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Retreat of Glaciers in Zanskar Valley, Ladakh

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Geography
  • Published
    7th Aug, 2021

According to a recent study conducted by, the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology, GoI, the Pensilungpa Glacier (PG), located in Zanskar, Ladakh, is retreating due to an increase in the temperature and decrease in precipitation during the winters.

Context

According to a recent study conducted by, the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology, GoI, the Pensilungpa Glacier (PG), located in Zanskar, Ladakh, is retreating due to an increase in the temperature and decrease in precipitation during the winters.

Glacial retreat

  • This is a process by which glaciers lose material at their "lower" section. 
  • It is also called wastage.
  • During the retreat, the ends of the glacier do not extend as far down-valley as they previously did.
  • Glaciers may retreat when the ice melts quicker than the snowfall which can accumulate and form new glacial ice.
  • Higher temperatures and less snowfall are the main cause behind the many glaciers around the world retreating.

What are the key observations?

  • The study was conducted through the field observations for glaciers' mass balance that was collected via stake (bamboo stakes) networking that were installed on the glacier surface using the steam drill for mass balance measurement.
  • The measurements were done over the glacier surface from 2016-2019.
  • An assessment was done to know the impact of climate change through the lens of the past and the present response of the Pensilungpa Glacier (PG), Zanskar Himalaya, Ladakh.
  • The retreat is observed in the glacier to an increase which is attributed to the increase in the temperature and decrease in precipitation during winters.
  • The study also points at the significant influence of debris cover on the mass balance and retreat of the glacier's endpoint, especially in summer.
  • The study suggests that due to the continuous rise in air temperature in line with the global trend, the melting would increase.

Types of glaciers

Mountain glaciers

These glaciers develop in high mountainous regions. The mountain glacier of Arctic Canada, Alaska, the Andes in South America, and the Himalayas in Asia are the largest glacier under this category.

Valley glaciers

They are commonly originated from mountain glaciers or icefields. These glaciers spill down valleys and look much like giant tongues.

Tidewater glaciers

These are valley glaciers that flow far enough to reach into the sea. These are responsible for calving out numerous small icebergs.

Piedmont glaciers

Piedmont glaciers occur when the steep valley glaciers spill into relatively flat plains, where they spread out into bulb-like lobes. Malaspina Glacier in Alaska is the largest piedmont glacier.

Hanging glaciers

When a major valley glacier system retreats and thins, then the tributary glaciers are left in smaller valleys high above the shrunken central glacier surface. These are called hanging glaciers.

Cirque glaciers

They are named for the bowl-like hollows known as cirques.They are typically found high on mountainsides and tend to be wide rather than long.

Ice aprons

These small, steep glaciers cling to high mountainsides. Like cirque glaciers, they are often wider than they are long. They are common in the Alps and New Zealand and cause avalanches there.

Rock glaciers

They are the combinations of ice and rock. Theirice may be confined to the glacier core, or may simply fill spaces between the rocks.

Ice caps

Ice caps are miniature ice sheets that cover less than 50,000 square kilometers. They are primarily formed in polar and sub-polar regions and are smaller than continental-scale ice sheets

Icefields

They are similar to the ice caps except that their flow is influenced by underlying topography, and they are typically smaller than ice caps.

Ice streams

These streams are large ribbon-like glaciers set within an ice sheet. They are bordered by ice that is flowing more slowly, rather than by rock outcrop or mountain ranges.

Ice sheets

Ice sheets are found now only in Antarctica and Greenland. These are enormous continental masses of glacial ice and snow that expands over 50,000 square kilometers

Ice shelves

They occur when the ice sheets extend over the sea and float on the water. They range from a few hundred meters to over 1 kilometer in thickness. Ice shelves surround most of the Antarctic continent.

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