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Glacier-melting debate highlights importance of satellites
1 February 2010
| This animation, comprised of two images acquired by Landsat’s Thematic Mapper on 15 November 1990 and Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus 1 August 2001 (colourful), illustrates 11 years of glacier change in the Garwhal Himalaya to the northeast of Gangotri Glacier (the area covered is 33 km x 22 km). While most of the smaller and debris-free glaciers show considerable retreat in this period, the larger glaciers with completely debris-covered glacier tongues have not changed much. At several locations pro-glacial lakes have increased in size. Several glaciers at lower elevations are nearly free of snow in the August image, indicating a negative mass balance in that year.
Credits: Landsat scenes provided by U.S. Geological Survey and processed in the framework of the ESA GlobGlacier project by Frank Paul (Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich). | |  |  | |
| | | | | Surface velocity field for the Baltoro Glacier in Pakistan based on six Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar images taken from 2003 to 2008. The analysis of mutli-temporal data such as these allows changes in the glacier velocity pattern to be detected accurately and quickly. Inset: Centreline velocity profile; location as depicted by dashed yellow line in main image. Note the gradual increase in flow with distance from the terminus, as is common on debris-covered glaciers, and the velocity maximum at Concordia, which is associated with the confluence of the two major tributary glaciers, the Godwin Austen Glacier and the Baltoro South Glacier.
Credits: Dr Duncan Quincey, Institute of Geography and Earth Science, Aberystwyth University (UK) | | | | |
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