Argha Banerjee
Associate Professor and Chair, Earth and Climate Science
Earth and Climate Science
Himalayan Glaciers, Climate-Cryosphere interaction, Glacier-fed rivers, Glacial landscapes, Glacial Hazards
argha@iiserpune.ac.in
Argha Banerjee obtained his PhD in theoretical physics in 2010 from TIFR, Bombay. He was a postdoctoral fellow at IMSc, Chennai, and INSPIRE faculty fellow at IISER Kolkata before joining IISER Pune in 2015.
Research
Himalayan glaciers in Earth System
Our research seeks to advance the quantitative understanding of the co-evolution of the Himalayan glaciers, snow cover, water, climate, and landscape over various space and time scales. Specific areas of focus include decadal to millennial-scale variability of Himalayan glaciers, the impacts of supraglacial debris cover on recent ice loss, the sensitivity of glaciers to local meteorological forcing, the hydrology of Himalayan catchments, and the evolution of glacial landscapes. We combine theory, computer simulations, field experiments, and remote sensing to address these issues.
Selected Publications
Banerjee, A., and Scherler, D. Steady‐state surface‐elevation distribution of idealised glaciers and rivers, Geophysical Research Letter, 52, e2024GL113948, 2025.
A. Banerjee, C. Sarangi, I. Rashid, and others: A scaling relation for cryoconite holes, Geophysical Research Letters 50, e2023GL104942 (2023).
A. Banerjee: A weak precipitation sensitivity of glacier runoff, Geophysical Research Letters 49 (5), e2021GL096989 (2022).
S. Laha, A. Banerjee, A. Singh, and others: Climate sensitivity of the summer runoff of two glacierised Himalayan catchments with contrasting climate, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 27 (2), 627-645 (2022).
A. Banerjee, and B.A. Wani: Exponentially decreasing erosion rates protect the high-elevation crests of the Himalaya, Earth and Planetary Science letters 497, 22 (2018).