The Himalayan glaciers are divided into three groups, the western, central and eastern glaciers. As per the Himalayan glacier inventory of the Space Applications Centre of ISRO, there are 32,392 glaciers distributed over three main glacier basins of the Indus, Ganga and the Brahmaputra.
These three basins have 16,049; 6,237 and 10,106 glaciers respectively that occupy an area of 32,246; 18,393 and 20,543 sq km respectively.
The Siachen glacier in Nubra valley, Karakoram, is the longest glacier in the Himalayas and the second longest outside the polar and sub-polar regions. It is 75 km long. The Karakoram has some of the biggest glaciers in the Himalayas. The second longest at 74 km is the Fedchenko glacier in the Pamir Mountains. The third longest is the Hispar glacier at 59 km.
The Pir Panjal Range is a group of mountains in the Lesser Himalayas. Glaciers in this range are less numerous and smaller in size than in Karakoram and are melting at a faster rate. Sonapani Glacier in the Chandra river valley of Lahul and Spiti is 15 km long.
The Gangotri Glacier in the Kumaon-Garhwal region of the Himalayas is 30 km in length. This glacier is the source of the River Ganga.
Langtang and Khumbu are some of the major glaciers in Nepal.
Picture Credit : Google
