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A geospatial analysis of Samudra Tapu and Gepang Gath glacial lakes in the Chandra Basin, Western Himalaya

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Abstract

Geospatial studies carried out in two major proglacial lakes of Samudra Tapu and Gepang Gath (Chandra Basin, Western Himalaya) showed substantial expansion in their area and volume over the last four decades (1971–2014). The linear and areal expansions for the lakes Samudra Tapu and Gepang Gath were 1889, 1509 m and 1, 0.6 km2, respectively. The results show that increased melting of the feeder glaciers over this period is major contributor to expand the volumes approximately 20 times of both the lakes Samudra Tapu and Gepang Gath. This expansion of lakes volume of Samudra Tapu and Gepang Gath from 3.4 × 106 to 67.7 × 106 and 1.5 × 106 to 27.5 × 106 m3, respectively, is quite significance in terms of hazards generated from glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF). This kind of climate change induced increase in the rate of glacial melting is a cause of concern, as the Himalaya Mountains may turn out to be vulnerable to natural hazards like GLOF.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Director, ESSO-National Centre for Antarctica and Ocean Research, Goa, for continued support. The National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, India, is acknowledged for Indian Remote Sensing satellite Images and US Geological Survey (USGS) for Declassified Corona Images, Landsat images and ASTER GDEM V2 data sets. We thank our field logistic team who were involved in our field trips. We Thank to Dr. K. K. Balachandran and anonymous reviewer for editing, and useful suggestions and comments. This is NCAOR Contribution No. 01/2017.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ESSO-National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Headland Sada, Vasco da Gama, Goa, 403804, India

    Lavkush Kumar Patel, Parmanand Sharma, C. M. Laluraj, Meloth Thamban & Ajit Singh

  2. Earth System Science Organization, Ministry of Earth Sciences (Government of India), Prithvi Bhawan, Lodhi Road, New Delhi, 11003, India

    Rasik Ravindra

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  1. Lavkush Kumar Patel
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  2. Parmanand Sharma
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  3. C. M. Laluraj
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Correspondence to Lavkush Kumar Patel.

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Patel, L.K., Sharma, P., Laluraj, C.M. et al. A geospatial analysis of Samudra Tapu and Gepang Gath glacial lakes in the Chandra Basin, Western Himalaya. Nat Hazards 86, 1275–1290 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-017-2743-4

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