Spatio-Temporal Analysis of the Glacial Lakes of the Western Himalayas in Chamoli and Pithoragarh Districts of Uttarakhand Using Remote Sensing and GIS

Spatio-Temporal Analysis of the Glacial Lakes of the Western Himalayas in Chamoli and Pithoragarh Districts of Uttarakhand Using Remote Sensing and GIS

Bulu Basak, Thahira Umar, Shahid Gulzar, Rajeev Kumar, Biswajit Roy Chowdhury
Copyright: © 2022 |Pages: 19
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-2443-8.ch014
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Abstract

Remote sensing technology provides a spatial-temporal database to track the dynamics of water bodies. Global climatic change has a substantial impact on the dynamic activities of glaciers and glacial lakes and in turn affects the surrounding ecosystem. Thus, monitoring and maintaining an updated database about glacial activity is essential for disaster preparedness. In this study, spatiotemporal analysis of glacial lakes of the Western Himalayas in Chamoli and Pithoragarh District of Uttarakhand during 1994, 2000, 2010, and 2020 were done. These glacial lakes showed significant spatiotemporal changes and an increase in their aerial extent, nearly doubled from 1994 to 2020. GL_A had a sudden tremendous growth in the interim period may tend to many disasters like GLOF (glacial lake outburst floods). The study area holds many tourist pilgrimage attractions, and it needs sufficient monitoring of several factors over the entire fragile region for the construction of any infrastructures, disaster mitigation, and urban development processes.
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Study Area

This study area focuses on the Chamoli and Pithoragarh districts of the Himalayan state Uttarakhand. Chamoli is the second largest district of Uttarakhand hosting varied famous pilgrim destinations and tourist attractions. The Alaknandariver originates in this district, one of the major tributaries of the river Ganga. Pithoragarh district has its northern and eastern parts with international borders, comes under the Kumaon division. Milam is one of the largest glaciers present in the district. The state has 13 districts that fall under two primary administrative units as Garhwal(Northwest part of Uttarakhand) and Kumaon (Southeast part of Uttarakhand). It has approximately 968 glaciers as one of its sources of water. The study area is depicted in the following location map (Figure 1).

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