Using Landsat data at decadal interval (1980-2013), the glacier fluctuations (glacier area, equilibrium line altitude and specific mass balance) of nine benchmark glaciers in Kashmir Himalaya was estimated. The observed changes were related with topographic and climatic variables in order to understand their influence. From the data analysis, it was observed that the glaciers have shrunk by 17%, ELA has shifted upwards (80-300 m), and SMB shows variation in glacier mass loss from -0.77 to -0.16 m.w.e.

Small glaciers and ice caps respond rapidly to climate variations, and records of their past extent provide information on the natural envelope of past climate variability. Millennial-scale trends in Holocene glacier size are well documented and correspond with changes in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation.

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was employed to obtain morphology, size, composition, and mixing state of background aerosols with diameter less than 1 µm in the northern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) during 15 September to 15 October 2013. Individual aerosol particles mainly contained secondary inorganic aerosols (SIA – sulfate and nitrate) and organics during clean periods (PM2.5 mass concentration less than 2.5 µg m−3 ).

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) signals penetrate through the dry snow and cloud providing crucial data over the Himalayan temperate glaciers and complement the optical images. In the present study, RISAT- 1 C band and AWiFS images of winter/ablation period over Samudra Tapu and Gepang Gath moraine dammed lakes (MDLs) in Himachal Pradesh have been analysed.

Original Source

Glacial erosion is fundamental to our understanding of the role of Cenozoic-era climate change in the development of topography worldwide, yet the factors that control the rate of erosion by ice remain poorly understood. In many tectonically active mountain ranges, glaciers have been inferred to be highly erosive, and conditions of glaciation are used to explain both the marked relief typical of alpine settings and the limit on mountain heights above the snowline, that is, the glacial buzzsaw.