Indian Himalayan Region
WHERE? Ladakh Region (Western Himalaya) is crucial, as its population heavily relies on glacier meltwater for their livelihoods. The Stok Glacier is a small mountain glacier (with area of 0.74 km2) and extends from 5300 to 5850 m a.s.l. The Chenab River (Western Himalaya), one of the five major rivers of the Indus River system, spans across an area of around 27,195 km2 in the Indian region. Approximately, 10% of the total catchment area of the basin is covered by nearly 1000 large and small glaciers draining into the Chenab River. The Alaknanda Basin (Central Himalaya) has a catchment coverage of about 11,396 km2, including 433 km2 under glacier landscape and 288 km2 under fluvial landscape. The basin experiences sub-tropical, humid and alpine climatic types. The Teesta basin (Eastern Himalaya) in Sikkim, India has 705.54 km2 of glaciers.
WHY? The Himalayan glaciers are crucial for both scientific research and public awareness, providing essential water resources for 240 million people in the region and an additional 1.65 billion downstream across 12 major river basins, including the Ganges, Indus, and Mekong. The selected basins of Chenab, Alaknanda, and Teestaare critical for water security and hydropower potential. These basins not only sustain local communities but also play a significant role in regional energy production, highlighting the urgent need to understand changing cryospheric dynamics in the face of climate change.