Cracking the ice code

Straddling the grey rainshadow zone at 5,080 metres above sea level between a rainy,temperate area and an arid,windy zone is the Chota Shigri glacier at Spiti,Lindas current muse. His colleagues at JNU also study the chemical components of water in the touchstone of Indias glaciers: the massive,awe-inspiring Gangotri.

Gangotri falls on the West,while the glaciers in the East of the Himalayas are completely different. While the massive ice faces still remain much of an enigma some glaciers are retreating,while some are not as the scientists have found the challenges on both sides of the Himalayas remain the same.

One of the biggest challenges is also one of the simplest: what the eyes see. P G Jose,PhD from JNU in glacier studies,took time getting used to just looking around glaciers. No matter how many times we go to a glacier,it takes a week of camping to acclimatise to the conditions near the glacier. But hardest of all is getting used to looking at swathe upon swathe,and kilometre upon kilometre,of dazzlingly bright whiteness. All you see is just white. It can drive you crazy. You have to go mentally prepared for the fact that everything you will see for the next 30 days will be white, he says.

But those are inner struggles. Other challenges are much less cheerful. There is always a threat to life on Himalayan glaciers,with the area being one of the most avalanche-prone in the world. The Army also controls key points on the Himalayas,like the Rohtang Pass,which has to be crossed to reach Shigri. But most brutal of all is the funding issue.

Funding amp; manpower

WORKING in highly inhospitable terrain means every part of the body has to be retro-fitted,and it comes at a cost. Snow boots finding a pair that fits just right is very important cost anything upward of Rs 30,000 for each pair. The JNU team uses bamboo sticks to measure the width and balance of the glacier. Only last year they first ventured to try a single-frequency Ground Penetrative Radar GPR,which is priced at Rs 40 lakh. Advanced international glacier studies use multi-frequency GPR with advanced antennae to take measurements of the glacier. At the moment,JNU can only afford the single frequency GPR.

With the GPR,last year,the team also nailed down another victory: a rope trolley over the treacherous Chandra river,a fast flowing,untamed river,known to freeze over in winters. For over eight years the group had been taking a longer route to ford the river to reach the Chota Shigri glacier.

The claims of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC that Himalayan glaciers will melt by 2030s and the impending Copenhagen summit in December last year gave the studies of glaciers an ironic shot in the arm. The Ministry of Environment and Forests recently gave a Rs 6 crore grant to ISRO to study glacier retreat through satellite imagery. While the alarm raised by the IPCC has been exposed to be just speculation,the new urgency in studying glaciers remains.

The Department of Science and Technology set up Indias first body dedicated to Himalayan glaciers in June last year,kickstarting the Centre for Glaciology,as part of the existing Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology WIHG,with a Rs 30 crore grant. The problem,however,still remains scarcity of manpower. With the field of glacier study still being new,there arent enough candidates. Currently,the Centre for Glaciology has only one full-time scientist.

India does not have enough trained manpower for glacier studies. There arent enough students studying or working in the field of glaciers. Glacier studies are complex and interdisciplinary. Universities dont offer glacier studies as a study option. Most fields are still centering around Physics and Chemistry. For glacier studies,we need students trained in creating models,in mathematics etc, says Dr A K Dubey from WIHG.

There are currently six students doing their PhD at the institute. The number of trained glaciologists will go up from this year,but its going to be a slow process, he says.

The science

THE Himalayan glacier system poses a complex challenge: there are about 10,000 glaciers,ranging from 5 square kilometres to 30 square kilometres in size. The consensus within the Indian scientific community,which has researched the glaciers independently from the IPCC,is that some major glaciers are retreating,but not at the pace the IPCC declared. While the Gangotri glacier is melting,Siachen glacier,the worlds highest battlefield,is advancing,say scientists. Glaciers cheek-to-cheek with each other are showing both advancing and retreating motions.

Currently,we have very little data on Indian glaciers. But other aspects like what impact the glacier melt will have on local communities socially and economically also need to be studied, says Dr M S Palni,director,G B Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development. Everything is interlinked. We need to take best practices from various states like the plastic bag ban in Himachal Pradesh,and implement them in this fragile ecosystem.

The Gangotri is retreating. The pace of retreat,however,seems to have slowed down, says Dubey. A white paper being studied by the Ministry of Environment and Forests,a compilation of studies by scientist V K Raina,former DG,Geological Survey of India,is at the centre of the debate pitched against the IPCC.

The paper,which has collated several glacier studies,says that the Gangotri glacier had been showing a rapid retreat at an average of 20 metre per year till 2000,but between September 2007 and June 2009 it is practically at a standstill. Other glaciers,like Machoi glacier in Ladakh,Darung Drung,Bhagirati Karak and Zemu,dont appear to be retreating,the study says.

Overall,the glaciers are melting,with new ecosystems claiming their place,suggest some papers. P S Negi,from Wadia Institute,points out in a paper that lichen has begun to grow near the snout of the Chorabari glacier. The glaciers from the Karakoram range appear to be advancing.

With literally a thousand choices to pick from,scientists are currently studying the glaciers which are relatively smaller. The Wadia institute is studying the Chora bari and the Dokriani glacier. The Geological Survey of India is studying the Gangotri,so is JNU.

gangotri

SPANNING over 30 square kilometres,the Gangotri is Indias holiest,and possibly even dirtiest glacier. Being a destination for both the religious and the adventurous pilgrim,Gangotri has massive amounts of debris on it.

For those studying the Gangotri,it means a change of regimen. The fact that Gangotri,the source of the River Ganga,is a spot with immense spiritual value for Hindus leads to a peculiar condition for the glaciologists: they cant consume non-vegetarian food,a major source of energy,on the glacier. Eating nutrient-rich food like chocolate bars,nuts,and meat,is of paramount importance on the glaciers.

If you are picky about your food choices as a person,then you can forget about going on a glacier, says Parmanand Sharma,JNU PhD in glaciers. To keep the equation between body heat and nutrition,a delicate balance needs to be followed. Scientists have to wear very thin cotton garments underneath typically,a fleece jacket and a down feather jacket.

On the glaciers,you dont feel like drinking water. But you have to constantly ingest fluid. While chocolates would ordinarily freeze solid on the glacier,the bars have to smuggled in places near the body to keep them warm and edible. While ordinarily the scientists would consume protein-rich tinned meat,on the Gangotri the diet focuses on nuts,vegetables and dal. We eat absolutely everything. You cant afford to waste even a single crumb of food, he says.

The footfall on the Gangotri glacier and the number of people who are not so conscientious about their garbage is unparalleled.

The JNU team is studying more than 300 water samples from the Gangotri,analysing the sub-surface hydrology: the chemistry of the ice.

The glacier is the muse,literally. After spending 20-30 day periods on a glacier for about four times a year,scientists head back to their respective labs,labouriously going through collected information for the rest of the year. The ice has just started chipping away,and young glaciologists are ready for the challenge.

A colleague had slipped down a crevasse,and it was only his huge haversack that saved him from falling down the length of the chasm. The glacier is absolutely unforgiving. The community is small,but rooted. On the glacier,everyone is equal. The porters,who cook our food,are equal to the scientist who drills holes. We are all dependent on each other for our very survival, he says. Its a survival these young scientists will ford ice to protect.