ABSTRACT

A glacier is a moving body of ice, which moves under its own weight. It moves continuously under the force of gravity. Glaciers form when snow that falls in winter does not entirely melt away in summer. Snow that survives in summer is called ‰rn, which has a higher density (550 kg/m3) and is less bright than snow. Glacier forms over land by compaction and recrystallization of snow over thousands of years. They are highly sensitive to climate change and are good indicators of the energy balance (Oerlemans, 2005). Their capacity to store water for extended periods exerts signi‰cant control on the surface water cycle. Their accelerating

CONTENTS

18.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 335 18.2 Remote Sensing in Glacier Morphological Study ............................ 337

18.2.1 Interpretation of Glacier Features .......................................... 338 18.2.2 Samudra Tapu Glacier: A Case Study .................................... 339

18.3 Remote Sensing in Snow Cover Mapping ......................................... 339 18.3.1 Snow/Cloud Discrimination Using NDSI ............................. 340

18.4 Remote Sensing in Monitoring of Glacier Retreat ........................... 341 18.5 Remote Sensing in Glacier Mass Balance Studies ............................ 342

18.5.1 AAR-ELA Method.................................................................... 342 18.5.2 Chhota Shigri Glacier: A Case Study for AAR/ELA

Method ....................................................................................... 344 18.5.3 Glacier Mass Balance Estimation Using Time Series

DEM ..........................................................................................346 18.5.4 Case Study for DEM Method .................................................. 346

18.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 347 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... 347 References ........................................................................................................ 347

mass wastage over the last few decades has signi‰cant implications for the ongoing rise in global sea level, water resources, and hydropower potential in many regions of the world (Khalsa et al., 2004). There is a strong coupling between energy exchange, melt of snow and ice, and albedo.