Advances in Remote Sensing Technology and the Three Poles

20 Glacier Ice Thickness Estimation in Indian Himalaya Using Geophysical MethodsA Brief Review

Aditya Mishra^1,*, Harish Chandra Nainwal¹, and R. Shankar²

¹ Department of Geology, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India, 246174 ² The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, Tamil Nādu, 600113 ^* Corresponding author

20.1 Introduction

The Himalayan cryosphere is a major reservoir of fresh water and is frequently referred to as the “third pole of the world” and “water tower of Asia” (Immerzeel et al., 2010). The glacier and snow-melt water contributes considerably to the runoff of the major river system (i.e., Indus, Ganga, and Bramhaputra) of High Mountain Asia and plays a crucial role in regulating the hydrology of the basins (Thayyen and Gergan, 2010; Lutz et al., 2018; Azam et al., 2021). According to Raina and Srivastava (2008), there are 9575 glaciers with an area of 37,466 km² in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). In contrast, other studies reported that the total glacier area lies between 22,800 and 25,041 km² in the Himalayan range, exclusive of Karakoram (Bolch et al., 2012; Kulkarni and Karyakarte, 2014) and 40,775 km² with the glaciers of Karakoram (Bolch et al., 2012). An updated basin-wise compilation of glacier data indicates that the Indus Basin has a maximum glacierized area of 26,530 km², followed by the Bramhaputra (11,381 km²) and Ganga (8066 km²) basins (Kulkarni et al., 2021). The discrepancy in glacier area has resulted from the ...