The Ministry of Earth Sciences under the government of India has collaborated with the European Union (EU) and premier academic institutions to study the behaviour of changing glaciers in India and other countries. This initiative has been undertaken under the CryoSCOPE project at an estimated cost of approximately € 6 million. The initiative aims to analyse the interaction of ice, snow and permafrost with atmospheric and water systems in the Indian Himalayas, and other regions. For this, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee and the University of Kashmir will coordinate with the European partners.
The project combines advanced groundwater monitoring, satellite data, modelling and artificial intelligence to enhance the forecasts for cryospheric and hydrological changes. The data and insights from the analysis will be used to improve the precision of weather and climate models over the Himalayas. Further, automatic weather stations, steam gauges and tubidity sensors and time lapse cameras are being installed in Ladakh’s Chalong river catchment and Panikhar region to monitor glacier-fed rivers, the depth of the snow and the movement of sediment.