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1000 glaciers in Kashmir to be monitored | 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. |
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