Thickness, Volume and Mass changes of Samundratapu Glacier between 1993 and 2015

Vivek Sharma1,2, Vinay Kumar Gaddam1, Parmanand Sharma1, Meloth Thamban1

Cryosphere Science Division, NCAOR, Goa. 2Department of Applied Mechanics and Hydraulics, NIT-Suratkal, Karnataka.

Importance of study

Work flow

Mass loss (between 1993-94 and 2014-15)

Millions of people are dependent on the rivers originating from the

Himalayan glaciers, which are poorly sampled. Hence an attempt is
made to assess the volume, which is a critical and essential
parameter in assessing the glaciers health

Scope of study
This model can be used to predict the volume and thickness
distribution at a regional scale

Software's used

Surface Velocity

Cosi-Corr (Envi Plugin), ERDAS, Arc GIS and Matlab

Mass loss vs Altitude

Geographical location of study area

Highlights

Glacier thickness

1.Annual velocities vary from 20 to 30 m. a-1 in the higher ablation zone

and upto 150 m. a-1 in the accumulation zone
2.Maximum thickness was observed at Equilibrium zone, at an altitude
ranging between 5000 and 5200 m.a.s.l
3. Mass loss was estimated using thickness of both the periods, with a

Data Used

maximum at debris covered ice zone (4400-4600 m.a.s.l) and minimum

S.No

Data

Source

Purpose

Landsat TM
and EMT+

USGS

Estimation of glacier
velocity

To upscale the method at basin level for ice thickness and volume

Estimation of slope

changes of glaciers. Further, to estimate the mass loss for individual

Cartosat DEM Bhuvan NRSC

Corresponding author address

G. Vinay kumar,
Project Scientist-B
Cryosphere Science Division,
NCAOR, Vasco-da-gama, Goa.
Email: Gaddam_vinay@ymail.com
Phone: 8975910989

References

at higher ridges.

Scope of study

glaciers

1. Kumar, V., Venkataramana, G., and Hogda, KA. (2011). Glacier surface velocity estimation using SAR interferometry technique applying ascending and descending passes in Himalayas. International Journal of Applied Earth Observa- tion and Geoformation,
2. Prateek, Gantayat., Kulkarni, Anil V., and Srinivasan, J. (2014). Estima- tion of ice thickness using surface velocities and slope: case study at Gangotri Glacier, India. Journal of Glaciology,
3. Scambos, A Theodore., Wilson, C Jeremy., Dutkiewicz, J., and Bindschadler, A Robert. (1992). Application of image cross correlation to the measurement of Glacier velocity using satellite image data. Remote Sensing of the Environment,
4. Scherler, Derk.,Leprince, Sebestian., and Strecker, R Manfred. (2008). Glacier- surface velocities in alpine terrain from optical satellite imageryAccuracy im- provement and quality assessment. Remote Sensing of Environment,
5. Schubert, Adrian.,Faes, Annena., Andreas, Kaab., and Meier, Erich. (2013). Glacier surface velocity estimation using repeat TerraSAR-X images:Wavelet- vs. correlation-based image matching. ISPRS Journal of photogrammetry and Re- mote Sensing,
6. Singh, SK., Rathore, BP., Bahuguna, IM.,Ajai., and Ramnathan, AL. (2012). Estimation of Ice thickness using ground penetrating radar in the Himalayan re- gion. Current Science,
7. Tiwari, RK., Gupta, RP., and Arora., MK. (2014). Estimation of surface ice velocity of Chhota-Shigri glacier using sub-pixel ASTER image correlation. Current Science,
8. Wuite, J., Nagler, T., Hetzenecker, M., Rott, H., Floricioiu, D., Rydt, J De.,Gudmundsson, GH., and Kern, M. (2015). Evolution of surface velocities and ice discharge of Larsen B outlet glaciers from 1995 to 2013. The Cryosphere,