Frontal Changes of Gangotri Glacier, Garhwal Himalaya, between 1935 and 2022

Abstract

Gangotri Glacier is one of the most thoroughly investigated glaciers in the Indian Himalaya in terms of terminus monitoring. This study aims to update the frontal retreat of Gangotri Glacier between 1935 and 2022 using a large scale Geological Survey of India map, remote sensing images, and repeated photography. Gangotri Glacier�s retreat rate varied significantly during the study period. This glacier receded by 1727 � 51m (19.8 � 0.2 m a?1) between 1935 and 2022. The retreat of Gangotri Glacier decreased from 2001 to 2006 (7.0 � 4.0 m a?1) compared to the previous observation (1980�2001; 21.0 � 1.2 m a?1) but increased about three times between 2006 and 2017 (21.9 � 1.9 m a?1). Furthermore, from 2017 to 2022, the frontal retreat accelerated by about 1.5 times (33.8 � 6.7 m a?1) compared to the period between 2006 and 2017. The findings of the present study are consistent with ground based survey conducted by the Geological Survey of India. � 2023, Geological Society of India, Bengaluru, India.