Glacier Monitoring Strategies are a systematic concept and act of collecting data on a glacier's size, volume, mass balance, and movement over time. In India, this is a strategic and systematic action taken by various Ministries and Institutes to monitor glaciers and glacial lakes in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR).
The need for this monitoring arose because the fluctuation of mountain glaciers is a high-confidence indicator of air-temperature trends and climate change. Himalayan glaciers are considered the country's 'reserve bank' of water, and their accelerated retreat threatens water security and increases the risk of disasters. While front variation observations in India began in the late 18th century, a massive program to monitor every glacier of 10 sq km and above in the Indian Himalayas was launched in 2015 by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
The mechanism is multi-pronged, combining remote sensing with in-situ measurements. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) leads the use of advanced Remote Sensing and GIS technologies to track changes in glacier mass and extent. The Central Water Commission (CWC), the nodal agency under the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS), monitors glacial lakes and water bodies, with the CWC currently monitoring 2,485 glacial lakes larger than 10 hectares in the Himalayan river basins. Field-based observations are conducted by institutions like the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), which uses the glaciological method of placing stake networks to measure mass balance, and installs sophisticated Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) to track meteorological changes and melt rates.
These strategies connect to the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE), a key component of India's National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). Furthermore, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) implements the National Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) Risk Mitigation Programme (NGRMP), which includes installing early-warning systems to prevent disasters like the 2013 Kedarnath tragedy and the 2021 Chamoli disaster. Recent changes include the constitution of a Steering Committee on 'Monitoring of Glacier' by the MoJS to coordinate cross-ministerial efforts, and the launch of Phase-I of the NGRMP in vulnerable states.