Gangotri glacier receded by about 100 meters

Sadanand Kamath

I just saw one hour programme on a prominent Hindi news channel -on the subject of receding Gangotri glacier. What surprised me in the said programme was the observations that during the last 10 months, Gangotri glacier has receded by as much as 100 meters and the Gaumukh has cracked so much that a major portion of the stream forming river Bhagirathi has bypassed Gaumukh and it has been flowing directly from the north-eastern side of the Gaumukh. The news channel has shown many visuals on the cracking of glacier from Gaumukh, a small stream flowing from it, a bigger stream flowing from outside the Gaumukh etc. According to an expert on himalayan galciers who was interviewed by the channel, if the present rate of retracement of Gangotri glacier continues, it may be wiped out in the next 35 years or so.

The channel has interviewed a couple of activists of Gaumukh Bachao Andolan (Save Gaumukh Movement). They are of the view that apart from the effect of the global warming, the local factors such as visits of a large number of pilgrims to Gaumukh has also put a lot of pressure on an already fragile environment in the Gangotri valley. The visual has shown a large number of Kavadias taking bath near Gaumukh and leaving their old cloths and garbage. The activists said that they will be submitting a memorandum asking the Government to completely ban the entry of visitors and pilgrims beyond Gangotri ( on the lines of ban of visitors in Nandadevi Sanctuary) to preserve the ecological balance in this area.

Since it is an important development, I thought it fit to bring it to the notice of IMers - particularly trekkers and mountain lovers.

Sadanand

__________________
Main Jindagi ka sath nibhata chala gaya

jyotipg

Forget all the trash put in by Aajtak. Those buggers are just trying sensationalise the issue. Some of the facts seem to be twisted and they are fooling the gullible indian public.

I have seen Gaumukh in 2004 August and then again recently last month. The glacier has even receded hardly 100m in last 3 years, so forget about receding 100m in 10 months.

One noticeable difference compared to 2004 was that the central part of the glacier has melted more compared to both sides. Now if you go close to snout, then the glacier face looks like an amphitheatre. In 2004, it looked like a straight wall.

Forget about the change in direction of flow. The direction keep on changing all the time. In 2004, when I was there, it was flowing from North-east side as it does now. That time my guide Hikmat singh Vutrola who lives in Bhojwasa throughout the year. He is an empolyee of Indian Remote sensing and his work is to measure the discharge from glacier throughout the year. He had told me told me that change in direction is something temporary. He told it means that the north-eastern wall of the snout has become weaker and will collapse soon.

The same idiots from Aajtak were naming Bhagirathi-I, II, III wrongly in the report. They should do from proper R&D before publishing such a news. I am attaching the pic of the Raktavarn Nallah which according to Aajtak is responsible for the change in direction flow. If you have seen Gaumukh earlier and seen the volume of water that comes from it, you can judge if the flow from this Nallah is sufficient enough to chnage the direction of flow of Ganga.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/himalaya_trekkers/

nyraghu

After reading your posting, I became curious about the actual rate of retreat of the glacier. According to a 1999 study by geologists from Garhwal University, "Over the last 25 years, Gangotri glacier has retreated 850 + (approx.) m, compared to 2 km over the last 200 years." This means that in the recent past, the average rate of retreat has been about 34m per year, more than three times the average annual rate of retreat during the last two centuries. The article, published in `Current Science' in 2001, is available at http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/jan102001/87.pdf and concludes,

There is an interesting image at NASA, in the article `Retreat of the Gangotri Glacier', which shows how the glacier has been receding since 1780. A related report on glacier meltdown in Ladakh appeared in the Hindustan Times on 20 September, and is available at Yahoo News, http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070919... _070919162556

Raghu.

Sadanand Kamath

Thanks Raghu for providing interesting links.
On my trek to Gaumukh in May'89, I had a feeling that many years back, the reach of the Gangotri glacier must have been closure to Gangotri going by the topography of the region - especially from Chirbasa onwards with the existence of barren slopes and heaps of moraines. The article in 'Current Science' referred to by you does mention this possibility.

Sadanand

capt_mahajan

The Himalaya provides 40% of the world's drinking water, unless I am mistaken.

Frightening.

__________________
.

The cynic must remember that he is a spy (Epitectus)
Indiamike moderating team ..ich bin ein oneliner