{"id":32121,"date":"2024-11-13T18:11:47","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T12:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=32121"},"modified":"2024-11-13T18:11:50","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T12:41:50","slug":"expanding-himalayan-glacial-lakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/13-11-2024\/expanding-himalayan-glacial-lakes","title":{"rendered":"Expanding Himalayan Glacial Lakes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Disaster Management<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As per The Central Water Commission&#8217;s (CWC) report, <strong>Himalayan glacial lakes are rapidly expanding,<\/strong> posing an increasing threat to communities and ecosystems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Major Findings<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The total inventory area of glacial lakes within India increased from 1,962 hectares in 2011 to 2,623 in 2024 i.e. <strong>a 33.7% increase.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It also identified <strong>67 lakes in India<\/strong> that witnessed an <strong>over 40% increase<\/strong> in surface area, placing them in the high-risk category for potential GLOFs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh <\/strong>showed the most notable expansions, signalling a heightened risk of GLOFs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Glacial lakes and other water bodies across the Himalayan region saw an overall area increase of <strong>10.81%<\/strong> in 2024.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The<strong> transboundary risk <\/strong>is posed by expanding glacial lakes in neighbouring countries, including <strong>Bhutan, Nepal and China.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are Glacial Lakes?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A glacial lake is a body of water that <strong>originates from a glacier.<\/strong> It typically forms at the foot of a glacier, but may form on, in, or under it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They are divided into two groups:<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Ice-contact lakes<\/strong> which are characterized by the presence of <strong>glacier ice terminating in lake water<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Distal lakes <\/strong>that are somewhat distant, but still <strong>influenced by, the presence of glaciers and\/or ice sheets.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are Glacial Lake Outbursts?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As glacial lakes grow larger in size, they become more dangerous because they are mostly dammed by<strong> unstable ice or sediment<\/strong> composed of <strong>loose rock and debris.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In case the <strong>boundary around them breaks,<\/strong> huge amounts of water rush down the side of the mountains, which cause flooding in the downstream areas called <strong>glacial lake outburst floods or GLOF.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2013 Uttarakhand\u2019s Kedarnath witnessed flash floods along with a GLOF caused by the <strong>Chorabari Tal glacial lake,<\/strong> killing thousands of people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXdw6aLwOfc0lCN2qTh9IjOyaMp0EDNHgLJgDxUUgL7JD1uEfzaHkrOcPfM2cWcxLza6fSbi4H0-YywjYtmmzVbh_L2l-Ah2pBIwxtZSTHyqc9ec6cFz4IBu_Nrmc0LWd_oOVYhD?key=XJ-H_ZXm1FNG2WXHha-R9h0y\" alt=\"What are Glacial Lake Outbursts\" style=\"width:552px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Reasons for the Glacial Lake Outbursts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Rising Temperatures:<\/strong> The warming climate is causing glaciers to melt more rapidly in the Himalayas, contributing to the formation of new glacial lakes and the expansion of existing ones.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Increased Glacier Instability:<\/strong> The rapid melting and retreat of glaciers lead to the destabilization of the moraines (ridges of rock and debris) that hold back water.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Monsoon Rains:<\/strong> The Indian monsoon season brings intense rainfall to the Himalayan region, which increases the volume of water flowing into glacial lakes.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Earthquakes and Landslides: <\/strong>The Himalayan region is seismically active, and earthquakes trigger landslides or rockfalls into glacial lakes.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Development Projects: <\/strong>In the Himalayan region, there is increasing pressure to develop infrastructure, increasing the risk of landslides.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lack of Monitoring and Preparedness:<\/strong> Many of the glacial lakes in India are not regularly monitored, especially those in remote areas.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Consequences of GLOFs in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Flooding: <\/strong>A GLOF causes severe downstream flooding, wiping out villages, infrastructure, and farmland in affected areas.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Erosion and Riverbank Damage: <\/strong>Sudden floods cause significant erosion of riverbanks, destabilizing land and infrastructure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Loss of Lives and Livelihoods:<\/strong> Communities living in flood-prone areas are at direct risk, especially those with limited resources to cope with the aftermath of such events.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Infrastructure Damage:<\/strong> Roads, bridges, hydropower plants, and other critical infrastructure is destroyed by the massive surges of water.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Preventive Measures Taken<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)<\/strong> has finalised a list of <strong>189 \u201chigh-risk\u201d glacial lakes<\/strong> for mitigation measures to reduce the risk.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Steps include constituting teams to investigate these lakes and attempt lake-lowering measures, which are done to buffer against any overflow.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The National Glacial Lake Outburst Floods Risk Mitigation Programme (NGRMP) <\/strong>aims at detailed technical hazard assessments, installing automated weather and water level monitoring stations (AWWS) and early warning systems (EWS) at the lakes and in downstream areas.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>So far, 15 expeditions have been conducted including six in Sikkim, six in Ladakh, one in Himachal Pradesh and two in Jammu and Kashmir.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/himalayan-glacial-lakes-saw-1081-area-expansion-from-2011-to-2024-report\/article68825163.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As per The Central Water Commission&#8217;s (CWC) report, Himalayan glacial lakes are rapidly expanding, posing an increasing threat to communities and ecosystems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32122,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32121\/revisions\/32122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}