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| Himalayan glaciers | |
|---|---|
| Name | Himalayan glaciers |
| Location | Himalayas |
| Coordinates | 28, 00, N, 84... |
| Area | ~60000–80000 km2 (est.) |
| Highest | Mount Everest |
| Longest | Siachen Glacier (Karakoram context) |
| Terminus | Indus River, Ganges, Brahmaputra |
| Status | Retreating (regional variation) |
Himalayan glaciers are the glaciers that occupy the high mountain systems of the Himalayas, the Karakoram, the Hindukush, the Tibetan Plateau margins and associated ranges across India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, China, and Myanmar. They feed major transboundary river basins including the Indus River, Ganges, and Brahmaputra and influence water supply for hundreds of millions in cities such as Lahore, Kolkata, Dhaka, and Kathmandu. Research institutions like the Indian Institute of Science, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences conduct field and remote-sensing studies to quantify change.
The glacier systems span alpine corridors from the western Karakoram Range through central ranges around Nanga Parbat, across the central Mahalangur Himal near Mount Everest, to the easternmost Namche Barwa region in Tibet Autonomous Region. Major named glaciers include the Siachen Glacier, Baltoro Glacier, Gangotri Glacier, Rongbuk Glacier, and Khumbu Glacier; smaller valley glaciers and niche glaciers occur on massifs such as Nanga Parbat, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Kangchenjunga, and Makalu. Political boundaries with Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Ladakh, and Tibet complicate basin-scale inventories by agencies such as NASA, the European Space Agency, and the United States Geological Survey.
Glaciation in the region results from accumulation on high-elevation névés and cirques on peaks like Mount Everest and K2, with ice flow shaped by bedrock structures in ranges such as the Lhotse and Cho Oyu massifs. Ablation patterns depend on elevation, aspect, and precipitation regimes influenced by the Indian monsoon and western disturbances originating near the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Features include medial moraines, supraglacial lakes (notably in the Lahul and Spiti and Mustang regions), icefalls such as the Khumbu Icefall, and debris-covered tongues observed on glaciers of Nanda Devi and Kanchenjunga. Glacier thickness, flow velocity, and basal sliding have been measured on sites including Gangotri and Pindari Glacier by teams from University of Cambridge, Columbia University, and the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research.
Observed mass balance trends derive from satellite missions like Landsat, Sentinel-1, and ICESat and from in situ stakes monitored by Jawaharlal Nehru University, Tribhuvan University, and Bhutan's National Centre for Hydrology and Meteorology. Many glaciers show negative mass balance linked to rising temperatures recorded by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios; however, regional heterogeneity exists with some Karakoram glaciers showing stability or advance (the so-called Karakoram anomaly) documented by Pamir and Karakoram studies. Extreme events—glacial lake outburst floods observed at Dudhkoshi and Seti River catchments—have been attributed to ice-dam failures and moraine collapse exacerbated by rapid melting and intense precipitation associated with Cyclone Amphan-era patterns and altered monsoon dynamics.
Glacier melt contributes to the headwaters of international rivers: the Indus River system drains western glaciers into basins serving Punjab (Pakistan), while the Ganges and Brahmaputra receive meltwater from central and eastern Himalayan catchments feeding irrigated plains in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal as well as Bangladesh. Seasonal runoff regimes integrate snowmelt, monsoon rainfall, and groundwater inputs; institutions including the Indus Water Treaty signatories and the Ganges Water Commission engage in transboundary water data sharing disputes and cooperative monitoring. Reservoirs such as Bhakra Nangal Dam and Tehri Dam depend on flow forecasts that incorporate glacier contributions estimated by hydrological models developed at International Water Management Institute and National Hydrology Project collaborators.
Glacier-driven hydrology supports alpine ecosystems including riparian wetlands, montane forests near Singalila National Park, and wetlands like Rara Lake; changes affect species distributions for taxa studied by World Wildlife Fund and BirdLife International in ecoregions such as the Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests. Local livelihoods—pastoralism practiced by communities near Spiti Valley, agro-pastoral terraces in Koshi catchments, and hydropower generation projects in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim—face altered water timing and flood risk. Tourism and mountaineering centered on Sagarmatha National Park, Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, and ski areas near Gulmarg intersect with safety concerns from crevasse expansion, avalanches, and glacial lake flood hazards impacting insurers and development agencies like Asian Development Bank.
Monitoring combines remote sensing from satellites (MODIS, ASTER, RADARSAT), airborne LiDAR campaigns by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and ground-based methods including stake networks, ground-penetrating radar surveys by teams from ETH Zurich and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and automatic weather stations deployed by Nepal Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. Numerical models range from degree-day melt models used by Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research to physics-based ice flow models implemented at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and data-assimilation frameworks developed in collaboration with United Nations Environment Programme projects.
Adaptation strategies include early-warning systems for glacial lake outburst floods implemented in Bhutan, community-based disaster risk reduction in Lalitpur District, and glacier-protection experiments such as artificial snow fences trialed by Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education. Transboundary cooperation initiatives involve dialogues hosted by SAARC and technical support from International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and UNESCO to map cryospheric change and strengthen water governance. Climate mitigation commitments under the Paris Agreement and national strategies of India, China, and Pakistan aim to reduce long-term warming drivers, while local ecosystem-based adaptation projects promoted by IUCN and CARE International seek to enhance resilience of mountain communities.
Category:Glaciers of Asia