Glacier retreat in Langtang Catchment in Nepal (1980—2010)

Satellite imagery allow us to map and monitor glaciers, and facilitate the study of "benchmark glaciers" – glaciers that have been selected for long-term cyrospheric monitoring. Yala Glacier in the Langtang Catchment of Nepal is a benchmark glacier. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and its partners have been studying Yala glacier and two other glaciers in the same catchment, Lirung and Langtang since the 1980s. As a result of climate change, glaciers in the catchment have reduced around 25% in area between 1980 and 2010, and their frontline has retreated by several hundred metres. The images pictured here show the decadal changes in these three glaciers during this period.