13 of 486 Uttarakhand glacial lakes weak: GSI
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Team of consultants will assess harm and set off issue answerable for Sunday outburst, says official
The Geological Survey of India has by distant sensing and multispectral information discovered 13 of 486 glacial lakes in Uttarakhand to be weak.
A glacial lake can breach inflicting outburst flood like the one in Chamoli on Sunday attributable to avalanche or landslip in its periphery, cloudburst within the catchment, a significant quake and different geological components, GSI’s Director-General Ranjit Rath mentioned in New Delhi on Monday.
“The glaciers in the Himalayas are retreating under climate change scenario. This is a global phenomenon,” Dr. Rath mentioned, including that glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) may end up in the discharge of an enormous quantity of water resulting in extreme harm downstream.
“With the passage of time, some of the glacial lakes near the terminus often coalesce and form large glacial lakes dammed by glacial moraines. The moraines comprising loose boulders, gravels and sand admixture often containing dead ice impart inherent weakness to these dams.”
These lakes are fairly frequent on the debris-covered Himalayan glaciers with their decrease half transferring very slowly and at instances remaining virtually stationary. Sudden triggering mechanisms make them burst out, he mentioned.
Dr. Rath mentioned the GSI had throughout 2014-16 undertaken the compilation of a list of glacial lakes of the Uttarakhand Himalaya to determine high-risk areas for GLOF. This was accomplished as a follow-up of the Kedarnath tragedy in June 2013.
“We identified 486 glacial lakes excluding the supra-glacial lakes and 13 of these were found to be vulnerable,” he mentioned.
According to the GSI’s stock, 71 lakes of completely different sizes and kinds are within the higher reaches of Rishiganga and Dhauliganga valley.
“The GSI is in the process of finding out the focal point of this unfortunate flash flood event. Right now, it is not clear whether the flood is a typical GLOF or some temporary damming due to a landslip and avalanche that might have blocked the mainstream to form a temporary lake which got burst.”
He mentioned a crew of consultants will assess the harm and the set off issue answerable for the outburst as soon as the water degree recedes.
“The floodwater and mudflow will lose steam and cause less harm to life and property in the lower reaches. However, people living close to the river should be properly alerted,” Dr. Rath mentioned.
