Himalayan Cryospheric Science: A Paradigm Shift By IRS 1C/1D DATA

Abstract

Himalayan region is a water tower (W.T.) of Asia due to a large concentration of cryosphere. The area generates a large amount of water and used by the millions of people living in the Indo-Gangetic plains. The W.T. provides a sustainable source of water for Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra river basins. By considering the importance of the Himalayan cryosphere, the field-based glaciological programme started in the mid-1970s. It provided limited information about the Himalayan cryosphere. Therefore, based upon minimal observations, numerous conclusions were made about glacier mass, length, and area loss, leading to the erroneous conclusion by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007. At the same time, the results from a cryosphere programme of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) started to arrive, where satellite data of Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) 1C and 1D were analysed. The information helped to resolve IPCC controversy and provided invaluable insight into Himalayan cryosphere. New models, techniques, and methods were developed in the ISRO programme, providing information on the distribution of snow and glaciers, the formation of glacier lakes, glacier retreat, and mass loss. The information was unique and otherwise not available to the scientific community. The data were also extensively used for developmental activities and to assess national security. These include monitoring of snow in Ladakh, hydropower development in Himachal Pradesh, and risk assessment from glacier lakes in Uttarakhand. The methods and techniques are still being used or improved upon, making remote sensing as an indispensable tool to study the Himalayan cryosphere.