Shrinkage of Satopanth and Bhagirath Kharak Glaciers, India, from 1936 to 2013

We have compiled and analysed available records and data on the shrinkage of Satopanth (SPG) and Bhagirath Kharak (BKG) Glaciers, Uttarakhand, India, during the period 1936–2013. We estimate the mean retreat rates of the snouts of SPG and BKG for this period at 9.7±0.8m a–1 and 7.0±0.6m a–1 respecti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of Glaciology
Main Authors: H.C. Nainwal, Argha Banerjee, R. Shankar, Prabhat Semwal, Tushar Sharma
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2016
Subjects:
climate change
debris-covered glaciers
glacier fluctuations
Meteorology. Climatology
QC851-999
Annals of Glaciology
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3189/2016AoG71A015
https://doaj.org/article/6bc8076ee7ab49769e21bcd3166a2df3
Description
Summary:We have compiled and analysed available records and data on the shrinkage of Satopanth (SPG) and Bhagirath Kharak (BKG) Glaciers, Uttarakhand, India, during the period 1936–2013. We estimate the mean retreat rates of the snouts of SPG and BKG for this period at 9.7±0.8m a–1 and 7.0±0.6m a–1 respectively. We have also revised the estimates of the area vacated during the period 1956–2013 to be 0.27 ± 0.05 km2 and 0.17 ± 0.04 km2 for SPG and BKG respectively, corresponding to front-averaged retreat rates of 5.7±0.6m a–1 and 6.0±0.9m a–1. The study revealed an average thinning of glacial ice in the lower ablation zone of SPG of 9 ± 11 m in the past 51 years. We observed that while the fronts of SPG and BKG depicted in the Survey of India topographic map published in 1962 are inconsistent with other available records, the elevation contours are consistent with them.

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