Millions in India Vulnerable to Glacial Lake Floods. Climate change–driven factors make regions more vulnerable to glacial lake outburst floods.
A new analysis explored the risk of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) of nearly 1,600 glacial lakes in the northwestern Indian Himalayas. Factoring in regional weather, topography, and geology, researchers found that 10% of the land downstream of these lakes is vulnerable to GLOFs and that more than 2 million people could be at risk.
Anup Upadhyaya, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in West Bengal, said:
“With the rise in global warming and climatic events, there could be potentially more GLOF events in the near future.”
