Application Call for Winter School on “Application of Field and Remote Sensing techniques for Snow and Glacier Studies”

Application Call for Winter School on “Application of Field and Remote Sensing techniques for Snow and Glacier Studies”

18 September, 2022

Winter School 2022

Application of Field and Remote Sensing techniques for Snow and Glacier Studies 

CAPAcity BuiLding in glacio-hydro-meteorological rEsearch in Nepal (CAPABLE-NEPAL)

Date: 13-23 October 2022, Kathmandu

Time: 9:30 – 12:30 AM; 1:30 -5:00 PM

Venue: Kathmandu Centre for Research and Education (KCRE), CAS-TU, Kirtipur

Field Campaign: Changri-Nup and Pokalde Glacier, Everest Region, Khumbu

Field Campaign date: 15 November to 3 December (Only for selected participants))

The detail of the program will be circulated only to the selected Participants

About the Winter School

Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (CDHM), Tribhuvan University (TU) in collaboration with Institute of Research for Development, France (IRD-France) and Kathmandu Center for Research and Education (KCRE) is organizing a winter school on “Application of field and remote sensing techniques for snow and glacier studies”. The program is organized as a part of new initiatives “CAPAcity BuiLding in glacio-hydro-meteorological rEsearch in Nepal (CAPABLE-NEPAL)” supported by IRD-France to strengthen the capacity of young researchers in understanding the cryospheric process in the high-mountain.

The winter school aims to introduce participants to the topic of glaciers, the available field and remote sensing techniques available to monitor them. The combined laboratory and field methodology that relies on hands-on experiential learning shall be applied. The laboratory-based workshops aim at establishing and sharing training materials to allow participants to develop hands-on skills in the use of remote sensing, GIS for glacier monitoring. Some of the motivated participants may have an opportunity to participate on field-based training in the Everest region (Changri-Nup and Pokalde Glacier). During field campaign, the participants will be trained on practical skills needed for field-based monitoring of glaciers (e.g. ablation and accumulation measurement, DGPS survey, operation of automatic weather station, installation of Micro Rain Radar etc.).

The course is equivalent to three credit hours as per TU rule. Certificate will be provided to each participant upon completion of the course.

Learning Outcomes

The participants will obtain:

1. theoretical understanding of glaciers, glacier hydrology and climate modeling
2. field and remote sensing techniques available to monitor mountain glaciers
3. skills in the use of remote sensing and GIS for glacier monitoring
4. practical skills needed for field-based monitoring of glaciers

Expected participants

Targeted participants are master and PhD students, early career researchers, faculties, practitioners and government employees interested to work on cryosphere.

Course Contents

Glaciology:

1. Lecture (Field glaciology): Principles of Cryosphere components, glacier mass balance and dynamics, field measurement techniques needed to understand the link between climate and glaciers
2. Field data analysis (theory): methods to calculate surface glacier mass balance and energy balance based on data collected in the field (ablation, accumulation data and in-situ meteorological records)
3. Hands-on: practical training to calculate surface mass balance and basic skills needed to calculate point energy balance on glaciers, DGPS measurement and data processing

Remote sensing and GIS:

1. Lecture: principle of remote sensing, review of existing optical and passive sensors and their application for glacier monitoring at different spatio-temporal scales
2. Hands-on: Searching and ordering of Satellite data repositories, image pre-processing (atmospheric/topographic correction, stacking, clipping, (re-projecting, geo-referencing), image classification (ice and snow mapping, masking vegetation and clouds, change analysis and uncertainty), Supervised image classification (SCP plugin in QGIS), terrain analysis, glacier area mapping from various sensors, processing of stereo data to calculate glacier mass and volume change (geodetic mass balance), glacier dynamics by feature tracking (IMCORR plugin), Multi-criteria debris cover mapping, Optimal localization, uncertainty analysis

Hydrology:

1. Lecture: introduction to glacio-hydrology principles, and overview of field measurements needed to understand the processes and the link between climate, glaciers and river flows
2. Field data analysis (theory): methods used to calculate river discharges based on data collected in the field (discharge measurements by dilution method)
3. Hands-on: Introduction to physically based and distributed glacio-hydrological modelling of glacierized catchment

Climate Modelling:

1. Lecture: overview of climate data source, modelling the climate system, global and atmospheric models
2. Hands-on: processing climate models and reanalysis data (python); LMDZ or MAR practical sessions (bash) with a python script to compute climate trends (online server), ERA5 practical sessions (bash) with a python script to compute climate trends (online server)

Application process

Graduate students, government employees, and early career scientists from research institutes from Nepal can apply. Priority will be given to research scientists and students who are focusing on cryosphere studies.

Applicants will be considered on a first-come-first-served basis, considering they meet the required qualifications listed below.

* An interest in cryosphere science and a basic understanding of earth science or environmental science.

* Basic knowledge of the QGIS/ArcGIS and Python or similar programming language

* Basic knowledge of the following areas: cryosphere, climate, meteorology, hydrology, climate change, remote sensing

* Background of hydrology and meteorology, environment science, engineering, geology and geography

* Preferably at least an MSc in a relevant subject

Interested candidates are requested to apply here.

Training Modalities

– Online theory session from IRD-France

– Face to face theory sessions

– Face-to-face tutorial with hands-on exercises and field training

– Evaluation / assessment

Important dates

28 September 2022: Application deadline

30 September 2022: Announcement of selected participants

13-23 October 2022: Theoretical and hands-on training

15-03 December 2022: Glacier field expedition to Everest Region (Changri Nup and Pokalde)

Contact: Dr. Dibas Shrestha (Email: st.dibas@yahoo.com, dibas.shrestha@cdhm.tu.edu.np, Mob. No: 9841420676), Dr. Binod Dawadi (dawadibinod@gmail.com, binod.dawadi@cdhm.tu.edu.np, Mob No: 9851079900)