier was monitored for frontal changes for almost half a century (1965–2013) using high (Corona) to medium (Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI PAN, ASTER) satellite resolution data. Extensive field measurements were carried out in 2010 to validate remotely sensed measurements. Results show that the Shah Glacier retreated ~479.1 ± 34.4 m (~10 ± 0.7 m a−1), whereas, total area lost is estimated to be 0.21 ± 0.01 km2 (~0.004 ± 0.0002 km2 a−1) during 1965–2013. The terminus retreat rate and frontal area change for Shah Glacier is many degrees (1.6 and 3.4 times, respectively) higher as compared the glacier outlines (2013) with the historical glacier outlines derived from the Survey of India (SoI) toposheet (1963).

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Acknowledgments

First author thankful to University Grant Commission, New Delhi for financial support for this work. The authors are grateful to Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi for providing the research facilities. We also thank USGS for providing Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI and Corona data. The first author grateful to Mr. Bruce Raup, GLIMS (http://www.glims.org/)) to provide ASTER satellite data, for this research at no cost.

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  1. Centre for the Study of Regional Development (CSRD), SSS New Building, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, 110067, India

    Pritam Chand & Milap Chand Sharma

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  1. Pritam Chand
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Correspondence to Pritam Chand.

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Chand, P., Sharma, M.C. Monitoring Frontal Changes of Shah Glacier in the Ravi Basin, Himachal Himalaya (India) from 1965 to 2013. Natl. Acad. Sci. Lett. 39, 109–114 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40009-016-0420-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40009-016-0420-x

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