New method to map, monitor glacial lakes

New Delhi: Bursting of glacial lakes is a major cause of concern in the context climate change. Retreat of glaciers is expected to increase the number of glacial lakes and also expand the size of existing ones, posing threats for catastrophic floods. For preventing such events, precise and timely mapping and monitoring of the glacial lakes is necessary.

Scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar and PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh have developed a new method to map glacial lakes with accuracy of 85 per cent

Scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar and PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh have developed a new method to map glacial lakes with accuracy of 85 per cent. Its advantage is that it can help map even a glacial pond as small as 100 square meter with high precision.

This is important as glacial lakes generally start as ponds known as supraglacial lakes (SGLs) and then grow in size with time. They form in the hollows on the glacial surface. Since water has lower albedo than ice, it absorbs more of the sun’s energy causing warming of the surface ice, which leads to increase in melting of glacial ice. The rates of ablation or removal.
(Courtesy: India Science Wire)

BY Sunderarajan Padmanabhan