By NE NOW NEWS
Guwahati: Scientists studying the Khangri glacier in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang district have reported rapid glacier melting, unstable terrain formation and the emergence of a potentially dangerous glacial lake that could pose a flood threat to downstream areas in the Mago Chu basin.
The observations were made during the fifth Khangri glacier expedition conducted by the Centre for Earth Sciences and Himalayan Studies (CESHS) in collaboration with the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research and the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology.
The expedition, which began on May 4 in the transboundary Mago Chu basin — a key headwaters region of the Brahmaputra basin system aimed to assess glacier health, monitor cryospheric changes and study climate-related hazards in the eastern Himalayas.
CESHS director Tage Tana said the team observed “alarming geomorphological changes” in the Khangri glacier during field studies, indicating the growing impact of climate variability in the high-altitude Himalayan region.
Among the major findings was the formation of a large glacier sinking zone caused by the rapid collapse of the glacier snout, resulting in unstable terrain conditions.
Scientists warned that such instability could increase landscape hazards and downstream vulnerability in the Mago Chu basin.
The team also identified a newly formed proglacial lake at an altitude of around 16,500 feet. They cautioned that the lake could trigger a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), posing risks to downstream communities and river systems, including transboundary regions.
Despite comparatively good snowfall during the winter this year, the researchers found that glacier melting continues at a critical pace because of rising temperatures and persistent climate variability across the eastern Himalayas.
To strengthen long-term glacier monitoring, the expedition team installed five new scientific monitoring stakes at elevations of nearly 17,000 feet using an ice-core drilling system integrated with Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) technology.
The installations are expected to help monitor glacier mass balance and surface movement in the coming years.
The team also retrieved data from an automatic weather station and an automatic water level recorder installed in the region. Maintenance and calibration of the systems were carried out to ensure uninterrupted environmental monitoring in the high-altitude terrain.
In addition, moraine sediments and glacier meltwater samples were collected from the glacier snout for geochemical analysis.
Tana said the expedition had strengthened long-term cryosphere monitoring efforts in the eastern Himalayas and would provide important scientific inputs on glacier dynamics, water security and climate-related hazards in the region.