Estimation of glacier dynamics of the major glaciers of Bhutan using geospatial techniques

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the glacier displacement, velocity, and thickness of seven major glaciers of Bhutan and predicted potential glacier lake formation site with its depth. We named the glacier identification (ID) number 1–7 for seven glaciers. From the study, the glacier velocity between the central trunk and snout saw rapid fluctuations in 1976–1978 with an average uncertainty velocity of ± 27.10 m/year and a decreasing velocity trend. The year 2013–2014 has the lowest uncertainty in glacier velocity, with a value of ±1.24 m/year. The glacier velocity progressively increases from the snout to the main central trunk for all the glaciers with a value of 0 to 98.63 m/year. The glacier with the highest average velocity is glacier ID 5, which has a velocity of 25.58 m/year. From 2000 and 2022, all of the glaciers’ thicknesses significantly decreased from 0 to 468.2 m. The thickness of glacier ID 6 was lowered by −192.3 ± 1.99 m, making it the highest among the seven glaciers. In the future, a glacier lake is predicted to form at the base of each glacier. Glacier ID 6 is predicted to form the largest lake with a surface area of 2.572 km2 and a depth of 208.5 m. HIGHLIGHTS The paper is related to glacier dynamics in Bhutan.; Research related to glacier dynamics was never published until now.; This paper presents glacier displacement, velocity, and thickness change over the year.; This paper also presents predicted potential glacier lake formation sites with its possible depth.; Seven largest glaciers of Bhutan were considered as a study area for this study.;

Keywords

• bed topography
• glacier thickness
• glacier velocity
• glaciers