1000 glaciers in Kashmir to be monitored
February 2nd, 2010 - 3:54 pm ICT by ANIParis, Feb 2 (ANI): The intense public debate on how rapidly the Himalayan glaciers are retreating highlights the necessity for the constant monitoring of glaciers worldwide by satellites, with a ESA (European Space Agency) project creating inventory data for more than 1000 glaciers in Kashmir.
Since glaciers are among the most reliable indicators of climate change and because they can have a major influence on water availability, knowledge of the recent changes and future behaviour is of great interest for climate scientists and governing bodies.
A key to assess these changes or to model their future evolution is the existence of a detailed glacier inventory.
Data from satellites allow scientists to measure glacier extent in detail, providing authoritative evidence of trends.
They also allow local measurements to be expanded to a regional scale.
Considering the valuable role satellites can play in determining the state of Earth’s glaciers, the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) has called for the systematic monitoring of glaciers by satellites in support of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
In 2007, ESA started the GlobGlacier project as a major effort to develop and apply existing methodologies to monitor glaciers and contribute to a global glacier inventory using satellite observations.
GlobGlacier, part of ESA’s ‘Data User Element’, is adding about 20,000 of the estimated 160,000 glaciers worldwide to this inventory to allow their histories to be adequately tracked.
Kashmir, part of the Indian Himalayas, is one of the selected regions where little information is available on overall glacier extent or changes.
GlobGlacier is creating inventory data for more than 1000 glaciers in this region.
The inventory combines information on glacier outlines based on archived satellite data from the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) instruments with topographic information from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and the Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) from ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer).
When a time series of suitable images are available for a certain region, changes in glacier length and extent can be calculated.
“Such data allow scientists to assess the overall pattern of changes in a larger region for a better determination of climatic change impacts,” said GlobGlacier Project Manager Frank Paul from the University of Zurich. (ANI)
- ESA's latest map of world's land cover unveiled - Dec 22, 2010
- New satellite images reveal how world's mangrove forests have declined - Aug 19, 2010
- Climate studies to benefit from 12 years of satellite aerosol data - Nov 11, 2009
- Melting glaciers to contribute 12cm to world sea-level increases by 2100 - Jan 11, 2011
- Scientists unravel climate patterns from glacial debris - May 22, 2012
- 2010 - one of the two warmest years on record - Jul 01, 2011
- GOCE satellite maps Earth's gravity with precision - Mar 05, 2011
- Satellite images show mangroves shrinking - Aug 22, 2010
- Polar ice melt 'accelerating rapidly, raising sea level' - Mar 09, 2011
- World's tallest peaks most vulnerable to climate change - Dec 04, 2011
- Scientists estimate sea level rise by studying past carbon dioxide levels - May 02, 2011
- Researchers create new aerosol database - Nov 11, 2009
- Chunk of Greenland glacier breaks up overnight - Jul 13, 2010
- Satellites can track human rights abuses - Apr 18, 2011
- CryoSat to investigate Earth's ice cover - Feb 16, 2010
Tags: archived satellite data, climate observing system, climate scientists, etm, european space agency, framework convention on climate change, future evolution, gcos, glacier inventory, global climate observing system, governing bodies, himalayan glaciers, indian himalayas, inventory data, landsat thematic mapper, public debate, regional scale, satellite observations, un framework convention on climate change, water availability