Essential study of Karakoram glacier velocity products extracted using various techniques

Abstract

The present study focuses on using remote sensing techniques to estimate the Karakoram glacier velocity that emulates glacier’s reaction to climate warming. Proposed study is essential and critical due to the vast spatial and temporal variability of the Karakoram Glaciers, fieldwork difficulties, and the lack of in situ data in the Karakoram. It focuses on assessing the robustness in extracting the velocity products of the Rimo Glacier, Karakoram using DInSAR, Intensity tracking, and Normalized Cross-Correlation. The results indicate that the average velocity of the Rimo glacier estimated from DInSAR and correlation techniques are around 22.4 cm/day and 5.2 cm/day respectively which is similar to earlier studies. Intensity tracking based average velocity is found to be around 18 cm/day. Results obtained are also compared with field-based measurements for corroboration. Continuous monitoring of the velocity of Karakoram glaciers is necessary to understand the complex and evolving trends of surging in the future.

Keywords:

• Karakoram
• Rimo glacier
• DInSAR
• velocity
• glacier surge

Acknowledgment

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support and cooperation given by Dr. Krishna Venkatesh, Director, Centre For Incubation, Innovation, Research and Consultancy (CIIRC) – Jyothy Institute of Technology, Bengaluru.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Authors contribution

Geetha Priya Murugesan conceptualized the idea and proposal, DST provided the necessary resources to carry out this research. Sivaranjani Sivalingam, Ankur Pandit, and Krishnaveni Dhulipala processed and analyzed the datasets. Geetha Priya Murugesan and Sivaranjani Sivalingam wrote the manuscript. Anil Vishnupant Kulkarni provided essential technical inputs that helped improve the manuscript.

Consent to publish

The datasets used in the present study are open access datasets downloaded from ESA Data hub and USGS Earth explorer and the results are generated by the author in the laboratory. None of the data used belongs to any individual person in any form.

Data availability statement

The dataset utilized/analyzed during the current study will be available from the corresponding author upon request.

Ethical statement

All ethical practices have been followed in relation to the development, data analysis, writing, and publication of this research article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Strategic Programmes Large Initiatives and Coordinated Action Enabler – Climate Change Program (SPLICE-CCP), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, under National Network Program on Himalayan Cryosphere with the project no. DST/CCP/NHC/156/2018(G).