Paper 1 GS :Why Glaciers in Sikkim are losing mass faster than other parts of the Himalaya? 10M

Paper 1 GS :Why Glaciers in Sikkim are losing mass faster than other parts of the Himalaya? 10M

According to the study  published in Science of the Total Environment assessed the response of 23 glaciers of Sikkim to climate change for the period of 1991-2015 and revealed that, glaciers in Sikkim have retreated and deglaciated significantly from 1991 to 2015. Small-sized glaciers in Sikkim are retreating while larger glaciers are thinning due to climate change.

Comparison of skimm and Himalayan glaciers 

Glaciers are responsible for as much as 30 percent of the ice loss in different parts of the mountain range, despite comprising just 10 to 15 percent of the total glacier population.

comparing to Sikkim glaciers  to other Himalayan glaciers, the regions, the magnitude of dimensional changes and debris growth are higher in the Sikkim.  A major shift in glacier behavior has occurred around 2000. Contrary to the western and central Himalaya, where glaciers are reported to have slowed down in recent decades, the Sikkim glaciers have shown negligible deceleration after 2000. Summer temperature rise has been prime driver of glacier changes.

Parameters to understand deglaciation  are :

To understand the various parameters of Sikkim Himalayas glaciers such as length, area, debris cover, snow-line altitude (SLA), size, length, debris cover, slope, aspect, and glacial lakes, velocity, and downwasting, and explored interlinkage among them to present a clear picture about status and behavior of glaciers in the Sikkim.

Reasons forGlaciers in Sikkim are losing mass faster than other parts of the Himalaya

1)Bheaviour of glacier in Sikkim :The behavior of glaciers in the region is heterogeneous and found to be primarily determined by glacier size, debris cover, and glacial lakes. 

2)Climate change impact :Though a generalized mass loss is observed for both small (less than 3 km square) and large-sized glaciers (greater than 10 km square), they seem to adopt different mechanisms to cope with the ongoing climatic changes. 

3)Downwasting :While the first adjust mostly by deglaciation, the latter lose mass through downwasting or thinning.

4)The Sikkim glaciers have been poorly studied till now, and field-based mass balance measurements have been limited to only one glacier (ChangmeKhangpu) and for a short period (1980-1987). 

5)Topography Topography also give evidences that glaciers melting. The studies are regional in nature and do no give emphasis on individual glacier behavior. Besides, most of the existing measurements in this region have been focused on length/area changes only. Velocity estimations have also been extremely rare.

6)Small-sized glaciers in Sikkim are retreating while larger glaciers are thinning due to climate change. 

7)climate variability :climatic variability of the region. While, the glaciers in the eastern and central part of Indian are continuously retreating, some of the glaciers in the Western part of Himalaya are reported to be stable or advancing. 

As far as entire  Himalaya region is concerned, the country’s national space agency - Indian  (ISRO) - has monitored the glacier advance and retreat of 2,018 glaciers, using satellite data of 2000-01 to 2010-11. Its analysis shows that 87% of glaciers showed no change, 12% glaciers retreated, and 1% glaciers have advanced. 

Wayforward:

1)creating awareness among common people regarding water supplies and possible glacier hazards, particularly to those communities that are living in close proximity in the region.

2)systematically study of   the causal relationship between glacier parameters and various influencing factors will helpful to understand the glaciers. 

The behavior of glaciers provides the clearest indication of climatic change in high mountain regions. Long-term atmospheric warming has caused the recession of glaciers across the Himalayas

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