Climate change traces on Lhonak Glacier using geospatial tools

Abstract

The northwestern side of Sikkim Himalayas is selected to study the climatic variability. In this study, the regional assessment of glacier lakes area increasing over the 30 years is calculated and correlated with the land surface temperature using Geospatial technology in the North West Sikkim Himalaya. For this site, glacier lakes have been mapped with Landsat (4–5) MSS/TM and Landsat 8 (OLI) satellite imagery acquired in the years 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020. The glacier area (North Lhonak glacier, Lhonak glacier, and South Lhonak glacier) and the glacier lakes area are calculated for the given years, and found that area of the glacier is shrinking and area of the Lhonak and South Lhonak lake is increasing over the years. The land surface temperature of the area was calculated in this study to determine the rate at which the temperature of the area has increased over the years. Due to surface temperature rise, the glaciers are melting, and this melting of glaciers is increasing the area of Lhonak glacier lake and South Lhonak glacier lake. Remote sensing and GIS technique are very helpful to evaluate the risk assessment of GLOFs for remote mountainous areas.