Impact Analysis of Climate Change on the Dynamics of Glaciers : Bhagirathi Basin, Garhwal Himalaya

Glaciers are very sensitive to climate change. Climatic parameters like Temp., Precipitation, Wind Speed, Wind Direction, Solar Radiation are playing major role. Glacier's size, life span, growth and retreat all depend strongly on climate conditions. The Himalaya possesses all the three characteristics of glaciers viz. low, mid and high latitudes glaciers. In the extreme west the climate is purely sub tropic to mid latitudinal climate and tropical in the east. Therefore, Himalaya provides a unique opportunity to study the mass balance and snout fluctuations of the mountain glacier, which can be modeled for the different kind of climatic regime. Main objective of this book is to analyse impact of climate change on the dynamics of the glaciers for the last 30 years. Based on the satellite images, the glacial boundaries were visualized and classified into various classes based on the Normalized Difference Snow Index algorithms for the last 30 years. Climatic data from various sources are used. The Climate Change impact analysis is done in three major sections i.e. Physiographic Impacts on the Hydro-geomorphology, Dynamics of Glaciers, Climatic Data Analysis and Runoff Modeling.