Glacier Volume Estimation Using Laminar-Flow and Volume–Area Scaling Techniques in the Chenab Basin

A proper estimate of glacier stored water is helpful to assess the long-term availability of water in any river basin. A method based on the laminar flow and volume–area scaling is used to estimate glacier stored water in the Chenab basin. Here, we used Landsat 8 images from 2015 to 2019 for the estimation of glacier surface velocity. The laminar flow technique needs surface velocity and slope of the glaciers, and other parameters which are assumed to be constants. The surface velocity of 223 glaciers was assessed by using the sub-pixel correlation technique, applied to Landsat 8 images. The slope was estimated using ASTER DEM. We calculated the average surface velocity and thickness as 11.12 ± 0.05 m a−1 and 54.56 ± 7.4 m, respectively, and the maximum ice thickness as 470 ± 63.9 m. Moreover, we have developed a volume–area scaling equation using laminar flow estimates and applied it to the remaining 1945 glaciers. The glacier-stored water estimated for 2168 Chenab glaciers covering 2519 ± 125.8 km2 area has been estimated as 145.61 ± 26.2 Gt. Our investigation provides decent estimates of glacier stored water, which helps to advance hydrological studies, thereby developing innovative mitigation strategies.