NEW DELHI: Government on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that majority of the glaciers in the country, including the largest one Gangotri, are melting at varying rates ranging from five to 20 metre per year.
Sharing information on Gangotri (30 km long) and the second largest glacier Satopanth (14 km long), environment minister Anil Madhav Dave, however, said, "Both the glaciers are retreating (melting) but not at an alarming rate".
"The studies carried out by ISRO, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIGH), Dehradun and other institutions have revealed that majority of the glaciers are retreating at varying rates from 5-20 metre per year," said Dave in his written response to a Parliament question.
He said the studies carried out on melting of glaciers by the in-situ measurements as well as remote sensing data indicate that the rate of retreat is "not uniform" for all glaciers.
Giving an example, Dave said Dokriani glacier in Bhagirathi basin is retreating between 15 and 20 metre per year since 1995 whereas Chorabari glacier in the Alaknanda basin is retreating 9-11 metre per year (2003-2014).
He said a study on length and area changes of 82 glaciers located in the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda river basins has been carried out for a period of 1968-2006 using remote sensing data and the study suggests that glacier area decreased from 599.9 sq km (1968) to 572.5 sq km (2006), implying a net loss of 4.6% of the total area.
However, glaciers in the Alaknanda basin and upper Bhagirathi basin lost 18.4 sq km (5.7%) and 9.0 sq km (3.3%) respectively in the similar period.
A number of Institutions such as Geological Survey of India (GSI), Department of Space; Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun; Kashmir University, Jammu University, Sikkim University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and many others are engaged in monitoring and conducting research in the areas of glaciology.
The government has set up a Center for Glaciology at Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), funded by department of science and technology, to carry out detailed investigations of glacier masses in the Himalayan region.
"There is no proposal with the government to seek foreign assistance for research on climate change in the Himalayan region," Dave said to a question whether the government proposes to seek foreign assistance for research on climate change in the region.
