Siachen Glacier

Siachen Glacier

News: NJ 9842 is the known boundary between India and Pakistan, but fewer know about 5Q 131 05 084, the number assigned to the Siachen Glacier by the Geological Survey of India (GSI), a disputed area between the two countries since 1984.

What was the First GSI survey of Siachen Glacier? What is its significance?
• The first GSI survey of the Siachen Glacier was conducted in June 1958 by an Assistant Geologist V. K. Raina, with the GSI. The survey aimed to study the Himalayan glacier systems as part of the International Geophysical Year activities.
• The survey holds significance for India as it marks the official Indian exploration of the Siachen Glacier. The peaceful environs surveyed in 1958 turned into a conflict zone when India launched Operation Meghdoot in 1984 to secure its presence in the region.
• The GSI survey provides historical evidence of India's early knowledge and scientific engagement with the glacier, countering any claims of Pakistani control since the beginning.

What is Siachen Glacier?
• The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about 35°25′16″N 77°06′34″E, just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan.
• It is 76 km long, making it the longest glacier in the Karakoram and second-longest in the world’s nonpolar area (After Fedchenko in Tajkistan).
• It is part of the region known as the “Third Pole”, because mountain glaciers in this region contain more fresh water than is found anywhere else on Earth except for the polar ice caps.
• It is fed by several tributary glaciers and forms the source of the Nubra River, which flows into the Indus River.
• It receives most of its precipitation from lowpressure systems called “western disturbances” that bring snowfall to the region.