Glacier retreat and proglacial lake dynamics of Darma Valley, Central Himalaya, India

The physiography and climate of the Higher Himalayas are uniquely characterised. Some phenomenal changes, such as variability of glacier cover, lake area and glacier retreat are dynamic and are inevitable due to global temperature rises. This study is conducted using remote-sensing data. A total of 17 glaciers are mapped using Sentinel-2 (2020), Landsat 5 (1994) and Corona declassified (1966) data. In 1966, the total area of glaciers was 74.309 +/- 0.1478 km2, which decreased to 72.072 +/- 0.370 km2 in 2020. The estimated total loss of glacier area in 54 years (1966-2020) is 2.236 +/- 0.016 km2. The average total retreat of terminii in 54 years is 439.30 +/- 13.795 m and the an- nual retreat is 7.91 +/- 0.255 m. In the same valley, six major glacial lakes were also observed to extend their surface, with the most expanding lake (GLK - 5) expanding by 2,010.7 +/- 30.26% in 54 years.