GLACIRES ARE MELTING IN LADAKH


 GLACIERS ARE MELTING IN LADAKH AND HIMALAYA 

LADAKH AT RISK OF WATER SCARCITY IN FUTURE

Glaciers in Ladakh and other parts of the Himalayan region are retreating more rapidly. A recent study on glaciers in Ladakh (Drang-Drung glacier) and local people states that glaciers in Ladakh are melting so rapidly over the year by years. It is a big concern for all Ladakhi people because the main source of water in Ladakh is glacier water. Almost every agriculture field and all wildlife creatures in Ladakh depend on water that is coming from glaciers.


A study was done on Drang-Drung glaciers by experts states that glaciers are melting so fast. That study assessed the changes in the area, snout, and proglacial lake formation using earth observation data of 46 years from 1971 to 2017. The study indicated that the Drang Drung glacier shrunk by 13.84% from 1971 to 2017. The reason behind, why I highlighting about Drang-Drung glacier apart from other glaciers in Ladakh. The Drang-Drung Glacier is likely to be the largest glacier in Ladakh other than the Siachen Glacier with a maximum length of 23 km at an average elevation of 4780m. The glacier lies in the northeastern Himalayan range known as the Zanskar range and east of Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir

2013

                            (1998)                                                                                      (2013)  

A Landsat and Google Earth imagery of the Drang-Drung glacier from 1998 to 2013 to identify the magnitude of the retreat. In Landsat images in 1998, there was no evident proglacial lake at the terminus of the glacier. But By 2013 a series of proglacial lakes are evident in Landsat images at the terminus. Looking at the higher-resolution Google Earth imagery from 2004 and 2013. The retreat and development of the lakes are apparent. The retreat is 200-250 m not large for a glacier of this size but significant for such a short period of time. More importantly, the smooth low slope terminus with pieces breaking off into the proglacial lake in 2013 is indicative of a glacier that is thinning and retreating.

A documentary film “Song of the water spirit” was shoot in Ladakh regarding glacier melting. In that film many local peoples who live in different parts of the villages in Ladakh are telling that, they are facing scarcity of water, especially for irrigation. Many local peoples have also felt a shortage of water during the time of summer when their crops need water for growing because glaciers of water are melting before summer came due to climate change and global warming.

Why our glaciers are melting so fast?  

Our beautiful glaciers are melting very rapidly due to rising in temperatures in Ladakh and across the Himalayas. Ladakh has very little amount of greenery unlike other places, most of the places are barren places, with dry mountains and our environment is very fragile. Since when shooting of Bollywood movies was done in Ladakh. After that, the number of tourist visitors is increasing very rapidly over the year. Due to this number of vehicles is increasing and especially during the peak summer. Till now Ladakh doesn't have proper tourist management and awareness. After Ladakh become Union Territories, Ladakh is changing, and the rate of development in term of building infrastructure, and road are growing rapidly. At the same time, we can't stop and avoid development, but we can develop the places in a sustainable way and with proper planning.

 Is Ladakh developing through proper planning?  Does this development care about our fragile environment? 

Especially in the capital city of Ladakh, people are building hotels, houses, restaurants, shopping complexes, and many more whenever they wish they build anything at anywhere. This will impact town planning. People are damaging our fragile environment in the name of development and tourism. We want proper town planning with equal care for our environment. There must be proper town planning in Leh before it turns into places like Delhi, Bihar, etc. You all can see that nowadays Delhi is facing so many challenges and issues like regarding air pollution, and heat waves. The one main reason is there is no proper town planning during the time of development. Leh is not so far from facing such challenges, if didn't develop it through sustainable and proper planning, then sure maybe after 10 decades we can see such issues. People witnessed and saw it with their eyes that the snow covered on the mountain of Khardong La (La mean passes) was melting so fast before summer begin, but the situation before a decade was completely different. Even since form last few years, snowfall is not going properly in winter as a result many villages in Ladakh facing drought situations. The current generation of people, youths, Leaders, and officers must need to think about the future generation and they must take action wisely and without delay. People of Ladakh must need to aware of consequences and effect of glaciers melting. Some of the major consequences we saw in passed was cloud burst in  Leh during 2010. Every individual people of Ladakh must need to be aware of it and act now before it is too late. 

                          JULLAY!  JAI HIND!

 

Some ways to mitigate climate change issues;

1.      Afforestation or reforestation, planting more and more

2.      Agroforestry farming

3.      Plantation of climate-resilient trees

4.      Using more and more public transport.

5.      Use of hybrid crops.

6.      Venturing into the electric transport

7.      Conservation of forest and water source

8.       Having the best policy and guidelines

9.       Coming up with water-conserving strategies

10.    Climate education must need to make compulsory in every school in Ladakh.

11.    Follow Sonam Wangchuk lifestyle

12.    Building more and more passive solar  & green buildings.

13.    A regulation for tourism intake.

14.    Making youth NGOs that will make awareness about climate change, global warming, etc

Reference 1

Research paper  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12665-018-7601-5

Google blog https://blogs.agu.org/fromaglaciersperspective/2014/07/06/durung-drung-glacier-retreat-zanskar-india/

 Reference 2

A Documentary film “ song of the water spirit”

I Would love to listen to your feedback and suggestion before I post it finally.

Email id; gaphelkuri900@gmail.com


Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 25, 2022 at 9:04 AM

    Wonderful work done by you.. Good to go👍

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 9, 2022 at 1:59 AM

    Studying Glaciers are complex and still there isn't enough research done upon them, remote sensing can be of great help in monitoring them. While using remote sensing products, do specify the proper source data of the imagery used like its spatial and spectral resolution, sensor parameters etc. Regarding the pollution and heat waves, they affect a region and please do a research on why there is pollution around Delhi and why it peaks around certain months.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 11, 2022 at 4:34 AM

    You have good analytical skill. But you need to improve your grammer, writing and communication skills. More you read, more you will be able to write well. Keep the good work and keep writing. All the best, brother.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousDecember 23, 2022 at 3:21 AM

    Great

    ReplyDelete

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