Machoi Glacier is Retreating

Context

A new study conducted by the Department of Geo-informatics at Kashmir University has found that Machoi glacier in Kashmir lost 29% of its area between 1972 and 2019. The data was collected by satellite remote sensing and field studies.

What is a Glacial retreat?

• This is a process by which glaciers lose material at their "lower" section. 
• It is also called wastage.
• During the retreat, the ends of the glacier do not extend as far down-valley as they previously did.
• Glaciers may retreat when the ice melts quicker than the snowfall which can accumulate and form new glacial ice.
• Higher temperatures and less snowfall are the main cause behind the many glaciers around the world retreating.

About Machoi Glacier retreat

• The Machoi glacier is located in the Dras region in northeast Ladakh and feeds the river dras.
• It has a mean elevation of 4,800 metres above sea level.
• The name ‘Machoi’ is derived from two Kashmiri words – mechmeaning ‘dirt’ and hoi meaning bowl.
• The glacier’s peak is pyramidal in shape and marks its accumulation zone.
• The study assessed changes in the area, frontal retreat and the mass balance (the difference between the rates at which the glacier is accumulating and losing mass) of the Machoi glacier from 1972 to 2019.

Reasons behind the melting

• Glaciers melt due to climate change and depleted precipitation.
• The Machoi glacier is also near the Srinagar-Kargil Highway and exposed to the automobile exhaust and associated emissions.
• Machoi is also susceptible tocryoconite holes.

Other Glacier melts of Himalaya

• Kolahoi is the largest glacier of Kashmir Himalaya.
• Thajiwas glacier
• Pensilungpa Glacier