Since 2017, the IGCP 672 /UNESCO project led by Adina Racoviteanu focuses on the transfer of scientific knowledge on monitoring debris-covered glaciers to local partner institutions in high Asia through trainings, workshops and field collaborations.
There is urgency in standardising glacier lake hazard ranking schemes in remote areas of the Himalaya. Our long-term goal is to disseminate methodologies developed under this project via trainings and workshops to local institutions in high Asia and to embed scientific knowledge into local communities. We will use different types of satellite imagery combined with terrain analysis to characterise the surface features of these glaciers, to map their changes over time and to assess their potential for triggering hazards. By combining the science with community involvement, we aim at understanding the socio-economic impacts of glacier hazards in high altitude areas where people live.
PROJECT TEAM
ADINA RACOVITEANU, UK Project leader
Ser Cymru II Marie Curie Fellow, Center for Glaciology, Aberystwyth University, UK
SMRITI BASNETT, India co-leader
Researcher/Future Earth Coordinator, South Asia Regional Office of Future Earth, Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012 India
PANKAJ THAPA, Bhutan co-leader
Associate Professor
Department of Social Science/Geography Department
Sherubtse College, Bhutan
ANUBHA AGGARWAL, Project collaborator
Research associate
TERI Energy and Resources, Delhi, India
FAROOQ MOHD AZAM, Project collaboratorNSPIRE Faculty Fellow
Assistant Professor
Discipline of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Indore (MP)
Rijan Bhakta Kayastha, project collaborator
Associate Professor, Coordinator – Himalayan Cryosphere, Climate, and Disaster Research Center, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering,
School of Science, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal
Tsering Tashi, project collaborator
Hydromet Officer, Cryosphere Services Division, National Center for Hydrology and Meteorology, Royal Government of Bhutan, Thimphu,
CAPACITY BUILDING ACTIVITIES
REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TRAINING
June 2018: BHUTAN
November 2018: NEPAL
A full description of the past workshops are found here
FIELD TRAINING
NOVEMBER 2019: PONKAR GLACIER, NEPAL
A full description of this training is here
Upcoming trainings and workshops related to this project can be found on the UNESCO page :
For any questions about the project, please use this contact form: