Kargil’s historic trails are endangered and glacial lakes are becoming a threat.

Kihul village in Kargil. The Kalapari camp in Nagmithong Nala is some distance away from here. The altitude is about 12,800 feet. Between August 20 and 24, 2024, Saurabh Vijay, assistant professor at IIT Roorkee, and Argha Banerjee, associate professor at IISER-Pune, and Krishnanand J., research scholar at the same institute, were present. Apart from these, seven other scientists were part of the team. The aim was to study the glaciers and the glacial lakes formed by them. The people of Panika village and their horses supported them.

Saurabh Vijay, Argha Banerjee and Krishnanand South Korea Saurabh told us that our team studies glaciers, glacial lakes, glacial meltwater, and the local climate of the valley. By studying all of this together in the valley, the scientific understanding will be better. Therefore, an automatic time-lapse photography system has been installed near the Ramo Glacier to monitor the glacier and the lake formed by glacial melt throughout the year and in every season.

Also read: Nepal GLOF: Tenzing Norgay, first conqueror of Everest Four glacial lakes formed above the village and one of them broke, devastating the entire area.

Over the past three decades, the lake has expanded 25 times. The lake covers an area of ​​about 500,000 square meters. It contains about 5 billion liters of water. This amount of water can meet the water needs of the entire Ladakh for six months. But the lake’s volume and height are also dangerous.

The lake is in danger of bursting its banks and causing flash floods

The danger is that this lake could become the cause of a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) at any time. The same danger occurred in Kedarnath valley in 2013, in Sikkim in 2023 and recently in Nepal. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is working on identifying such glacial lakes in the Indian Himalayas that could pose a danger in the future.

Also read: Chorabari Lake, glaciers, Meru-Sumeru range… Is a new danger emerging above Kedarnath valley?

The dangerous road connecting Kashmir and Ladakh

Glaciologist Argha Banerjee said that while installing instruments near this lake and going there, he met many local shepherds and people. There were also some adventure-seeking hikers. All of them were heading to Chalong and Valvan Valley via the Batkol Pass. The Batkol Pass passes about a hundred meters above the lake.

The pass crosses the Ramo Glacier. For centuries, shepherds, travelers, and the military have used this route to reach Ladakh from Kashmir. Krishnanand told us that our team saw that this route is very dangerous. Moreover, the danger of this route has increased exponentially due to the expansion of the lake.

Also read: Has India’s flood map changed? Earlier, Bihar-Uttar Pradesh used to suffer devastation, now these states are experiencing “floods”

There was an accident in Sikkim last year and now there is an accident in Nepal.

Last year, a similar glacial lake outburst occurred in Sikkim. Recently, a Sherpa village in Nepal also fell victim to a similar disaster. As a result, this disaster has attracted the attention of the government and the public. Scientists have estimated that the risk of flash floods is increasing due to the fracture and breach of glacial lakes in the Himalayas.

GLOF can occur for a variety of reasons.

Global warming could be the reason for the rupture of glacial lakes. Landslides could occur. Avalanches could occur or rocks could fall from the mountains above. Or the lake walls could break due to increased deadweight. Therefore, our scientists have been working to identify such glacial lakes that could pose a threat to low-lying areas. The organization believes that scientists, academics and government agencies should work together with local people to detect changes brought about by climate change as early as possible and avoid the dangers they cause.