Retreat of Pindari glacier and detection of snout position using remote sensing technology

Pindari glacier is the source to Pindar River, one of the major tributary to the River Alaknanda. This study aims to assess the retreat of the Pindari glacier in four decades using visual interpretation of remote sensing data. The GPS technology (coordinates) was used to determine the latest snout position in 2014. The location of snout was marked using series of periodic Landsat imagery with manual digitization process. We marked the snow area and snout point for the different years by using satellite data. Further, these datasets were compared to measure the changes in the glacier position and the shift distances. The cumulative glacial retreat was recorded 1569.01 m with average glacier retreat rate of 51.23 m/year within the study duration (1976-2014). The glacier retreat rate/year was faster during 1976-94 than 1999-2014. The finding of the study may bring attention to the scientific society and trigger more vigorous study on quantifying glacier retreat in Pindari as well as other glaciers of the Himalaya.