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Inventory and Spatial Distribution of Glacial Lakes in Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalaya, India

  • Research Article
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Journal of the Geological Society of India

Abstract

The present study generates a glacial lake inventory of Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalaya, India using Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) images (2016-2018). The study reveals that there are in total 1532 (> 0.001 km2) glacial lakes, covering an area of 93.7 km2. Glacier erosion lakes are the most dominant type with 1268 glacial lakes (82.8%) and an area of 76.8 km2 (∼82%). About 50% of the lakes are located in the four districts of eastern Arunachal Pradesh, while ∼16% in the three districts of central and ∼33% in the four districts of western Arunachal Pradesh. The western Arunachal Pradesh has mixed patterns of glacial lakes types, whereas the erosion lakes dominate the eastern and central Arunachal Pradesh. The current inventory can serve as a baseline database for understanding glacial lake-related flood hazard studies in Arunachal Pradesh.

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Acknowledgments

SM is thankful to the Institute of Geography, Hamburg University, Germany, for providing necessary facilities to conduct the present study. RB thanks the Director of Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology for the support of this work

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110 017, India

    Suraj Mal

  2. Center for Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, 110 067, India

    Atul Kumar

  3. Centre for Glaciology, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, 248 001, India

    Rakesh Bhambri

  4. CEN Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability, Institute of Geography, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Udo Schickhoff

  5. Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110 017, India

    R. B. Singh

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  1. Suraj Mal
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Correspondence to Suraj Mal.

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Mal, S., Kumar, A., Bhambri, R. et al. Inventory and Spatial Distribution of Glacial Lakes in Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalaya, India. J Geol Soc India 96, 609–615 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-020-1610-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-020-1610-1

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