Glacier dynamics assessment in Eastern Dhauliganga basin (1994–2018), Kumaun Himalaya, India

Abstract

The glacier database provides an opportunity to track its dynamics and address issues linked with water resources, hazards and sustainability. To better understand the dynamics of Eastern Dhauliganga basin, we mapped the clean and debris-covered glaciers by using satellite images from Landsat-series and Sentinel 2. The band-ratio based methods—NDSI (Normalised Difference Snow Index) and NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index) were used to map the clean ice glaciers. The debris-covered glaciers were delineated using topographic parameters and thermal band of Landsat TM. The glacier extent and length change were monitored for 25 glaciers in the basin, of which 13 are clean ice and 12 are debris-covered glaciers. During the time period from 1994 to 2018, higher area loss was observed for clean ice glaciers (±20.6%) compared with debris-covered glaciers (±10.9%). The clean-ice glaciers retreated at a rate of 4.8–33.7 m/year, whereas debris-covered glaciers retreated at a rate of 2.9–28.8 m/year during 1994–2018.