News Mania Desk/ Piyal Chatterjee / 17th September 2024
Do you recall the horrific 2013 floods in Kedarnath? It occurred as a result of a glacial lake crossing its border. According to scientists, the hilly regions of India could be devastated by additional floods of this kind because of the growing size and population of ice water bodies brought on by climate change.
There may be 7,500 glacier lakes in the Himalayas in states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, according to remote sensing mapping. 190 of them are deemed to be at “extremely high” danger of triggering a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF), which happens when water trapped behind ice walls or moraine unexpectedly bursts.
The state most susceptible to this menace is Himachal Pradesh. The Himachal Pradesh Council for Science Technology-Environment (HIMCOSTE) Centre on Climate Change conducted a remote sensing-based study that found that the state’s glacial lake count that could result in flash flooding nearly doubled from 562 in 2019 to 1,048 in 2023.
These frozen lakes are located in the Satluj’s basin, which runs from Jhakri in the Shimla district to the river’s source, Mansarover Lake in Tibet.
The 48 tallest glacial lakes are found in Himachal Pradesh; these lakes are categorized as “high risk” by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). There are 40 of them in Sikkim, followed by 35 in Ladakh, 28 in Arunachal Pradesh, 26 in Jammu and Kashmir, and 13 in Uttarakhand.
Out of the 1,048 lakes that were identified in the Satluj catchment area in 2023, 900 are small, covering less than five hectares apiece, 89 are between five and ten hectares, and 59 are more than ten hectares.
“Over the years, the number of glacial lakes has been gradually increasing. It indicates that the effects of climate warming are more serious in the higher Himalayan region. The swift melting of glaciers and less snowfall during the winter could be reasons behind the rise in lakes,” said Dr. Ashim Sattar, a glaciology expert and assistant professor at IIT Bhubaneswar.
About twenty cities and villages on the Sutlej River in Himachal Pradesh face a serious threat from flooding as Parchu Lake in Tibet, China, is beginning to rise once more.
Authorities have been monitoring the lake’s water level constantly since 2005, even if the indicators are not as concerning as they were previously when a lake breach caused chaos in the vicinity of Sutlej. While Parchhu Lake’s current outflow is not concerning, the buildup of water could cause flash floods in the downstream areas depending on its volume and speed.
Climate change is affecting glaciers across the Himalayan region, causing a reduction in the cryospheric cover. This has led to the formation of more high-altitude glacial lakes, which have become increasingly unstable due to rising water levels and glacier calving. These lakes pose a risk of bursting, and depending on the water volume, velocity, and spread, they could endanger downstream habitations and infrastructure. The Rs 150 crore programme, approved in July, is part of the overall Rs 12,554 crore that has been approved by the Centre for urban flood management, firefighting services, and other disaster mitigation efforts for states/Union territories.
All federal and state entities, including research institutes, the Indian Army, and the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), have been sending expeditions to the high-risk lakes as part of the effort to evaluate the structural stability and possible points of glacial lake breach.
